Col de Combe Blanche from Vesancy

One of the very hard climbs up the French Jura from Pays de Gex with steep gradients to start with (~15％ leaving Vessncy) and some even steeper bits later on in the forest. The branch off at 1000m to the left is an alternative path with a rough section through the forest (~400m) for which a MTB would be best, which joins up with another paved road connecting to Route de la Faucille. If you continue straight up you will finally reach Col de Combe Blanche (aka Col de Puthod). Until 30th June there are certain tracks and zones in the forest which are closed for wildlife protection, so don’t leave the paved road, which can contain small pieces of rocks and debris after the winter. The road is open to traffic from 1st July until the end of the cycling season (mid Nov) but not many vehicles pass here. It is a very quiet ride with breathtaking views over Lake Geneva and the Alps! Before the descent to La Cattay one can turn right to reach the alpine hut of Grande Grand (1400m) and from there cross into Switzerland just following the track. A paved road then leads to La Baudichonne which is another tough climb up the Jura on the Swiss side starting from La Rippe (all paved). It’s a private road with very little traffic. So one could ride a loop from Vesancy to La Rippe.

Nice climb with a few hard Ks to start. Two things to note. First, there is a point where the road splits and you see a hairpin turn to your left and another route straight ahead blocked by a gate. The correct way is through the gate, although this will force you to dismount and is not the easiest place to remount with clippless pedals. The other way is a forest road which goes no where, trust me I found out the hard way. Second, in the middle to later sections of the climb there was no traffic at all but also large chunks of rock which had fallen from the cliffs above, this was no trouble to navigate on the way but made for a more thrilling descent than would perhaps be preferable.