- Ascent
- 1027 hm
- Distance Ascent
- 10.3 km
- max. gradient
- 13 %
- ø gradient
- 10 %
The Colle San Carlo from Morgex is an HC climb of 10.3 km with 1,027 m of elevation gain at an average of 10 %, peaking at 13 %. The road climbs out of the Aosta valley to 1,950 m and drops on the far side to La Thuile. No Western Alps climb in our list is steeper on average.
The Colle San Carlo is the steepest Western Alps climb in our list. From Morgex in the Aosta valley it is 10.3 kilometres and 1,027 metres of climbing up to 1,950 metres. That is an average of exactly 10 %, and only five climbs in the whole list are steeper. It is short, but it gives nothing away.
The Colle San Carlo at a glance
The key figures from Morgex: category HC, 10.3 km, 1,027 m of climbing, 10 % on average and 13 % at its steepest. The road leaves Morgex in the Aosta valley and climbs to the pass at 1,950 m. On the far side it runs down to La Thuile. In our list the San Carlo belongs to the Western Alps region.
The climb from Morgex
Already the first kilometre sits at around 8 %, the second at 9 %. Then comes the hardest part of the climb: the fourth kilometre is the steepest of the whole climb, and the third is also clearly above 10 %. There is no easier stretch to recover after them. Whoever went too fast into this section will pay for it for a long time.
From the middle up to shortly before the top the gradient keeps swinging between just over 8 and 11 %. No kilometre drops below 8 % here. Only the last kilometre is somewhat calmer at around 7 %. So the San Carlo is a climb of constant pressure without a single break.
How it compares to our 100 climbs
At 10 % on average no Western Alps climb in our list is steeper, and across all 100 climbs only five are. In length and elevation gain, on the other hand, it is in the back half: 85 climbs are longer and 69 have more climbing. The Rossfeld Panoramastraße is almost a twin with 10.7 km and 1,046 m at 9.8 %. In the Western Alps the Col du Granon comes closest at 9.2 %.
Practical tips
For the San Carlo a compact chainset with a very large sprocket is strongly recommended, there is no let up for ten kilometres. Start carefully, the steepest kilometres come early. At 1,950 m it is noticeably cooler than in the Aosta valley, so bring a jacket for the descent. The descent is steep as well, whether you go on to La Thuile or back down to Morgex.
