- Ascent
- 622 hm
- Distance Ascent
- 8.5 km
- max. gradient
- 10 %
- ø gradient
- 7.3 %
The Col de la Croix from Les Diablerets is a category 2 climb of 8.5 km with 622 m of elevation gain at an average of 7.3 %, peaking at 10 %. The road climbs through the Vaud Alps to 1,779 m and drops via Villars-sur-Ollon to Bex. After a flat first kilometre it stays steep all the way to the top.
Climb Goals: Pure Data Edition DIN A1 poster
Bucket-List Print: Col de la Croix
The Col de la Croix is one of the shorter climbs in our list, and that makes it easy to plan. From Les Diablerets it is 8.5 kilometres and 622 metres of climbing up to 1,779 metres. After a flat start the road climbs with no real break all the way to the top. On the other side it drops via Villars-sur-Ollon to Bex in the Rhône valley.
The Col de la Croix at a glance
The key figures from Les Diablerets: category 2, 8.5 km, 622 m of climbing, 7.3 % on average and 10 % at its steepest. The road leaves the village and climbs through the Vaud Alps to the pass at 1,779 m. The far side runs down via Villars-sur-Ollon to Bex. In our list the Col de la Croix belongs to the Western Alps region.
The climb from Les Diablerets
The first kilometre is almost flat and more of a roll out of Les Diablerets. After that the picture changes quickly: from the second kilometre on the gradient stays between 6 and 9 % throughout. There is no section to catch your breath. Find your rhythm early and you can hold it almost to the top.
From the second kilometre onwards the average is around 8 %, noticeably above the 7.3 % in the fact box, because the flat start pulls the average down. The last kilometre is the steepest of the whole climb. So the hardest part comes exactly where the legs are already full. At the pass it simply stops.
How it compares to our 100 climbs
On length and elevation gain the Col de la Croix sits towards the back of the field: only nine climbs in the list are shorter, and only eight have less climbing. In the Western Alps only two of the 30 climbs have less elevation gain. On the average, though, it is in the front half at 7.3 %, with 41 climbs steeper. The Col de Peyresourde has a similar format, with 8.3 km and 638 m of climbing at 7.7 %.
Practical tips
The Col de la Croix fits well into a bigger ride, on its own it is fairly short. A normal compact chainset is enough for the 10 % peak. The descent to Bex is much longer than the climb from Les Diablerets, because it drops all the way down into the Rhône valley. If you want to get back to Les Diablerets, ride the same road back down.
