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Tourmalet as Spectator – How to get to the summit without cycling??

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  • May 19, 2012 at 10:48 am #15865
    danlindfield

    Hi folks!

    I’m riding the Etape this July and my friends family are planning a mid-ride viewing point (and musette hand-out) a the top of the Tourmalet. They’re not really cyclists so tapping it out to the top isn’t an option. The road is also closed

    How else can they get up? Do the ski lifts still operate in the summer? are there other roads up to the summit?

    Any help gratefully received

    Thanks. Lindo

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  • May 19, 2012 at 11:48 am #680769
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    danlindfield

    great advice, thanks McTag!
    great advice, thanks McTag!

    May 19, 2012 at 11:35 am #680767
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    Anonymous

    Hi Lindo!
    There’s only one
    Hi Lindo!

    There’s only one road up and over the Tourmalet, and there’s no ski lift from the bottom of the valley up to the top – only from La Mongie up to the top of Pic du Midi de Bigorre, where the observatory is. But La Mongie is on the way down the other side and already halfway up from the bottom.
    I think their only bet is to get up there and camp it out before the roads are closed. Halfway up there’s a big new carpark, where the road splits in two – the new route and the old route – before it and rejoins before the top. They could park up somewhere on whichever route (old or new) the etape doesn’t use, but then they’d have to hike up the rest of the way I’m afraid!
    From the point where the old and new routes rejoin, it’s about 4k to the top.

    Hope that helps, and good luck with the Etape!

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