Cycling up Col du Télégraphe

Located a short distance from the pass at an altitude of 1570 m, above a sheer drop overlooking Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, the impressive Fort du Télégraphe owes its name to the Chappe signalling mast which was built on the site in the early 19th C.Just a stone's throw from the pass, at an altitude of 1,570 m, above a sheer cliff overlooking Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, the imposing Fort du Télégraphe owes its name to the presence of a Chappe telegraph signal tower built here in the early 19th century. Built between 1886 and 1890, the fort is the centerpiece of Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne's military stronghold. It bears witness to the militarization of the Alps in the late 19th century. On the site of a former Marshal de Berwick camp (18th century), then a Chappe telegraph station, the fort was built by the Armée des Alpes under General Berge in 1886-1890 to defend the Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne town square and the Col du Galibier road opened in 1891. Its Séré de Rivières-style architecture is spectacularly adapted to the terrain. The fort was reused in the active defense line of the Savoy fortified sector, the Maginot Line of the Alps, in 1940.