With a difference in altitude of 2,320 metres, the Colle del Nivolet is one of the most impressive climbs in the Alps, but it still lives a shadowy existence because only its south-east ramp has been completed. The plan was once to create a link from the greater Turin area to the upper Aosta Valley, but the construction of the Gran Paradiso National Park thwarted the project. And so the road ends about two kilometres after the pass, not far from the Rifugio Savoia, at a rusty barrier. Only 600 metres lower down in the hamlet of Pont, at the far end of the Valsavarenche valley, does a tarmac road begin again. For a few metres in between, there is an indicated route that soon becomes a mule track.
Only separated by a mountain range, the prominent French neighbouring pass Col de l'Iséran lies eleven kilometres away from the Nivolet as the crow flies. In terms of scenery, the Italian pass is clearly ahead. No lifts spoil its high mountain world.
All information about the Colle del Nivolet can be found in the PDF download below.
Downloads:
Pass profile: Italy: Colle del Nivolet
