Col St Martin
Mountain passes, running in an east-westerly direction,
connect all the high major canyon drainages north of Nice.
Col St Martin connects the Vesubie Canyon with the Valley of
the Tinee. It is interesting to compare Col St Martin with
the D32 Utelle summit,
which also crosses between these two drainages. But the D32
summit does this further down stream, just before they both
merge into the Vars Valley. Of course Col St Martin is a
higher climb. Like the D32 Utelle summit, the area below Col
St Martin is rich in medieval clustered towns. But the first
impression of Col St Martin involves ski areas and modern
condo high rises.
|
01.(00.0km,142m)
START-END EAST ALT: jct D2565 - D6102, la Riveiere
02.(09.8km,302m) road to D19 Levens (sh) leaves on
right
03.(10.3km,281m) road to D32 Utelle s(u) leaves on
left
04.(18.3km,447m) road to Col de la Porte leaves on
right
05.(19.0km,460m) Lantosque
06.(21.0km,502m) road to Col Turini leaves on right
07.(33.2km,956m) START-END EAST: Saint Martin Vesubie
08.(35.9km,1125m) road to Col Salese leaves on right
09.(41.5km,1500m) TOP: Col St Martin
10.(44.4km,1295m) turnoff to St Dalmas
11.(47.5km,1107m) La Roche
12.(57.4km,446m) START-END WEST: profile turns left,
down valley of the Tinee
13.(72.2km,247.5m) road to D32 La Tour s(u) leaves on
left
14.(77.2km,190m) START-END WEST ALT: Tinee flows into
Var at jct: D2205 - N202 |
 Approaches
From East. The profile includes all of the Canyon de
Vesubie as approach. It starts getting a little steeper
somewhere around Lantosque. Other sources consider the approach
of the pass to start in St Martin Vesubie. Once the road starts
climbing past St Martin, three peaks over 3000 meters are in
good view. They are Cime de Gelas, Mt Clapier 3045m and Cima de
Brocan 3045m. When the road leads through the short tunnel the
views disappear. On top there is a rondell, several high rise
condo buildings, at least one restaurant, ski shop and lifts, a
pony ride business and no views.
From West. (described downwards) This side is the
quieter side of the two. The landscape has a more pastoral,
soothing effect too. The many different parts of Valdeblore
contain many hotels and several gites. But I didn't check how
open they were. I also included the entire approach of the Tinee
valley in the profile. This side is marked with signs directed
towards cyclists, marking "current altitude",
"remaining altitude to be climbed", and "average
remaining slope" statistics. The eastern side is not.
the eastern approach to Col St Martin with 3000 meter
peaks in the background
Dayride:
Col St Martin x2: out and back ride from Lantosque
<> St Martin in Vesubie <> Col St Martin <>
turnaround point at 750m, maybe a km below turnoff to Rimples
The last summit point with different start and end points on
this Extended Tour is:
D32 Utelle s(u)
towns along the approaches
to Col St Martin:
left top and bottom: Lantosque
right top: St Martin Vesubie
right bottom: Valdeblore
back to Cycling
Passes in Europe
|
