エントレモントの峠・トップ20

This climb is incredible: it doesn't have any difficult gradients, but it's long, incredibly long, endless. You reach a point where you almost hate it: you've been pedaling for well over an hour and the summit is still out of sight, you're running out of energy and the wind keeps whipping you in the face, you want to throw your bike away and say, "Enough! I'll stop here!"... but it's only a moment, because you're the one who chose to tackle it and you knew exactly what you were getting into; you set off again with more determination than before and attack those last few kilometers of road with all your remaining strength. And then you enter the tunnel, there you begin to realize you've made it, you exit, follow the road that bends slightly to the left, and, as if in a dream, the lake appears. You reach the top and think about how many people have traveled this road over the centuries: Salassi, Romans, monks, migrants, Napoleonic soldiers... you realize you're in a place steeped in history and stunning nature, and there you can't help but love this hill.

You may see families of wild goats as they don't seem to be bothered about people

From Les Ruinettes, steep and rocky, at least the 'direct' path is.

The pass between Switzerland and Italy connects Valais and the Aosta Valley (the smallest region in Italy with the black and red flag). "The Fenêtre de Durand is a 2,797-meter-high mountain pass in the Pennine Alps. The mule track connects the Swiss Rhône Valley via the Val de Bagnes with the Italian Aosta Valley. The gap between the 3,347-meter-high Mont Avril and the 3,518-meter-high Mont Gelé (Chanrion) is the only ice-free crossing over the main Alpine ridge east of the Grand Combin massif and west of the Monte Rosa massif. Immediately below the pass summit, on the Italian side, is the small Lac Fenêtre." Source: Wikipedia.

Beautiful, smooth, never extremely steep and only a few cars even on weekends.

Great view of the Mont Blanc massif. You can drive to the refuge.

https://youtu.be/D352Ql5fMaY?feature=shared I also passed through here on the Tour du Combin. Crossing the lonely col is simply epic. The climb from Fionnay up to the reservoir through the many tunnels is an experience; the climb to the col is easy for a long time, but quite steep at the end. The descent across the lake into the valley is an absolutely fantastic trail, culminating in the Ru Neuf irrigation channel.

https://youtu.be/-Kr0T36CPjs?feature=shared What a fantastic trail! A beautiful hillside trail with a fantastic view at the top, a ridge trail, and a shaped forest trail with S-shaped lines and berms past rocks and over bridges below. You can let it run. Epic.