Tunnel de Parpaillon s(u)
If I were lucky
enough to live nearby I would have waited till
later in the year for a ride over - or better
through - this summit. But this is probably the
only chance I am going to get, to ride through
this famous tunnel. French filmmaker Luc Moullet
made a film in 1992 about crossing this route on a
bicycle. So I tried to do this route when I was
here, early June, when there was still quite a bit
of snow in the mountains
There is also a trail over the Col du Parpaillon,
located above the tunnel at 2780 meters. Both
routes connect the valleys of the Ubaye with the
valley of the Durance. Google Maps, as well as
some signs also refer to the tunnel entrance as
Col del Parpaillon, as well as "Tunnel et Col du
Parpaillon"
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01.(00.0km,1290m)
START-END EAST: la Condamine in Ubaye
Valley
02.(04.6km,1691m) St Anne
03.(07.7km,1861m) bridge over le Berard
04.(10.7km,2057m) road forks; profile
follows uphill route on right
05.(17.0km,2637m) TOP: southern tunnel
entrance Tunnel de Parpaillon s(u)
06.(17.5km,2637m) TOP: northern tunnel
entrance
07.(27.5km,1731m) fork in road. Profile
follows paved road on right to La Chalp
08.(29.5km,1655m) La Chalp
09.(32.0km,1480m) upper turnoff to
Praveyral
10.(36.5km,1145m) profile stays right
towards le Villard
11.(41.2km,918m) START-END WEST ALT: a
hard right turn leads upvalley towards
Guillestre on a very nice road; profile
continues straight
12.(440km,801m) START-END WEST: le Pont
Peuf north of Embrun |
Approaches
From South. In the collection of houses
at la Condamine in the Ubaye Valley, a road starts
to climb to St Anne. Soon afterwards you pass a
sign: "Tunnel Parpaillon - Ferme". Apparently the
sign, stating that the tunnel is closed, has
always been there, and - all the same - the doors
have always been open. Some of the lower
switchbacks afford the best views of Fort Tornoux,
a fortification from the "Little Maginot" or
Alpine line, an immense fortification against
attacks from the other side of the mountains.
After about 1350ft of climbing you enter St Anne,
location of the exceptional Gite Belvedere. The
road continues on pavement through larch forest,
passing some old stone houses with monumental
walls. The pavement ends at an informational
tablet about the tunnel. Subsequently a small
bridge over a side stream does a lot to restrict
traffic. Past this point cyclists and hikers will
not have to put up with heavy cars, just in case
there were any before. A second much sturdier
stone bridge crosses is reached further up, at
about treeline.
upper southern approach to Tunnel de Parpaillon
s(u)
This high valley that follows has a very desolate
and dry feel to it. The path turns left and then
starts a traversing ascend up the ridge to the
north. There is also a track following the bottom
of the valley. Numerous switchbacks follow the
traverse. The eyes keep a lookout where the tunnel
could be, but there is no sign of it. The
switchbacks slowly work themselves back towards
the south, to the point where you are directly
above the valley approach. By this time I had
crossed two snowfields. But the June snow was
soft, and kicking steps was no problem. Then the
road ends, or so I thought at first. Actually the
next switchback was completely obliterated by
snow, and I recognized the reappearing road above.
And finally - after the next turn there was the
tunnel portal, surrounded by snow.
From East. These were the
conditions during a first week in June. The first
20 or 30 meters were on about 40cm thick ice, but
melting water had eroded a ditch of sorts into it.
Past that I could see a tiny bright dot on the
other side, the other portal. The ice gradually
thinned as I walked and carried my bike into the
tunnel, and then I was on solid ground. About
halfways into the tunnel the ice started up again,
with a little water on top. Several meters later,
the ice broke on every step with about 6 or 10 cm
of water below it. It meant wet feet, but actually
walking was no problem, because the surface below
the ice was flat. The other portal on the north
side was completely surrounded by snow. The very
top of an "icy road" sign was visible in a surface
of deep snow. Somewhere below it the road was
buried. From here I could recognize a partially
melted out road, maybe 1km down the valley. The
terrain is fairly gentle on this side, so making
my way through the snow downhill was obviousely
not as fast as bicycling usually is, but it wasn't
any slower than walking would be.
After loosing about 300m in
altitude, I met the first vehicles, that had given
up ascending from this side. I have to admit my
"bonjours" had a special pride in them during this
descent. Pavement starts back up about 2000ft
below the portal.
Signs on this side refer to the
crossing as "Col Parpaillon", even thought most
people really refer to a tunnel and not a "pass".
Here the valley looks amazingly similar to a scene
from the Canadian Rockies next to the Icefields
Parkway. The similarity lies in the waterfalls
that tumble from sheer heights over vertical
cliffs of twisted sedimentary rock layers,
crumbling like a croissant. But this National Park
has free access, and you can mountain bike through
it. It seems sometimes the Canadian Rockies are
reserved either for tourists, purchasing 40 dollar
snowcat tickets, or the bears.
Following the paved path to La Chalp, an old
village with a picturesque decaying attraction to
it, the road soon becomes monumentally wide and
straight, something I really didn't expect to see.
The road descends onto a balcony of sorts, above
Embrun. The profile descends to Embrun, but if
going north to Guillestre, a turnoff onto D994D to
the right stays on this balcony heights, and is
also very scenic, just in a different way. It is a
good vantage point on all the traffic below, while
up here on the balcony there is none.
History
The history of this tunnel is really
the history of the border conflicts between, what
is now the Italian Piedmont region and the Ubaye
valley. The strategic location of Fort Tournoux
was already recognized in the second century BC.
The name of the fort bears testimony to this.
Tournoux is derived from "Turnus", a Roman general
who was sent into the alps in 219 BC to oppose the
troops of Hannibal.
Repeatetly the spot overlooking the 4km at the
convergence of the col
du Vars and Col
du Larche, became a battleground. In the
middle ages it was the Lombards, who crossed from
the now Italian side, then the Saracens. Countless
others followed during the complicated history of
European conflicts.
The 520 meter long tunnel with its approach roads
was built between 1891 and 1911 to connect Fort
Tournoux with the valley of Embrun. Col du Vars could
also be used for this, but as part of the "little
Maginot" (also called Alpine") line of defense, an
effort was made to provide alternate routes for
every important pass.
Cycling: An issue of
Centcols describes the attractions that this pass
has had even on cyclists of an earlier period, and
names a cyclist who crossed the pass in 1903 - two
years after its completion. By 1930 the title
"legend" is used to describe it and a group of 29
cyclists visit it.
Dayride
PARTIALLY PAVED / UNPAVED
Tunnel de Parpaillon s(u) , Col du Vars: St
Anne la Condamine > Tunnel de Parpaillon s(u)
> D994D north > Suguet > Guillestre >
Vars > Col du Vars > la Condamine > sp
62.5miles with 8680ft of climbing in 7:34hrs (VDO
MC1.0 m4;12.6.7)
The last day of an Extended Tour with different start
and end points was: Col
de Larche
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