The road to the Great St Bernard begins in Aosta, in a valley where Roman roads and mediaeval pilgrim paths have run for two thousand years. This is the oldest crossing of the Western Alps still in use, and the approach from the Italian side follows the Valpelline and the narrow Val du Grand-Saint-Bernard past the village of Etroubles, a stone-built place that has turned itself into an open-air gallery of sculptures and murals. The sense of history is strong, and the road climbs gently at first, through meadows and larch woods, before the real mountain begins.
At the top, 2,469 metres up on the Swiss border, stands the hospice, founded in the eleventh century by Bernard of Menthon to shelter travellers on a dangerous route. Monks still live there, and the famous St Bernard dogs were bred at the hospice to find travellers lost in snow. Napoleon led an army of some forty thousand men across the pass in 1800, hauling cannon on sledges made from hollowed tree trunks, on his way to the battle of Marengo. A road tunnel, opened in the 1960s, now carries most traffic under the mountain, which leaves the old pass road to riders.
The approach is a wonderful ride. From Etroubles the road climbs in a series of bends and short straights, with steep, open slopes above and deep gorges below, and the surface is generally good. The final ramp to the pass is steeper, with hairpins, and the air gets thin and cold. The pass is open only in summer, usually from around June to October, and snow can fall at any time, so check the status before you set out. Traffic is light, except at weekends, and the views are huge.
Aosta, about nineteen kilometres away, is the main town, with fuel, restaurants, and Roman ruins, including a theatre and a triumphal arch, and it makes a good base. Etroubles and Valpelline are small villages with a few places to eat. On the pass, the hospice offers a museum, a shop, and a small restaurant, and the Swiss side has a long descent toward Martigny. Wear warm gloves, because the wind at the summit is cold, even in August.