The��mountains of the Tour de France determine the winner of the stage race. It isn't until��the peloton hits the��craggy peaks of the Alps and Pyrenees that the GC starts to shake out and it becomes clear who the strongest riders are.��If you've ever wondered how you'd��stand up to those leg-burning��beasts, you're in luck. (And you don't even have to travel��to Europe.)��We took four iconic��climbs of the 2016 Tour and compared them to U.S.��ascents. Hill climb, anyone?��

Col du Tourmalet to��Mount Baldy Road, Claremont, California

The��Tourmalet��is the most climbed pass in the history of the Tour,��with 78 ascents including two different stages in both 1974 and 2010. The Mount��Baldy��climb in southern California is a hallmark of the��Amgen��Tour of California. It's steep at the bottom and the top,��with a heart-breaking��kicker to the finish. An��ascent under two hours is considered fast. Under an hour and you're��Tour-caliber.��

Col du Tourmalet

Length: 11.8 mi
Base elevation: 2312
Summit elevation:��6938
Total gain: 4626 ���� ��
������������������������: 7.4%
Max grade: 11%

Mount Baldy

Length: 12.9 mi
Base elevation: 1644���ڳ�
Summit elevation: 6419���ڳ�
Total gain: 4775��ft ����
������������������������: 7.0%
Max grade: 15%

Col d'Aspin to��Rabbit Ears Pass, Steamboat Springs, Colorado

While the Col��d'Aspin��doesn't have the huge elevation gains of the��Tourmalet��or��Ventoux,��it's consistent 6.5 percent��grade has exposed the weaknesses of Tour contenders since its��first inclusion in 1910. Rabbit Ears Pass offers the same steady grade as it climbs out of Steamboat Springs to its western��summit. A time under 45 minutes is excellent.��Under one hour and you're at the top of the amateur pack.

Col d'Aspin

Length: 7.3 mi
Base elevation: 2312��ft
Summit elevation: 4888��ft
Total gain: 257��6ft ���� ��
������������������������: 6.5%
Max grade: 9.5%

Rabbit Ears Pass��(West)

Length: 7.4 mi
Base Elevation: 6925 ft
Summit elevation: 9394��ft
Total gain: 2469��ft
������������������������: 6.3%
Max grade: 8%

Mont Ventoux to��Onion Valley Road, Independence, California

Mont��Ventoux��is nicknamed the Giant of Provence for good reason. From��Bedoin,��on its south side,��the��landscape looks lunar, providing��little respite from the long, unrelenting ascent. Onion Valley Road is considered one of the hardest climbs in the country.��The altitude, summer heat,��and steep, relentless��grade make this a genuine��sufferfest. Bring low gears.��If you can tackle this beast in under two hours, consider racing in Europe.��

Mont Ventoux

Length: 13.3 mi
Base elevation: 984��ft
Summit elevation: 6272��ft
Total gain: 5288��ft ���� ��
������������������������: 7.5%
Max grade: 12%

Onion Valley Road

Length: 12.5 mi
Base elevation: 3994 ft
Summit elevation: 9163 ft
Total gain: 5169��ft ���� ��
Average grade: 7.8%
Max grade: 12%

Col de la Ramaz to��Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Col de la��Ramaz��is gaining popularity,��having appeared in three of the past 13 Tours.��It has a particularly nasty section of 9 to��11 percent grade, much of��which is inside a tunnel.��The Little Cottonwood Canyon climb,��a fixture of the Tour of Utah for many years, has��like the��Ramaz, a section in the middle called Tanner Flat that's��especially taxing. Completing the ascent in under an hour is exceptional. If you can do it under and hour and a half,��you're still��looking good.��

Col de la Ramaz

Length: 8.6 mi
Base elevation: 2076��ft
Summit elevation: 5311��ft
Total gain: 3235 ft ���� ��
Average grade: 7.1%
Max grade: 11%

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Length: 8.6 mi
Base elevation: 5140 ft
Summit elevation: 8530 ft
Total gain: 3390 ft
Average grade: 7.5%
Max grade: 10%

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It happened so fast, I had no time to react. I was headed home on my bike when a pickup truck came roaring past on the left, avoiding me by mere millimeters. It wasn’t any skill on my part that prevented a painful accident. It was pure luck.

If Google has its way, luck won’t be a factor in these all too common car vs. bike showdowns in the near future. Much has been written about , which replace drivers with sensors, servos, and many lines of computer code—some of which was designed specifically with roadies in mind.

“The way we approached the problem is, ‘What’s the right, safe thing to do in each one of the cases?’” says Nathaniel Fairfield, a principal engineer at Google X. “We look at a scenario or a class of scenarios, and we get a lot of data and a lot of experience. We look at how people have been interacting. What’s your instinct? What would I do in this case? And we also look at how different behaviors and approaches can work out.”

The main goal () is to avoid collisions with cars, bikes, and . “In most cases, you really can get ahead of the problem. Instead of getting into a situation where you suddenly have to make a call about which way to go, you can anticipate the situation.” That means the autonomous car needs to sense oncoming cyclists well ahead of time, and then determine whether it can clear the rider long before a possible collision.

To do this, the car has cameras, LIDAR, and radar that give it a 360-degree view of its surroundings. The cameras distinguish between things like stoplights and road signs; the lasers and radar determine the speed and direction of moving objects.

While the majority of the programming is designed to track any moving object—be it a car, bicyclist, or pedestrian—there is also some bike-specific code on board. “Something we have found to be important are the hand signals,” says Fairfield. “When a cyclist sticks out their arm, they are not just doing it for fun or accidentally. It is a very clear, very strong signal, so we have taught the car to recognize cyclists’��hand signals.”

The car also knows what it means when a rider claims the whole lane. “[The cyclist is signaling that he] doesn’t want to be passed right now,” says Fairfield. “For a car driver, that’s sort of a judgment call: ‘Is the cyclist trying to claim the lane, or should I blast past?’ That’s something that we are very responsive to. We really pay attention to when other road users are acting in a way that is sending us a message about what their intentions are.”

The Google engineers have also given cyclists the right of way at stoplights. “When we are stopping at a stoplight and a cyclist pulls up right next to us, we try to figure out what we should do. Should we go first, or should [the cyclist] go first? We can afford to wait and be conservative. When the light turns green, let [the cyclist] make the first move,” says Fairfield.

Of course, the Google self-driving car isn’t subject to road rage, either. “We are not sitting in that car feeling that adrenaline, getting irritated or angry. We are sitting back here, days later, looking at all this data and trying to understand what the appropriate response is and making a cool, collected data-driven judgment call,” says Fairfield.

In the end, it boils down to one thing cyclists have been waiting to hear from car drivers for a long, long time: cyclists, like pedestrians, are particularly vulnerable road users. Google wants to be extra careful around them. And that could make all the difference.

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What a difference a year makes. Thanks to drug tests and aging, 2007 marks the first time in a decade that no Americans are expected on the Tour podium—though Levi Leipheimer is emerging as a dark horse. With the signing of Italian Ivan Basso, Lance Armstrong’s U.S.-based Discovery Channel team looked set to dominate once again. But Basso asked to be released from his contract this spring, a week before shocking the cycling world by admitting to his role in a drug scandal. The race will now probably be between Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov and Spaniards Alejandro Valverde and Carlos Sastre. BRUCE HILDENBRAND recently had them size up one another’s chances.

Alexandre Vinokourov, 33
Nation: Kazakhstan
Team: Astana
Odds: 5:2

“Vino” entered last year’s Tour as an outside favorite. But five of his Astana teammates were caught up in Operation Puerto, leaving the squad without the required number of riders and robbing the race of one of its most colorful figures. Vinokourov’s wildly aggressive style makes him a fan favorite, but it also leaves him vulnerable to energy bonks. “In a three-week race, he always has one bad day,” says Valverde. But with teammates like former Tour podium finisher Andreas Klöden and Giro winner Paolo Savoldelli, he should be able to ride a more tactical race.

Alejandro Valverde, 27
Nation: Spain
Team: Caisse d’Epargne
Odds: 10:3

Lance Armstrong suggested that Valverde was the future of cycling after the Spaniard beat him on a mountaintop finish during the 2005 Tour. But the future’s been slow in coming. Valverde dropped out with knee problems three days after beating Armstrong and exited last year’s Tour after breaking his collarbone in a crash. Still, there’s not a rider who isn’t afraid of Valverde when he’s healthy. “He needs more experience in the Tour,” says Sastre. “But he’s impressive. You never know what he can do.”

Carlos Sastre, 32
Nation: Spain
Team: CSC
Odds: 14:1

Sastre is the only one of the contenders here who finished the 2006 Tour. More impressive, he completed all three grand tours (Italy, France, and Spain) last year, finishing 43rd, fourth, and fourth, respectively. “I don’t know how he manages to do that,” says Vinokourov. “He is always on the course, in the flights, attacking.” This is the first time Sastre will enter the Tour as an undisputed team captain, which should only improve his chances.

Notes on a Scandal
Operation Puerto continues to shine a needed light on cycling’s drug problem. The investigation of a massive Spanish blood-doping network saw riders from around the world—including favorites Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich—bounced from last year’s Tour. When Spanish law forced authorities there to shelve investigations, other countries forged ahead. German investigators matched Ullrich’s DNA with bags of blood from Puerto raids, and in May, after Italian authorities requested his DNA, Basso confessed to breaking the rules. He now faces a two-year ban from cycling. An additional 49 riders were also linked to the scandal this spring, bringing the total to 107. The question now is whether Puerto will be the moment when pro cycling seriously confronts its dark side, or just another footnote in the sport’s descent into self-parody and cynicism.

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July 27, 2006 On Wednesday, July 26, just three days after Floyd Landis’s incredible victory in the 2006 Tour de France, the International Cycling Union(UCI) announced that an unidentified rider had tested positive during the three-week race. Speculation as to who that rider was ended abruptly on Thursday when the Phonak Cycling Team acknowledged on its Web site that Landis had failed a drug test and that an abnormal ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was detected in his system after a sample was taken after Stage 17.

“The Team Management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result,” reads the statement. “The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation.”

According to the statement, Landis will discontinue racing until the issue is resolved.

The French drug lab at Chatenay-Malabry, which was at the heart of last year’s erythropoietin (EPO) accusations against Lance Armstrong, reported that Landis’s urine sample showed abnormally high levels of the male growth hormone testosterone after his Stage 17 comeback win in Morzine.

The implications of this positive test are many, but until Landis’s B sample has been analyzed, nothing is for certain. The doping protocols of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stipulate that an athlete’s blood or urine sample be split into an A and a B sample. If the A sample tests positive for a banned substance, the athlete has the option to ask for his B sample to be tested. Also, the athlete has the option to ask for a different laboratory to perform the analysis. For a positive result to be confirmed, both the A and B samples must be positive. This protocol attempts to rule out the potential for a false positive result due to contamination or faulty laboratory work.

According to the statement on Phonak’s Web site, “if the result of the B sample analysis confirms the result of the A sample the rider will be dismissed.”

Because testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone, WADA has established a legal limit above which supplementation has potentially occurred. This limit is expressed as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone, known as the T/E ratio. For years, the ratio was six to one, but last year WADA lowered the limit to four to one. Testosterone has been used to aid in recovery, something that is crucial while riding four to six hours a day in a three-week race. The easiest way to administer testosterone is through a patch, similar to one used to provide nicotine for anti-smoking cures.

If Landis’s B sample comes back positive, the fallout will be major. Landis’s Tour de France title will most likely be stripped and he will face a potential four-year ban from the sport. Now 30, a comeback at age 34 for Landis would be difficult.

Click here to read the complete transcript of Floyd Landis’s July 27 news conference addressing his failed drug test.

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Certainly, a large part of the success of the California race was due to the groundswell created by the Armstrong’s seven consecutive Tour de France victories. However, with eight Americans in the top ten of the overall classification and two American teams taking the majority of the daily stage wins at the Tour of California, the U.S. proved itself as a definite force in the pro pelotons—on both sides of the Atlantic. And Californians were loving it, lining the starts, finishes, and mountain passes in numbers rivaling many of the major races in Europe. “Don’t you people have jobs?,” quipped Floyd Landis when asked about the huge crowds lining the entire four-mile ascent of Sierra Road, on Tuesday’s stage 2.

“I think the crowds are impressive,” added Team CSC’s Dave Zabriskie, one of the pre-race favorites even though this was his first competition since his yellow jersey performance at the 2005 Tour de France. “I think they did a good job getting the word out and everyone is excited. It is good to have them there.”

One of the biggest revelations of the race was the emergence of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. With two stage wins by Argentinean sprinter Juan Jose Haedo this new squad, which was announced only two weeks prior to the start of the Tour of California, showed some of the older, more experienced teams how to get the job done.

“We can’t ask for a better start. We came in here with the objective of stage wins because we knew we had some very fast guys,” noted Frankie Andreu a former U.S. Postal rider and now team director at Toyota-United Pro. “The main thing is that we got all the guys working on the same page, each with their role, with the same objective and it worked out.”

The victory by San Diego resident Landis was particularly sweet. In his last major event on U.S. soil, the 2005 Tour of Georgia, the former Lance Armstrong teammate held the lead going into the final decisive stage. Unfortunately, Lance and his Discovery Channel boys overpowered Landis’s Phonak squad and snatched the overall victory with Tom Danielson. Just like in Georgia last April, Floyd assumed the race lead after a brilliant 17-mile time trial in San Jose. Team CSC’s David Zabriskie and Bobby Julich were in second and third place, a scant 29 and 34 seconds back, and Discovery Channel’s Georgie Hincapie stood fourth only 45 seconds out of the lead. But with four days to go and almost 400 miles remaining the race was far from over.

Team Phonak rallied around its affable leader and parried an onslaught of attacks from CSC, Discovery Channel, and another pre-race favorite, Levi Leipheimer’s Gerlosteiner team. In the end, everybody won at this year’s Amgen Tour of California. The riders enjoyed postcard weather, the organizers provided an outstanding venue, and the spectators were treated to big time professional bike racing at its best. Lance may not be turning a pedal in the pro peleton but we can all rest easy. U.S. riders are picking up the torch and they now have a new world-class venue to showcase their talents in America.

Final Overall Classification

1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 22:46.46
2 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 0.29
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 0.34
4 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 0.45
5 Nathan O’Neill (Aus) Health Net-Maxxis 1.08
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 1.10
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 1.29
8 Thomas Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 1.49
9 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC 1.55
10 Jason McCartney (USA) Discovery Channel 1.58

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Buon Appetito

HIGH POINT: Turin's iconic Mole Antonelliana

In the mountain village of Pragelato, enter through a half-moon-adorned wooden door in a 17th-century former stable to find La Greppia, a rustic-chic restaurant with sloping stone ceilings and muted lighting. Thinly sliced meats, accompanied by vegetables and cheeses, are served at the table for diners to cook, pierrade style, on heated stone slabs. Via del Beth 9, 011-39-0122-78-409

Ski the Galaxy
Log 30,000 or more vertical feet by skiing the Via Lattea (“Milky Way”) from end to end. The cluster of six resorts straddles the Italy-France border, with 5,000 vertical feet each, 88 lifts, and 240 total trail miles. Best of the bunch is Sestriere, home of the Olympic men's downhill. Via Lattea lift ticket, $37;

Grape Escape
After a day on the slopes, duck down through the stone doorway of Crot 'd Ciulin, in the mountain town of Bardonecchia, and get chummy with mustached ski instructors. Simple wood tables, wine casks, and sepia-tone photographs offer the perfect setting for sampling Barbera d'Alba or Dolcetto di Dogliani, popular Piedmont reds, and filling up on toma, a local cheese. 20 Via Des Geneys; 011-39-0122-96161

Nordic Nonpareil
Millions have been poured into the cross-country ski center in Pragelato. How do you spend that kind of cash on nordic skiing? On snowmaking, lights, new buildings (for warming up, chowing down, and changing clothes), and an 18.6-mile trail network meticulously groomed and graded for Olympic competitions. $7 per day; 011-39-0122-74-1107,

Crash with Class
Le Meridien Turin Art & Tech, formerly a Fiat factory, has been refashioned by architect Renzo Piano into a hip hotel about a ten-minute walk from the heart of downtown Turin. Polished steel, floor-to-ceiling windows, and angular furniture designed by Philippe Starck are reasons Architectural Digest praised it as “a showcase of modern design.” Rev your engine with a morning run on the rooftop track, formerly used for test-driving prototypes. Doubles, $150–$410; 800-543-4300,

Get a Choco-buzz
At Turin café;s, try a cup of bicerin—a sublime concoction of coffee, chocolate, and milk (or, even better, vanilla cream). Or forget the drink and go straight for the hard stuff: Turin is famed for its chocolate. Recommended confection: cioccolato gianduja, a hazelnut blend produced by Venchi and available at downtown chocolatiers.

Take it Reel Easy
The Museo Nazionale del Cinema, in the restored Mole Antonelliana (a 115-year-old former synagogue), houses more than 7,000 film titles, including Italian, French, and American classics, with frequent screenings; 200,000 original posters; and interactive displays on filmmaking. Admission, $6; 011-39-011-81-25-658,

Royalty-Spotting: Town and Crown

MAJESTIC, 360 DAYS A YEAR: St. Moritz

Lech, Austria
At the end of a high valley, opposite the ürhub of St. Anton, in the Arlberg Pass, Lech is geographically fortified against prying paparazzi. Helicopters have buzzed in the likes of Princess Caroline of Monaco and the late Princess Di. Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander continues Lech's royal tradition of swooping in and schussing down. See and be seen at: The intimate Gasthof Post Hotel ().

Klosters, Switzerland
Prince Charles is a Klosters kind of guy. William and Harry are also regulars at this secluded village, as are international power brokers, who try to escape media scrutiny while attending the annual World Economic Forum each January in nearby Davos. See and be seen at: The Walserhof Hotel (), the choice of Brit royals.

Gstaad, Switzerland
Old-money Gstaad was reportedly aghast when Paris Hilton romped into town for vacay last year. According to the gossip mill, the resort got another scare when local homeowner Liz Taylor recently offered her palatial estate to tabloid escapee Michael Jackson. Gstaaders seem to prefer royal celebs like Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece. See and be seen at: The castlelike, très exclusive, 104-room Palace Hotel ().

St. Moritz, Switzerland
Princess Caroline, the Sultan of Brunei, and George Clooney have been spotted cavorting in the Alpine capital of blue-blood chic, depicted in a memorable ski-chase scene in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with onetime Agent 007 George Lazenby. And where else would you find an event like the annual Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow? See and be seen at: Badrutt's Palace Hotel (), where no one thinks twice about $25 martinis.

Nouveau Lodges: Beyond the Chalet

Euro-Fresh: Vigilius Mountain Resort

The Alps may conjure visions of famous peaks, edelweiss, and stuffy Swiss Miss inns, but thanks to a new breed of hotel—designed for a younger, more affluent crowd—you can have your iconic peaks and hip digs, too.

Skihotel Galzig, St. Anton, Austria
It's mere steps to the lifts from this many-windowed hotel, which offers 21 warm-hued rooms with brilliant views of mounts Rendle and Galzig. Comfy leather couches surround an open fire, and a sauna, solarium, and steam bath soothe weary skiers. Doubles from $84, including breakfast; 011-43-5446-427-700,

The Clubhouse, Chamonix, France
This newly renovated 1927 art deco mansion holds three private doubles, three bunk rooms (for six or eight), and one suite, with flat-screen TVs, teak-decked “rainforest” showers, mini-libraries, and Mont Blanc views. On the main level, an exclusive bar awaits. Doubles, $225 (three-night minimum stay), including breakfast and dinner; 011-33-450-909-656,

Naturhotel Waldklause, Läenfeld, Austria
Built with natural materials—fir, spruce, pine, glass, and stone—this 47-room hotel features simple, geometric furniture and contemporary art. A rooftop terrace and balconies off each room overlook the Öztal Valley; the new Aqua Dome thermal spa next door gives discounts to hotel guests. Doubles from $122, including breakfast; 011-43-5253-5455,

Vigilius Mountain Resort, Lana, Italy
The Vigilius is remote, grass-roofed, and heated by a low-emission, energy-saving wood-chip incinerator. Reachable only by a three-to-four-hour hike or a vintage 1912 cable car, the 35 rooms and six suites in this minimalist larch-and-glass enclave feature sleek, modern furniture and local antiques. Plus there's a music library, screening room, and spa with a spring-fed infinity pool. Doubles from $380, including breakfast and cable-car ride; 011-39-0473-55-6600,

Riders Palace, Laax, Switzerland
This cubic glass-and-larch hobnob haven—located just five minutes from Laax's lifts—offers a bar, 70 communal and private accommodations, and a concert hall that hosts international bands. Rooms are urban-chic, with Philippe Starck–designed chrome sinks and bathtubs, surround-sound entertainment systems, and PlayStations. Bunk beds from $50, doubles from $73, including lift ticket; 011-41-81-927-9700,

Competitions: Play Your Own Games

Derby de la Meije, La Grave, France, April 4–7
The rules are simple: Get from the top to the bottom of Vallons de la Meije ski area as fast as possible, by nearly any route. In a good year, about 1,000 snowboarders and tele-, mono-, and alpine skiers take on the nearly 7,000-vertical-foot, off-piste challenge. Whether you ski it or decide to skip it, be sure to stick around for the four-day festival, which includes rock, reggae, and electronica.

Engadin SkiMarathon, Maloja to S-Chanf, Switzerland, March 12
Gliding over 27 miles of frozen lakes and through forests and meadows requires a lot of endurance and heavy breathing, but more than 12,000 cross-country skiers—rom world-class fitness freaks to lounge lizards—ign up each year. Chase the course record of one hour 32 minutes or take it slow and soak in the splendor of the Engadin Valley.

Giro d'Italia, Italy, May 21–28
Followed by the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, the Giro is the year's first grand-tour stage race. Ride Strong (www.ridestrongbiketours.com) offers one-week trips that let you spin ahead of all the pros on the tough midrace mountain stages in the Dolomites.

Hotlist

AN ALPS ICON: The Matterhorn in Zermat, Switzerland

Ski Camps
Vert Alert

Steep Skiing Camps Worldwide, La Grave, France. American freeskier Doug Coombs presides over a thrilling ski week in hairy terrain. Campers learn couloir etiquette, beacon drills, and more.

Chocolate Freeride Productions, Verbier, Switzerland. Intended for solid skiers wishing to safely graduate to big-mountain freeriding, weeklong courses sample Verbier's mammoth off-piste.
—R. S.

Trips
Epic Rambles

Portes du Soleil is a sprawling resort in southeastern France that houses 209 lifts and, in summer, 373 miles of mountain-bike trails. Ride from village to village, using the lifts and granny gears to pedal to a different hotel each night. Traces Directes organizes tours and can help get your bags from bed to bed. $1,330 for five days; 011-33-4-50-74-7040

SwisSkiSafari uses helicopters to access 7,000-vertical-foot descents in the Swiss backcountry and chill time at five-star front-country hotels. In between, blast down groomers in Saas Fee, Zermatt, and Verbier. Four days of skiing, meals, and accommodations, $7,900; 011-41-27-398-2194,

KE ���ϳԹ��� Travel's guides will show you how to crampon and piolet your way along France's Mer de Glace, Glacier des Rognons, and even up the Mont Blanc du Tacul, a 14,000-foot peak. Eight-day trip out of Chamonix, $2,555; 800-497-9675,
—Tim Neville

Steeps
Sheer Madness

Engelberg, Switzerland: Snow-porn stars Shane McConkey, Jamie Pierre, and Micah Black all visited this resort last season. Why? To ride in-bounds treats like Steinberg (4,000 crevasse-riddled vertical feet) and backcountry steeps like Galtiberg (a 6,500-foot plunge). A local guide is highly recommended.

La Grave, France: The Anti-Whistler, La Grave has no pedestrian village, disco, or official ski patrol. Instead, there's 7,000 vertical feet of no-beginners-allowed terrain.

Dammkar, Germany: Featuring a bigger–than–Jackson Hole vertical of 4,300 feet, Dammkar also gets some of the best snow in Bavaria. The area's recent decision to quit grooming explains its official name: Dammkar Freeride.

Courmayeur, Italy: Courmayeur is Chamonix's conjoined twin to the south. Above the first stage of its creaky Telepheriques du Mont Blanc cable car? Topless sunbathers. Above the third? A descent down 6,888 vertical feet of the Toula Glacier, highlighted by chutes approaching 50 degrees.

Host Cities: A Guide to Perennial Playgrounds

The Winter Olympics are practically synonymous with the Alps—and this year they return to the classic range for the tenth time. No other place so seamlessly merges rugged high-altitude life with Old World glamour and panache. Here's a look at past glory and present-day fun, from the gastronomic to the gonzo.

Olympic Locale: Chamonix, France, 1924
Why Go Now?: Alpinist crossroads of the world—the hottest Euro destination for the piton-and-pylon set. Be sure to bring an ice ax.
Highlight: The off-piste Vallé;e Blanche and the Aiguille du Midi tram ride, rising some 9,000 vertical feet to a rocky spire by Mont Blanc.
Hotspot: Chambre Neuf. It's aprè;s-ski on steroids, pumped up by rock and roll and Swedish hotties.
Info:

Olympic Locale: St. Moritz, France, 1928 & 1948
Why Go Now?: British gentility and glitzy shopping. Essential gear: polo mallets, Van Cleef jewelry, and politesse.
Highlight: The Cresta Run, the world-famous sledding site. Hop on a skeleton toboggan and zoom 50 miles an hour down nearly 4,000 feet.
Hotspot: The casino in the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains. Win at baccarat and maybe you can afford the pricey drinks later at Badrutt's Palace.
Info:

Olympic Locale: Garmisch-partenkirchen, Germany, 1936
Why Go Now?: Oktoberfest in the mountains. Be ready for one-liter glasses of Paulaner brew and boisterous beer-hall singing.
Highlight: The Kandahar downhill run, possibly the most dangerous on the World Cup circuit. Be like Bode and ski it nonstop from top to bottom.
Hotspot: The Gasthof Fraundorfer. Go for post-slopes suds, stay for a Bavarian meat-and-potatoes dinner, and finish with a rowdy sing-along.
Info:

Olympic Locale: Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, 1956
Why Go Now?: Easy skiing and extreme eating against the Dolomites' backdrop of rust-red cliffs and spiky 7,000-to-8,000-foot peaks.
Highlight: Classic rock scrambling on 5,000-foot-plus vertical limestone faces, including some small climbs that are doable in winter.
Hotspot: The Rifugio Averau, an on-mountain chalet. Have a three-hour lunch of pasta and sausage, then try skiing back to town.
Info:

Olympic Locale: Innsbruck, Austria, 1964 & 1976
Why Go Now?: What's not to love about a cosmopolitan 16th-century Tyrol city flanked by 25 villages and 76 ski lifts within a 168-mile radius?
Highlight: Year-round skiing above 10,000 feet on the nearby 2.7-square-mile Stubai Glacier, plus backcountry hut-to-hut trips in winter.
Hotspot: The Hofgarten Café;, especially on a spring day when you can sit outside and people-watch over a locally brewed Zepfer beer.
Info:

Olympic Locale: Grenoble, France, 1968
Why Go Now?: The hills are alive beyond industrial Grenoble. Drive an hour to Les Deux Alpes, then cruise the front side or ski the back face to La Grave.
Highlight: The bike ride up 21 switchbacks to the nearby ski resort of L'Alpe d'Huez. Tour de France racers will tackle the infamous climb on July 18.
Hotspot: Mike's Bar, in Les Deux Alpes, a hard partyer's hangout. Bring your skis or snowboard—they can be waxed while you drink.
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Olympic Locale: Albertville/Val D'Isere, France, 1992
Why Go Now?: Big-mountain skiing on 25,000 acres. The action, on and off the slopes, is at the side-by-side resorts of Val d'Isere and Tignes.
Highlight: Off-piste challenges like L'Aguille Pers, at Val d'Isere, or the Face Nord de la Grand Motte at Tignes. Hire a guide and go where tourists dare not.
Hotspot: Dick's Tea Bar, in Val d'Isere. A favorite of Italian bon vivant Alberto Tomba during the Olympics, it keeps cranking until 4 a.m.
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Hut-to-Hut Treks: Connect the Spots

The Alta Via No. 1, in the Dolomites of northern Italy, offers exquisite valley views and crosses breathtaking summits from Braies Lake, near Dobbiaco, to Passo Duran, for a total of 75 miles. Each night you sleep in a cozy rifugio where warm beds and meals await. Great Walks of the World (011-44-19-3581-0820, ) offers a ten-day all-inclusive hike for $1,700.

The Haute Route, a seven-day, 70-to-90-mile trek from Chamonix, France, to Zermatt, Switzerland, comes in two flavors: the glacier option, which includes travel on snow and ice, and the hiking version, which stays on established trails. Both routes offer stunning views of the French and Swiss Alps and end in the shadow of the Matterhorn. Reserve early at each night's hut or sign up with an outfitter like Chamonix Experience ($1,700; 011-33-6-08-80-94-27, ).

The Stubai Horseshoe, a 45-mile traverse of Austria's incredibly scenic Stubai Valley, south of Innsbruck, is a hiker's dream. The relatively strenuous seven-day circuit starts in the village of Obertal and ends in Neustift. On Top Mountaineering (800-506-7177, ) offers an all-inclusive weeklong trip for $1,900.

Alpine Splendor: The Short List

Best Airport: Züch, Switzerland
Fly here, fetch your bags, catch a train to the central station (they run every ten minutes), and within a half-hour of touchdown you're rumbling through dreamy Alpine scenery to your hamlet of choice.

Best Castle: Neuschwanstein, Germany
If it's overcast and predictable at Garmisch, bop over to Neuschwanstein, a medieval-style castle that nutty King Ludwig II built in the 19th century out of a fascination with fairy tales. Perched atop an impossible finger of rock, it's reached via a steep 30-minute climb.

Best DJ Scene: St. Moritz, Switzerland
Throw some clogs in your pack and join well-lubricated jet-setters on the party tram up Corvatsch for St. Moritz's traditional Friday Snow Night. Ski or snowboard down to midmountain, retrieve clogs, and dance in a steamy disco until last call, at 2 a.m.

Best Après Bar: Pub Mont Fort, Verbier, Switzerland
Known for cheap 20-ounce steins of Carlsberg beer and a giant, sunny deck, the two-level bar is a sea of bronzed faces that includes extreme snowboarders, freeskiers with film credits, and every other international big-mountain type.

Best place to check e-mail: CyBar, Chamonix, France
Reconnect with home as drop-dead-gorgeous Norwegian snowboarders surf the Net, while on another floor of this cavernous bar Canadian freeskiers watch The Big Lebowski. 011-33-4-50-53-69-70

Best Carbo-Loading: La Perla, Italy
The owner of this five-star restaurant in Corvara, in the stunning Alta Badia region, turns out the lights each night on the 27,000-bottle wine cellar, saying, “We let the babies sleep.” And the kitchen sends out pumpkin ravioli with truffle oil. It's the karmic antithesis to the Olive Garden.

Best Shopping: Livigno, Italy
The whole town of Livigno () is a duty-free zone, and shoppers for booze, perfume, cigars, and electronics prowl the streets, along with suspicious numbers of telemark skiers. Framed by 3,000-vertical-foot escarpments, Livigno is home to April's Free Heel Fest, Europe's biggest telemark celebration.

Best Baroque Fantasy: Pichlmayrgut, Austria
���ϳԹ��� this “sport hotel” village (doubles, $235; ) are turrets and onion domes; inside are subterranean passages leading to indoor tennis courts, bowling lanes, and steam rooms. Across the street is one of the Dachstein-Tauern Sportregion's 111 ski lifts, accessing 140 miles of slopes.

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Big Moments 1987
Out of Nowhere

When the closely fought ’87 Tour reached the base of the Alpine climb to La Plagne, Spain’s Pedro Delgado was two minutes ahead of Stephen Roche. Roche was out of gas, but the Irishman launched a monumental comeback in the last three miles, and as Delgado crossed the line, Roche appeared around the corner, four seconds behind. He collapsed and was taken to a hospital, but his comeback had brought him close enough to win the Tour with a victory over the Spaniard in the final time trial.


Big Moments 1989
Goin’ Hunting

Eight seconds proved the winning margin in what many call the greatest comeback in Tour history. Entering the final day’s time trial, Greg LeMond needed to erase a 50-second deficit over the brief stretch of 15 miles to win his second Tour. No one believed he could make up even half the deficit. But equipped with newfangled aerodynamic handlebars, the American—two years after a hunting accident collapsed one of his lungs—overcame Frenchman Laurent Fignon to deny the home fans a win.


Big Moments 2001
Postman’s Bluff

In ’01, during the pivotal Stage 10, when Lance Armstrong saw that his rival Jan Ullrich’s team was setting a blistering pace on the climbs leading to l’Alpe d’Huez, he decided to play along and move to the back, faking fatigue. Ullrich rode even harder. As Lance passed him at the bottom of the Alpe, he revealed his hand, looking back into the German’s eyes to see what he had left and let him know he’d been had. What followed was an attack heard round the world.

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