Col de Pailhères (Mijanès) - Cycling Inspiration & Education

Located in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region of south-west France, the Col de Pailhères joins the village of Mijanès in the east to the spa town of Ax-Les-Thermes in the west. Despite being just one of two road passes to top 2,000m in the French Pyrenées (the other being the legendary Col du Tourmalet at 2,115m) the Pailhères was a relative late comer to the world of professional cycling, appearing for the first time in the Tour de France in 2003. A popular climb for cyclo tourists crossing the mountains from coast to coast the Pailhères has a certain serenity that only increases the higher you go and, although it may only be 10.4km from Mijanès, with switchback upon switchback and views that’ll leave you in complete awe it’s a far grander climb than it may otherwise have you believe.
Start: Mijanès
Length: 10.4km
Summit: 2,001m
Elevation gain: 871m
Average gradient: 8.4%
Max gradient: 11.5%
Ridden in October
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Stay well, ride safe and thank you for watching.
Mike Cotty
The Col Collective
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[@DavidYamaha]

Mike and his Col Collective......my inspiration!!!

[@3xitt]

I climbed this monster back in September 2013 from Ax Les Thermes to Mijanes, spectacular views and downhill! One of my best & strongest life experiences ever...

[@yvescharmousse1692]

Splendides, magnifiques, filmées pour rendre toute la beauté de la nature, ceux qui comprennent bien l'anglais ont beaucoup de chance et peuvent en profiter pleinement. Merci de laisser de côté la technique pour la nature et ces superbes paysages. Bravo. Donnez nous en encore et encore ! Splendid, beautiful, filmed to make all the beauty of nature, those who understand English well are very lucky and can enjoy it. Please leave aside the technique for nature and these beautiful landscapes. Bravo. Give us in again and again!

[@fulviopolce9785]

Veramente bravi. Un cordiale saluto da uno che ha fatto tanta bicicletta.

[@simonnaylor9695]

So, so happy you have made this film showing our local col. Living in Lavail, the last village on the road before the col on the Ax side, this is our summer cycling and winter skiing playground. It is a fantastic loop in either direction if you also include the col du pradel. Thank you Mike and team at the col Collective.

[@MikeCotty]

Simon Naylor You’re welcome Simon, it’s such a nice area, you’re a lucky man!

[@eltamin1966]

The Pyrenées are Beautiful ! We were once in Gavarnie and hiked to the 2800m Pimené.

[@carolmcdermott7844]

Yeah, agree - Col de Pradel is a steep little climb. You could also do a bigger loop with Col de Chiola.

[@boomshine7]

I enjoyed this climb in 2011 I think , did both sides, and like you said VERY UNDERRATED climb... both sides there own specifics, this side has nice hairpins in the middle section, the other side is a bit more alive in the bottom villages. most important for me, very quiet, so few traffic, really enjoyable climbing, Thumbs up

[@kellyoram6220]

Is it just me or are you even happier than normal on this ride! It's a stunner!

[@MikeCotty]

Kelly Oram It must be the Pailhères effect! 😃

[@peterwilliams7641]

Watched the Tour come up in 2007, but with over 40 Kms to the finish the peloton just cruised up. Fantastic to see. From the top could see the choppers miles away, building up the excitement as the race approached.

[@oscargerardogalindomarquez5615]

Qué hermoso es esté planeta. Qué sorprendente recorrido, me gustó mucho la ascensión. Es impresionante. Gracias y Saludos.

[@teamofsteve]

I cycled this from Axat 2 weeks ago, for the first time. It was very hot in August sun and I found it tough. So pleased to finish it though. Hopefully return for another attempt next year.

[@leduch]

chioula ,pailheres plateau de beille best cols in aude ariege .nice vid ! njoylife

[@st-py9pf]

Mike and team, thank you so much for another superb video. You really capture the magic of these great climbs and sense of insignificance they give us cyclists. I reckon this is the most underrated climb in the Pyrenees. I find it tougher from this side than from Ax but I think the hardest part is actually before you get to Mijanes - the sun beats down and there's no shade, no view, and the gradient is relentless, laying the foundation for blowing up later. But the preceding ride through the Aude valley and the subsequent climb make it all worthwhile, and you've captured its beauty perfectly. Brilliant! Thank you.

[@carolmcdermott7844]

The real beauty of the Col de Pailheres is its tranquillity. I lived in Quillan for 12 years and this was a regular ride for me. But the real climb (after the beautiful valley ride from Axat) starts at Usson - not Mijanes. Yes, Usson is just a hydro-electric station, and abandoned, but the gradient switches from 2-3% to 8+% at the junction and actually there are two options to Rouze (village before Mijanes). The "direct route" up the old road is very steep, whilst the slightly longer new road gives you a couple of km in the 6-7% range so you're not maxing before the relentless climb after the Rouze/Querigut/Mijanes junction. And it is VERY under-rated. 15 km of 8% average is very hard - I personally rate this as the hardest climb in the Pyrenees I've done (Tourmalet is a cruise by comparison) - but I've not ridden every col. Plateau de Beille is tough as well, but nowhere as attractive, and much busier with traffic.

[@juantaborda2055]

Conoceré esos puertos tan maravillosos. Que bonitas subidas. Y paisajes. A esto le llamo amor por la bicicleta. Saludos desde Colombia 🇨🇴

[@jonasdecraene7908]

Nice video! I did this one in July 2017. It is such an amazingly beautiful climb... In every way much nicer than the overrated Tourmalet. In my opinion top 3 in the Pyrenées (1. Cirque de Troumouse; 2. Lac de Cap de Long; 3. Col de Pailhères). Make sure you climb the twisty east side with moderate surfacing and descend the very fast west side with good tarmac!

[@carolmcdermott7844]

Absolutely agree - climb from the East, descend into Ax.

[@fwcustoms5997]

What a great epic climb and movies . Best regards from cologne germany

[@MrAurel40]

this clim nearly killed me in early august cause of the weather. This summer was a hell to try ride on the Pyrénées. The first time for me. I wasn't ready to stand hot temperatures. Next year i'll try again.

[@breathestrongcycling3672]

always look forward to these videos, it's like a "fix" to see me thru to the weekend...

[@MikeCotty]

breathestrongcycling Great to hear! Hmm, one from the Alps next I think! 🤔

[@jeanclaudedumoulin]

FINALLY !!!!! I've been waiting for that one for a while. Thank you!

[@LordRoxy]

Great video, views to die for. Glad to see you colour coordinated your kit with the season 😎

[@MikeCotty]

Hugh Clapperton Of course! Wanted to match the autumn colours 😉

[@smithytri89]

Looks like I missed a gem when I went to the Pyrenees back in August, might have to return. Great video as always!

[@MikeCotty]

smithytri89 Well worth a return visit!

[@yanniskouretas8688]

Your vids are the best inspiration Mike - especially after returning from a hard hill interval training ride - thanx ....

[@solseacow8334]

Yeah nice... good to see the scenery, when I did this climb a few years back you couldn't see anything for the fog and mist!

[@JustAnotherDayToday]

Such a beautiful place.

[@sgirwan]

Brilliant video once again! Thanks!

[@BillEvans1956]

Incredible! Inspiring! I want to be there right now!

[@garymartin557]

stunning, truly stunning

[@rossfripp4503]

Another fantastic video Mr Cotty!

[@aaronwilson3952]

brilliant, really like the kit colors.

[@andreascarmona]

No way Baby ! Let’s go !!! 🤩

[@louiswassong211]

Another gem!

[@anthonyhomercycling]

Magnifico!

[@maxmichelson5649]

Amazing as usual incredible climb loved it how far away from lunchon

[@rahulkota1]

Couldn't be better!!

[@dewiz9596]

I rode that Col, from Limoux, 1990, 1993, 2011. Partway up in 2005. Hell of a climb! Beware the HorseDroppings all over the place at the top !

[@kevingunning3968]

Climbed in September from Ax les Termes in rain and driving wind, 2 degrees at the summit. The descent to Mijanes was challenging. It may not be that well known but is as hard a climb as you will find in the Pyrenees.

[@dewiz9596]

Kevin Gunning : I can relate. My girlftiend and I went up, and down the Mijanes side late August, 2011. “The weather turned”. Girlfriend had insufficient hand strength for braking. . . in the damp, braking was iffy. She hit a guardrail in a switchback, and went over, suffering soft tissue damage to her thigh, . . Kept her of the bike for months. Plus, a broken fork. . .

[@tquest1]

Why is it 3°C outside right now ....

[@neildmoss]

Crawled up here in June 2016 on the Ariegeoise XXL - fogbound the whole way up! Nice to finally see what I was missing! Got a track ID for music at 4:15 please?

[@rowert1165]

Thank you :)

[@jensenhealey907efi]

Is no-one going to mention the weirdness of Mike passing the skiing dudes at 2:35 - 2:42?

[@st-py9pf]

Jensen Healey - Yeah, although weird it's not so unusual here - it's close to Font-Romeu, biathlon summer training centre and home of Martin Fourcade, World and Olympic biathlon champion. I guess those guys have to do "summer miles for winter smiles".

[@maxsungwd]

They had a nice tight pace line going

[@weerawarakul1817]

love it

[@tedrickfong6102]

is that BB30 creak in the background? 7:00

[@MikeCotty]

Tedrick Fong or my knees? 🤔

[@jaydamolasta]

Wonderful (Art-)Work! Nice road and landscape. But Mike, where is your yellow jersey gone? ;-)

[@valentinlopezpuche204]

Amazing video wIth a fantastic edition made by the team. Congratulations Mike. If someone can indicate the name of the song at 5:55 it would be great .

[@braddemarco8040]

Great video, amazing shots. Gets me motivated for the weekend to ride especially since the weather will not be in the low single digits (Fahrenheit). Is this ride on the Col Collective's Pyrenees's Tour?

[@MikeCotty]

Brad DeMarco Thanks for your appreciation Brad, glad you enjoyed the video! We’re a little further to the west in the Hautes Pyrénées so we don’t include this on our cycle tour but fear not we have many, many, sensational roads to explore that’ll leave you smiling from ear to ear 😃

[@TurneyUK]

Wow

[@niceone1456]

Can you recommend some of the quiet routes like this one? Because hearing cars behind me all the time is very difficult for me to enjoy the ride, especially loud motorbikes...

[@jonasdecraene7908]

Other nice and quiet ones in the Pyrenées are Cirque de Troumouse and Port de Boucharo, given all cars are going to Cirque de Gavarnie... Lac de Cap de Long too, but a little bit more traffic.

[@paulogomesdacunhapaulogome4336]

Paulogamisdacho Paulogamisdacho Paulogamisdacho Deus

[@C.Medina]

Booking to go in 3...2...1...

[@GordonMoat]

Cross-country roller blading?

[@MikeCotty]

Gordon Moat Yep, those guys we’re training for the ski season. Absolutely loved seeing them on the mountain working together.

[@gauravvattikuti351]

Out of curiosity, how come a Garmin is used while being sponsored by Lezyne??

[@TheColCollective]

Hi Gaurav, I filmed this video quite some time ago now and before I hooked up with the guys at Lezyne so we have a little compromise on some of the older videos. Ride safe, Mike