Col de l’Échelle/Colle della Scala
	Height	Climbing height
	1762m	m (Briançon); m (La Vachette) m (Bardonècchia); m (Oulx)
	Difficulty	Beauty
	1-2 (5) South; 2-3 (5) North	4 (5)
How to get there	This pass and the slightly higher Le Mauvais Pas (1779m) is only a kilometre apart on each side of the flat pass stretch. This pass is actually the lowest pass across the Western Alps. It is not used as much as the nearby Col de Montgenèvre (1850m) since it is only 71m less high and the Montgenèvre pass has a wide smooth road with easy gradients and is a much more direct link between France and Italy. The easiest side is from Briançon (1227m) (highest town in the Alps) and La Vachette (1352m) in the south. The real climb only starts when turning off the small road through Vallée de la Clarée to Névache at Plampinet (1490 m). From here a slightly rough and narrow asphalt road climbs through woods and in short time reaches the pass. There are no houses along this road and only an abandoned custom house at the top. The climb from Bardonècchia (1272m) in the north (or from further down at Oulx (1121m)) is much more like an ordinary mountain climb with some steeper passages, but it is still a rather easy climb. The road is (like always) better on the Italian side, but the two unlit tunnels near the top requires care.
Other comments	The road is quite nice at the pass height and the views from the higher section on the Italian side are very good! One can see all the way up to the Col Sommeiller (one of the highest points in the Alps reachable by a cycle) straight across Bardonècchia (see the unpaved roads section) and Monte Jafferau to the east. Probably the border went between the two passes at the top before the second world war – after the war Vallée Étroite became French just like some other border areas in the Alps. I recommend the nice old hotel Sommeiller in Bardonècchia (but it may have change since I was there in 2002). [05-1762]