Col de Joux Plane

The infamous climb from numerous Tour de France editions, Lance Armstrong famously lost to Pantani partway up.

Two sides, both tough! The Classic climb from Samoens is between 10.5 and 12km and 990m+ depending on the start. The Morzine side is easier on paper at 10km and 700m+ but never feels easy.
From Samoens the gradient never lets up much. However find yourself a rhythm in your bottom gear and the views of meadows, cow bells and Mont Blanc will keep you heading to the top. Watch out for the 13% ramp with 5km to go, and make sure you recover to be ready for the last 3km to the top where there are awesome views and a good cafe that have delicious fruit tarts and raspberry ripple meringue icecream! Then theres 10km of descending straight back to Morzine to enjoy.

From Morzine the climb kicks up straight away and the 3km of grinding to leave the town behind. Keep going as theres some respite to recover and it never gets as steep again to the Col de Ranfolly, a secondary col before some more respite to the summit.

In winter the lake is frozen and is the beginner cross country ski track. The road becomes a lungbusting piste.