High above the village of Samoen is the Plateau des Saix and the Samoen "1600" ski station.
The route is in the opposite direction but starts at the same spot as the more famous Joux Plane (in this year’s tour de france). I parked a few kms away in Morillon so I would have a few flat kilometres to warm up.
This is another short but super steep climb on a scenic, quiet road. An 8 km stretch averages a painful 10% with one kilometre at 12.7% (YIKES!) and two more over 11%. It was very hot and I certainly wasn’t going fast, but felt pretty good.
I rode another kilometre on a dirt road to make sure I reached 1,000 metres of ascent, but it was a bit too rocky and I was out of water, so I didn’t go too far.
