A scenic paved road to Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin
Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin, or Piedra de San Martín, is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 1.760m (5,774ft) above the sea level, located on the France-Spain border in the western Pyrenees in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (France) and Navarra (Spain).
The pass is traversed by 2 roads, both asphalted. On the French side, the D132 and on the Spanish side, the NA1370. La Pierre Saint-Martin is ringed by contrasting lands and scenery, rendering each climb up the pass a unique journey.
The pass has been climbed by the Tour de France bicycle race. At around 20km it is long and has a very hard section in the middle. It is not as hard as Tourmalet or Hautacam but it can rival them for spectacular scenery. There are 2 routes to reach the summit. On the West side (from La Caserne), the climb is 18 km long, with an elevation gain of 1.320 meters. The average gradient is 7.3 %. On the North side (from La Mouline), the climb is 18.5 km long with an elevation gain of 1305 meters. The average gradient is 7.1 %.