 Poster: A snowHead
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Travelling by car from Turin to Alpe d'Huez at beginning of April - can any give details of what the journey is like? Looking at the map it seems fine but unsure of the terrain it goes through. Thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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braveheart1695, assume you will be going via Col du Montgenevre, Briancon, through Serre Chevalier and across the Col du Lauteret.
Autostrada from airport to Oulx, then mountian road with hairpins up to Montgenevre and down again into Briancon. Single carriageway busy road through the ski villages of Serre Chevalier. Once through Monetier-les-Bains, you will ascend the Col du Lauteret before dropping down again towards the Barrage , downhill now all the way until you turn off for the hairpins of Alpe d'Huez. Hope your passengers aren't travel sick.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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braveheart1695, Appropriate name! Make sure you have chains & take it steady, some fantastic scenery en route esp around La Grave but could be a very long journey if the weathers bad.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hopefully it won't be too bad in early April, but we had 'difficult' conditions on the 17th April this year. Chains essential just in case.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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braveheart1695, If the weather turns bad and they shut the Col du Lauterat and even the Col de Montgenevre you need to head through the Frejus Tunnel, which follows the same motorway. However instead of turning off at Oulx for the Cold de Montgenevre you would have to pay approx. 40 euros single, 50 euros return through the tunnel. Then it is easy motorways to southern Grenoble where you turn off. The road from then on to Bourg d'Oisans is just a valley road and then you then its the famous road upto Alpe d'Huez.
We had to do this christmas to get to Serre Chevalier, its a long journey made worse by the fact our hire car broke down.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Christopher, what rotten luck!!
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Helen Beaumont, Indeed. sorry to hear about your husband and the trauma you've been through. Hope he is on the road to recovery.
We had a brand new sporty alfa romeo.
Sat in traffic jams with everyone going to southern Grenoble, Alpe d'Huez, Les Deux Alpes and Serre Che for about an hour.
Just going past the Lac du Chambon, about 2 miles away from the Hautes Alpes border, and were the road patrol for the Lautaret turns around. Not far from La Grave, the engine just shut down.
Managed to get the car half in towards the side of the road. Putting out the warning triangle was tricky, thank god my dad was wearing a reflective jacket. All the 05 number plates seemed to be zooming past at a rate of notes. It was 5 oclock and getting dark and about -7 not nice. We had to be outside, due to fear of being hit from behind.
La Grave gendarmerie were brilliant. Managed to get it going again after many attempts of it spluttering. It had the orange engine warning light on. This car had done about 50 miles before we got our hands on it. Straight out the factory, Italian cars are known for their unreliability and teething problems. It came up with a warning message as its all computerised. But we can't speak Italian like some of us can speak French. However after a while we managed to change it into English. Weirdly it wanted us to pump the clutch and accelerator. I think there was a problem with pumping fuel into the engine due to a problem with the computer. The other message was that the engine needed checking by a garage. It started after what seemed like 50 attempts to get it going. No garage call out was required, we thought it was all plain salling to Monetier and so did the Genderamrie who gave us an escort half way up the Lautaret.
Got it up to the top of the Lautaret and it cut out again. The Lauterat patrol were extremely helpful when they stopped to check whether we were ok. Managed to restart it after many attempts and we got it down the hill to Monetier. They took the car away during the week, and we didnt get it back for the week.
One long journey to La Grave. One stressful 3 hour journey from La Grave to Monetier. Didn't reach the appartment till 8 oclock. Bare in mind we left Turin at 12.30.
Holiday Autos have refunded us for 6 days of use. We had to pay for a 280euro taxi home to the airport. Frankly thats a rip off when you consider his costs, someone needs to create an element of competition in that market as I personally think there is the demand.
So much for worrying about snow chains and getting over the Montgenevre pass.
But once again, your ordeal was much worse so I can't complain.
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Christopher, sounds awful.
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