Alps: discover the opening dates for the major passes

From the Galibier to the Ventoux, via the Iseran or the Glandon, the giants of the Alps are getting ready to come out of hibernation. With the return of spring, keen cyclists, seasoned climbers and those interested in touring are gradually returning to their favourite playgrounds. But you still need to know when the roads will be open...

Every year, it's the same ritual: keep an eye on the snow depths, scrutinise the departmental road reports and wait - sometimes until summer - before being able to climb the passes at an altitude of over 1,500 metres.

READ MORE: Méribel, Courchevel, Val Thorens... We already know the opening dates for the ski lifts in the 3 Vallées this summer

In 2024, some of them, such as the Galibier and Iseran passes, were only able to reopen at the very end of June, just caught up by the Tour de France.

With the snow clearing machines already hard at work in several mountain ranges, the first provisional dates for the reopening of the ski resorts are now known. Here's an update, massif by massif.

Already open

• Montgenèvre pass (Hautes-Alpes - 1850 m)
• Col de Larche (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence - 1991 m)
• Col du Lautaret (Hautes-Alpes - 2057 m)
• Col de Vars (Hautes-Alpes - 2108 m)

Some of these routes are kept open throughout the winter, such as Le Lautaret, considered to be a vital logistical link between the northern and southern Alps.

mid-April

• Col du Noyer (Hautes-Alpes - 1664 m)
• Col de la Cayolle (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence - 2327 m)

End of April

• Col d'Allos (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence - 2248 m)

Early May

• Relais du Mont du Chat (Savoie - 1504 m)
• Col de la Colombière (Haute-Savoie - 1613 m)
• Col de l'Échelle (Hautes-Alpes - 1762 m)

Mid-May

• Col de Joux Plane (Haute-Savoie - 1712 m)
• Mont Ventoux (Vaucluse - 1909 m)
• Col du Mont-Cenis (Savoie - 2080 m)
• Col d'Izoard (Hautes-Alpes - 2362 m)

Emblematic passes of the Tour, where cycling legends meet lunar landscapes and vertiginous hairpins.

End of May

• Col du Glandon (Isère/Savoie - 1924 m)
• Cormet de Roselend (Savoie - 1968 m)
• Col de la Madeleine (Savoie - 1984 m)
• Col de la Croix de Fer (Savoie - 2068 m)
• Petit-Saint-Bernard pass (Savoie - 2188 m)

Early June

• Col du Granon (Hautes-Alpes - 2404 m)
• Col de la Bonette (Alpes-Maritimes - 2715 m)

The Bonette, often referred to as "Europe's highest road", is the ultimate stage for seasoned cyclists. A summit as impressive as it is symbolic.

Mid-June

• Col de la Loze (Savoie - 2304 m)
• Galibier pass (Hautes-Alpes/Savoie - 2645 m)
• Agnel pass (Hautes-Alpes - 2744 m)
• Iseran pass (Savoie - 2770 m)

These last giants will not be accessible until the very end of spring, sometimes at the cost of lengthy snow clearance operations in extreme conditions. Like Iseran, where walls of snow several metres high sometimes have to be cut through for weeks on end.