Author Archives: chamonixbikeblog

What, where, when. 2014 lift openings

Posted on 14th April 2014
Spring, because there's flowers and snow in the same shot

In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of mountain biking (Tennyson was a keen early mtber, award yourself 10 smug points if you got the reference), lift accessed mountain biking at that, but where?

Well here’s a list of when Chamonix’s lifts open (probably, subject to usual CdMB changes) and some other options for nearby if that’s too long to wait.

Le Tour: 14th June

Flegere: 14th June

Brevent/Planpraz: 14th June

Prarion: 14th June

Bellevue: 14th June

Tramway du Mont Blanc: 14th June

Grand Montets: 28th June

Vallorcine: 28th… [Read full post]

Posted in Trail conditions , tagged

Public transport: Dorenaz.

Posted on 7th April 2014
Dorenaz isn't only about steep and rocky

Generally when you think of using public transport to ride your bike, it’s looking sheepish as you trail mud through a Scotrail carriage to hook your bike up by the toilet then sit getting cold on the way back home.

Switzerland is a bit different. In Switzerland the topography lends itself more to cable cars than trains so access to many smaller villages is by publicly run telepheriques. Dorenaz is one such place where the local bus driver also sells tickets and presses buttons on a 670m height gain gondola.

As Dorenaz is at only 450m and the hill faces … [Read full post]

Posted in Road trip , tagged , ,

Last train to cold*

Posted on 13th November 2013
A balmy summers day ride, if you're from the north east.

Winter’s turned up again in Chamonix, only this time she’s brought her luggage and it looks like she’s staying for a while.

Normally the easiest way to escape her clutches is to head down the road to Saleve, only a quick glance at the website showed they’ve closed until the end of March for works. Valley trails under our own steam it is.

Down the valley and past Vaudagne the geography of the valley changes from the granite boulders and steep coniferous lined slopes around town to mellow slopes with deciduous trees and loamy ground, perfect for the icy conditions.… [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride , tagged ,

Greatest hits

Posted on 4th November 2013
Sometimes it's easier just to miss out bits of the trail completely

Even if you’re far too core to lower yourself to buying a greatest hits album, I’m sure at Christmas an aunt will have remembered your obsession with Cliff Richard and got you a copy of “The whole story” (I googled it)

Before you got the greatest hits though, you’ll have listened through albums, heard singles on the radio. Over time the songs became kind of familiar, a bit too familiar. They lost the urgency and freshness they once had and worse, you can even grow to hate them.

I end up listening only to a select few tracks, the best … [Read full post]

Posted in Trail conditions , tagged

Open for business. Still.

Posted on 27th October 2013
Wheeeeeeee(lie)

With the lift closing for summer at the end of September it seemed there was 2 options. Ride up the hills for once, or leave Chamonix until the lifts opened again for the French ½ term break. I chose the latter.

Back in town almost 4 weeks later and the leaves have changed colour but otherwise it seems to be business as usual for riding. Only the Brevent lifts have been opened mind, so if you don’t like steep techy rock sections and/or fast flowy but narrow singletrack, then tough I guess.

With the upper section of Brevent running this … [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride, Trail conditions , tagged

Tricot two

Posted on 5th October 2013
Would this view tempt you into finishing lunch and getting back on the bike?

Who said September’s the best month for mountain biking in the alps? I did, and I submit this last week as evidence. Stable weather, cool temps, blue skies and quiet trails. We’ll just ignore the snow of a fortnight ago if that’s ok with you.

Last big day off the Chamonix lifts for the summer, where to go and what to do. Well THE Les Houches classic ride from last summer was the Col de Tricot down to Le Fayet. None of us had repeated it since so we figured, why not?

If I’m honest, the weather was a wee … [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride , tagged , ,

Two trails

Posted on 29th September 2013
Picture this

It might be the last week of proper uplift in the valley before the end of summer but it certainly doesn’t feel like the end of the season.

Les Houches is where it’s at right now and after the success of the ride from Nid d’Aigle it seemed a shame not to check out some of the other lines on the map.

The dotted red line that traverses round rather than over Mont Lachat was the first, and whatdaya know, turns out it is a quick easy way round to the Col Mont Lachat. There is one short section with … [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride , tagged

This is mountain biking.

Posted on 26th September 2013
If you're going to fall, try to fall right.

You hear “Epic” describing a lot of things about Chamonix. Surrounded by deeds of derring do from alpinist, skiers, parapontists and such then as a lowly mountainbiker you really have to work to earn the title “epic” for a ride. You could try having horrendous weather to battle through, major mechanicals that required ingenuity & creativity to overcome and make it back. Distance, height gain, length of time riding are options for epic. Injuries can count too because after all, epic doesn’t have to mean good.

So why do I think this ride should count as epic? It wasn’t particularly … [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride , tagged , ,

Last chance to ride ___________

Posted on 23rd September 2013
Robbie getting distracted by the view

Normally “where shall we ride today?” is a tricky question, but for the last week it’s been a bit easier to get an answer.”We’ll ride wherever the lifts are about to close”. So that’s Brevent, Flegere and Le Tour, in that order.

An alternative answer has also been “I’m not going out in that, it’s snowing”. Which is true, winter made its first appearance of the autumn resulting in a fair bit of snow down to 1700m or so and some purty looking north faces once the clouds finally lifted. It didn’t do the biking communities enthusiasm to ride any … [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride , tagged , ,

3.10 is the magic number

Posted on 13th September 2013
Ridgeline. Putting the "pic" in Epic

And why is it the magic number? Because that’s when the last tram leaves Le Fayet for Bellevue, but I’m getting ahead of myself, back to the start.

Every spring I start with the intention of riding all 10 bike friendly lifts on the Chamonix lift pass in a day, and every autumn arrives without me having done so. It’s a trickier challenge to complete than it first appears as the window to get it done is pretty small. Most of the good riding from the lifts is on trails off limits during the July & August bike ban, and … [Read full post]

Posted in Chamonix ride , tagged , , ,