Road trip guide: Conquering Pic de Château Renard
Pic de Château Renard is a high mountain peak at an elevation of 2.936m (9,632ft) above the sea level, located in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. It's one of the highest roads of Europe.
Located within the Queyras Regional Natural Park, the road to the summit is unpaved, very steep and really narrow. It’s usually impassable from October to June. 4x4 vehicle required. The summit hosts an astronomical observatory called Observatoire de Saint-Véran. Built in 1974 it’s said to be one of the highest observatories in Europe.
It’s one of the highest roads of the country. The climb is really steep. Starting from Saint-Véran, the ascent is 11.1 km long. Over this distance, the elevation gain is 927 meters with an average percentage of 8.35%, hitting a 16.0% through some of the ramps. The road is closed to private vehicles. Only astronomers on mission or the Observatory's service vehicle are authorized to travel on the service track.
Pic: https://www.saintveran-astronomie.com/acces.html