Diga di Place Moulin

Distance: 33.7 miles. Elevation: 4713 ft.

I’m still based at Gignod, north of the Aosta valley, about a quarter of the way up the main SS27 road that leads to the Swiss border at the Great Saint Bernard Pass. But I’m leaving that epic climb until tomorrow, when the weather looks like it will be sunnier. Today was supposed to become sunny by the afternoon, so I left it quite late for this fairly short ride to visit another dam, la Diga di Place Moulin, the fourth largest dam in Italy, and Europe’s highest (elevation-wise) arch dam, with a maximum reservoir level at 1969 metres.

I left just after two o’clock. The air was still cool but the sun was out and it was warm in the sunshine. I was warm enough with my short-sleeved jersey without putting my arm warmers on. I was surprised to find that the sun was shining nearly all the way up the valley, and luckily I had a tail wind.

The first mile or so was down the same roads that formed the steep climb at the end of my previous ride, down to the valley of the river Buthier, the course of which I would be following all the way up to the dam.

Just a few minutes into my ride. The snow-capped Grand Combin (4,314m) straight ahead with La Punta Cesare Fiorio (3,332m) to the right, in front of which is the valley I’ll be riding along.

After three miles of climbing alongside the river I reached the village of Valpelline, where there was lots of activity in the form of live music, stalls, etc and to my right some sort of cow-based event being held in a field.

“The 11th edition of Espace Mont Blanc, an event that celebrates the traditional Batailles de Reines, involving the best cows from Valle d’Aosta, Switzerland and France”

The road climbed steeply out of Valpelline and then levelled off for nearly a mile.

Up ahead I could see a tower atop a hill and a village high up on the left. I hoped that the road would follow the river to the right of the hill on which the tower stood.

I stopped to get a photo of a grasshopper just sitting on the road:

As I got nearer to the village I realised the road did climb up among the buildings.

Thirty minutes further up the valley, I came through the small village of Bionaz

Chiesa parrocchiale di Santa Margherita, Bionaz

I was on the lookout for any views of the dam ahead of me. I eventually saw a sign for the lake that said 8 km, which is five miles, further than I was expecting. But in fact it didn’t take too long and some of that last bit was flat and there was even some downhill.

Looking back at Bionaz and along the valley

Towards the top, the sun had gone very hazy, almost hidden, and the air was really chilly, about 8°C, so I stopped to put my arm warmers on. I was disappointed that the sun had gone in and the lake wouldn’t be as photogenic.

Approaching the dam there was a series of short switchbacks, which a herd of cows were ignoring as they chose instead to go straight up the hill by the direct route. So I had to navigate through the herd three times.

I was wary of the large animals and made my way slowly through. They seemed to be too distracted by chewing the scenery, like a group of bad actors.

Ten minutes later I had reached the dam. My planned route would have taken me further, on a steep road that wound its way up the hillside to my left to a small parking area, but that would have meant a half-mile climb at 14% avg, with 19% sections. Yeah – no thanks! I rode a bit further on a gravel track alongside the lake, and got some shots of the dam.

By the time I reached the dam, the sun had come out and there were blue skies. I rode back along the gravel path to the picnic area and sat on a pallet bench with the sun burning down on my legs, although there was a distinct chill in the air.

As I was making notes about the ride into my phone, I suddenly remembered I had brought my drone. So I quickly moved to a clear area and got the drone ready and flew it above the dam. Again I was weary of going too high/far. While it was still in earshot I heard it struggling against the wind to keep position. There was a slight breeze. I got a few photos and video, but later I wished I’d gone further, given the unique opportunity. I certainly won’t win any awards for my drone video skills, but my main reason for getting it was to be able to put a (still) camera in places that would otherwise be impossible. And to that end it served its purpose. Upon landing, a nearby dog was about to rush towards the drone, but luckily the owner grabbed hold of the dog’s lead in time!

It was getting late so I put all my stuff away and started the descent. Because the sun was now shining fully from a blue sky, I re-took all the shots I’d taken under cloudy skies on the way up. Once the dam was definitely out of sight behind me I could concentrate on and enjoy the descent. I video’d most of it. I stopped a couple of times for photos. The sun was on me only for the first 10 mins or so. I was on the shady side of the valley. The air was cool. I had my arm warmers and rain jacket on and initially had my snood around my mouth but moved that away about halfway down. As usual it got slightly warmer as I lost altitude. It was a very enjoyable descent. There were still loads of people in that town with the cow contest. I realised the commentators were speaking French, not Italian.

The fifteen-mile descent took 52 minutes, including nine minutes stopped. This video trims some of the action into less than four minutes and features a roller-skier, 2 soakings I got and the bit where I over-cooked one of the bends and locked up the rear wheel when braking, luckily at a spot where there was space to run-off!

So this climb to the Place Moulin dam is very undulating, with long sections of easy climbing followed by some flat sections and then very steep climbing up through the series of villages. The final mile is at 8%. Apart from some traffic up to the festivities at Valpelline, there was hardly anything beyond that, just the odd car coming down from the lake. I wish I’d flown my drone higher/further and I wish I had climbed that last steep bit up to the car park. I think the views of the lake would be better from up there. But still, it was another really enjoyable ride.