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Actually these photos are from my riding in 2006 -- but this loop is a great bicycling adventure of northwest Italy, so I decided to include the photos in these 2007 pages.

[ warning: A long section of this loop is off-road, on a very steep + strenuous unpaved hiking trail ]

castle along the road west from Aosta toward Pre St Didier and Courmayeur
 

Mont Blanc / Monte Bianco (4807m) ahead on the road west toward Courmayeur
 

Mont Blanc / Monte Bianco from the second steep climb on Val Ferret road

Mont Blanc is the white summit high right. Dark jagged left lower is Aiguille Noire de Peuterey
 

les Grandes Jorasses (4206m) peaks on the northwest side of lower Val Ferret in Italy
 

looking back southwest down Val Ferret in Italy toward Entreves + Val Veny
 

Mont Dolent (3823m) seen northwest from Col du Grand Ferret (2537m), which is the crossing back into Switzerland, then northeast down to la Fouly and Orsieres
 

city of Orsieres is where the descending in Switzerland ends for this loop, and the climbing begins -- and Orsieres is the highest this St-Bernard-painted train will go toward the pass.
 

many chances to view the Grand Combin (4314m) ahead while climbing south to the pass.
   

almost up to the pass, looking back northeast to the snowy Grand Combin beyond rocky Mont Velan (3708m). (Ken + Sharon once climbed on skis between the two, over the Plateau du Couloir under the south face of the Grand Combin.)
   

southwest from the Colle del Gran San Bernardo / Col du Grand St Bernard (2473m) to the start of the descent and buildings at the Italy / Switzerland border.  (Sharon + Ken + some California friends once did a tour on skis in those snowy slopes.)
 

looking back up northwest on the descent in Italy from the pass down to Aosta