Chamonix Bike Blog

Category: Chamonix ride

Telepherique des Glaciers. Uplift of a sort.

Jan’s starting to get a bit fed up. For a month now every time he’s been out he’s called last ride, cleaned his bike and put it away for the winter, only to be persuaded to get it covered in mud again the next weekend. Sure enough as we were packing the bikes away at La Saleve he was sure that was it for the autumn. Then I suggested we ride the trail down from ye olde abandonned “Telepherique des Glaciers“….

Just as well he did, I’d have gone up solo, but it’s much easier to take photos when there’s someone else there to wheelie on command.

The Telepherique des Glaciers is the original version of the Midi lift, only it was never completed and, in 1955, was abandoned for the better line of the current lift. Most folk know the lift buildings from descending to the Mont Blanc Tunnel after skiing some of the classic Chamonix lines such as Rond Glacier or the North face of Mont Blanc, but with a bike the push up to the middle station with a bike is pretty easy, and you can knock another 200m vertical off if you drive up to the tunnel entrance.

This wasn’t an option for Jan & I as the traffic was backed up for several km from the tunnel, so we just rode up the edge of the road past the static traffic. After negotiating our way through the tunnel entrance area we started the push up, following the same route as you descend.

The station sits at 1688m, about 600m above Chamonix and 400m above the tunnel. It’s north facing and a bit chillier than down in town, but you can’t visit any of these places and not take some time to explore. If you’ve got the skills of Danny Macaskill you could have an amazing time here. Jan and I had to make do with wheelies and skids, but that was fun enough for us!

Eventually we figured we’d best head down the hill. I always take a bit more time to savour the descent if I’ve had to get myself to the top of it. The “need” to take some photos was a great excuse to session some of the amazing natural features on the trail. The trail flows so well though, it’s tempting to just keep blasting down. It’s not super steep and tech like you find on many of the valley side trails, but at the same time there’s so much going on on the trail that you aren’t tearing down too quickly.

Reaching the tunnel again we crossed over the concrete and dropped down towards the Cascades du Dards to ride that trail down to town. Another sweet little track, all the better for having no snow on it this time.

Getting to the back of the old Camping Les Molliasses we were still keen for more, so cut right and took the forestry roads up towards the path down from the Midi-Plan. These trails, particularly the Cascade du Dard and Midi paths, are very busy throughout the summer and early autumn with walkers so it was good to ride them without anyone else about.

The last section of this trail down to the ski jump was a fitting end to the ride. Having started at the Telepherique des Glaciers lift which opened in time for the first winter Olympics and hosted the bobsleigh, we finished at the ski jump which had been built and inauguriated for the same event. If only I’d planned it that way!

Is Jan going to get the bike out again? Is anyone? The weather watchers are getting excited about the prospect of some fairly serious snow next week, Verbier’s already open for skiing, Courmayeur opens on Friday and Grand Montets is scheduled to open the week after, so maybe the bikes are away for the winter now.

We’ll see.

24/11/2012
Loriaz

It’s inter-season now in Chamonix, which means as well as the lifts closing, the shops are starting to cut back their opening hours, and town empties as everyone heads off on holiday. Wanting to get a classic ride in before packing the bike up for my holidays, I thought the Loriaz chalets loop would do the job nicely.

It’s one of the absolute best non-lift accessed loops in and around Chamonix, but being a little out of the valley doesn’t see quite as much traffic as some of the other non-lift accessed loops.

Most years the train can make life easier, getting you to Buet and from Vallorcine without any effort, but not this year. Despite this, it’s popularity is definitely increasing and there’s more tyre tracks on the route these days than when I was first shown the route a few years ago.

The ascent from Buet was as painful as ever, possibly more so with Paul “the machine” tearing up ahead of us, despite just finishing a quick 3 day Tour du Mont Blanc (check out his write up here for inspiration) but a little over an hour after leaving Buet we were at the cross, looking at the falling snowline and dropping our saddles.

If the climb was as painful as normal, the descent was as good as normal, starting above the trees in surprisingly Scottish terrain before dropping into the forest.

All too soon you’re back in Vallorcine for a short pedal back to Buet, or back over the Col du Montets if you’ve got the legs for it.

01/10/2012
Tricot treat

There’s definitely an autumn feeling in the air. Meeting in town at 09.30 we were all wearing jackets and looking for the sun. Our ride for the day was more of an autumn objective too, less about maximum vertical on the lifts and more about getting out into them thar hills. As Jan said, it felt more like going ski touring than biking. After a tip off from Tom that the trail down from the Col de Tricot was every bit as good, if not better, than the map suggested, we thought we’d give it a go before the weather got much colder.

A spin down to Les Houches and we were up the Bellevue gondola, now the only bike friendly uplift in the valley, by back of ten ready for the “Glacier Trail” down to the foot of the Bionassey glacier. It’s a harsh way to wake up; the fast fire road becomes fast singletrack becomes super rocky trails with wires to hold onto in no time at all, which if you’ve not been paying attention can be a bit of a surprise! After some entertaining can we/can’t we ride it sections with Jan getting to grips with a non DH bike and Lorne sending a techy drop to first bail of the day we past the glacial lake, complete with mini icebergs, and arrived at the wire bridge to start our climb. The bridge looks rideable, but regrettably the builders weren’t thinking of future MTB handlebar width standards when they designed it, and it’s just too narrow for 760mm. Didn’t stop all of us trying, failing, and getting off to wheelie the bikes over through.

The climb up to the Col de Tricot goes easily enough, a few rideable sections, but mostly we pushed and got to the manicured putting green that is the col at midday, just the right time for lunch. There’s a bit of every sort of descending I can think of in this ride, and you get a great view of the upper steep & rocky section from here.

A fresh (very fresh, it wasn’t there when Tom came through the week before) landslip meant we had to get off the bikes for 20 meters or so, but otherwise it’s a great start to the main descent. Extra points go to Lorne for riding it almost clean without a back brake!

Before reaching the Chalets du Miage, a trail cuts off up and to the right. This was where the descent became something special.

For over 3km the trail contours round and down the hill. There’re a few short climbs, but nothing unrideable and the flow is just incredible. Photos would do more justice than words, but no one was stopping when each section lead so well into the next.

After reaching the hamlet of Le Champel the only trail type we hadn’t dropped down was eye watering fast fire road. Fortunately help was at hand and we plummeted down to La Villette, paused to let Jan have a puncture fixed by Wayne, then continued on fire road and tarmac to St Gervais.

We could have stopped here to get the tramway back up to the top of the Les Houches area, but it was early yet so continued past the St Gervais lift station to ride the Pipeline trail down into Le Fayet, over 1500m lower than the Col de Tricot and downhill pretty much the whole way.

As luck would have it, we arrived at the same time as a tram so, after fluttering our eyes as best we could at the ticket desk girl, we were allowed onto the nearly empty tram to trundle back up to the Bellevue stop where we’d started the day for a quick lap of the front face trails and a ride back up to Chamonix in time for tea and medals.

A cracking day out, exacltly what riding in the mountains can be: friends, scenery & ridiculously good riding without seeing any other cyclists, or even that many people, all day.

17/09/2012
A bit of peace & quiet

September has started and Chamonix has emptied! Overnight the population of the valley has halved and, conveniently, the weather has stopped thinking it’s winter and moved on to cool mornings, low 20’s during the day, blue sky and bright sunshine. All in all perfect bike weather.

This week is probably the best of the year to visit Chamonix to ride the classic steep & technical trails that it’s famous for as the lifts are still open, the bike ban is over and you don’t have to stop all the time for walkers. After a week off the bike, I wanted to head out on my own to ride at the pace I felt like on some of the trails I’d not seen for a couple of months.

Out of Chamonix, the Brevent gondola (open till 16^th Sept, then again from 27^th Oct to 7^th Nov) whisked me up the hill and I set off up the hill for 50m to begin the contour round on the Charlanon trail. Once away from the 4×4 tracks near the lifts, the trails were empty. It’s a long bumpy way down to the Flegere lift (also open till 16^th Sept), but soon enough I was there and straight back up again.

The “Sicktrack” isn’t in any guidebooks for Chamonix, but ask a local and they’ll point it out to you. You can use variations of the trail to go to La Joux & Tre le Champ depending on how much climbing you want (it gives the brake fingers a rest at least!) but as I’d never taken the third way, I dropped down to Argentiere. I thought I was going to clear the descent with no dabs but obviously got too excited and 50m from the end of the track my luck ran out and both feet ended up on the deck. Next time!

The Posettes trail is probably as classic a Chamonix trail as you can get, unfortunately with the trains being off I’d have to pedal uphill to get there, so didn’t bother putting the saddle up and cruised through Argentiere to the Grand Montets lift (open till 9^th September). I’m more used to the GM lifts in winter when the lift queues on a powder day are infamous world-wide so it’s quite strange the difference in summer where you just wander up, wait for a ‘bin to be ready to go, then head up with it almost empty! If you don’t like switchbacks, you probably won’t like Trapette Couloir. Apparently there’s 47 of them on the way down, but I prefer just to enjoy the trail rather than count. Inbetween the hairpins are lots of gentler bends with steep berms and wall rides on the inside, just make sure you don’t overshoot the other side of the trail…..

After all that technical riding, it was a bit of a relief just to cruise back down the hill on the Arve track, and even it barely had any walkers on it. All the trails I rode were in perfect condition with dry rocks and dry but not dusty trails, hopefully the cooler evenings will keep it that way as there’s definitely a lot more riding to be done before winter starts.

07/09/2012
Tour du Mont Blanc day 1

With nothing much to write about in Chamonix this week (the weather is hot, sunny and err hot, and both the town and trails are hoaching; Les Houches, Le Tour and GM trails are all holding up well, if a bit dusty; Flegere is OK but really needs the loose stones swept off it; rained a bit today which should improve grip, but the forecast is scorchio for the next week), I thought I’d put up a wee write up on the Tour du Mont Blanc which legendary (or at least infamous) Scottish biker Sanny & I did in September 2012. If you’ve got any questions or want some advice on the tour, ask away in the comments field.

Mont Blanc’s a fairly big deal in France, they’re quite proud of it. It was the biggest mountain in Europe till the Caucasus joined in, but it’s still the highest in Western Europe. As a result, people flock to Chamonix to climb, descend, fly over, jump off and travel around Mont Blanc. All of these are possible with a bike, but only travelling around is anything less than contrived.

The circumnavigation, known as the Tour du Mont Blanc or TdMB, usually takes walkers six to twelve days, staying in the huts, refuges and hotels that line the route. It’s also the venue for the “Ultra Trail Mont Blanc”, a non-stop race around the TdMB, the winner generally coming in at around the 20hr mark… It’s had a fair bit of attention from mountain bikers too, with umpteen companies offering guided circuits of 4 – 6 days, usually in a clockwise direction to maximise its rideability, but diverging from the route taken by walkers. After much pouring over maps, we thought we’d found a route that stayed fairly close to the “normal” Tour du Mont Blanc route, whilst maximising the amount of rideable, singletrack descending, with the least pain in the ascent. At 100 miles, with about 21,000 foot of climbing, we would need a fair bit of time to get round. We had 3 days. Best get a move on.

Obviously, for a ploy such as this, a reliable and competent companion is required. Some say he can spot un-ridden trails from space and that he once told a joke so offensive, even Frankie Boyle was appalled. All we know is; he’s called Sanny.

So with a plan, a Sanny and an almost perfect weather forecast we rolled out of Chamonix a little after 8am. Unfortunately we then had to ride the wrong way up the hill to reclaim some gear from a friend’s house before we could get going, but who doesn’t start a long ride with a bit of faff?

Meters Climbed: 0

Meters Singletrack descended: 0

The first half of the day was all about covering miles quickly and easily, so a short spin down the road to Les Houches before letting the Bellevue Cablecar take 700m of strain off our legs and take us up to the Col du Voza. Descending on a mix of fast fire road and single lane tarmac through bucolic alpine villages had us making time incredibly easy. Stopping outside Les Contamines to eat some of the leftovers of last night’s Midnight Express takeaway, the first talk of a 2 day circuit was had.

Our enthusiasm was curbed by the start of the climbing proper outside of Notre dame de la Gorge, the transition from spinning away in the middle ring to grovelling in the granny was pretty harsh, but progress was being made and it seemed like an excellent idea to stop at the Refuge Nant Borant for some soup, ice cream and a rest before getting properly stuck in to our first proper alpine pass….

Meters Climbed: 416

Meters Singletrack descended: 0

….’Do you remember the 1^st time?’ I don’t think any of the members of Pulp are mountain bikers, but even if you’ve ridden a bit in the alps, your 1^st alpine pass is different, you’ve sweated to get there, not ridden a chair. Slowly your horizon has been less rock and more sky then a whole new set of hills to play in appear, and the possibilities start running through your mind: there’s Les Arcs, I could ride there, and the Gran Paradiso, and.

The Col de la Bonhomme at 2329m is not quite the highest point, but it did mark where you can get back on the bike and start contouring round to the Col du la Croix de Bonhomme (2479m). From here the map had shown a single black dashed line dropping to the Refuge La Nova 930m below, suggesting an awesome singletrack descent, but as Sanny and I both knew, maps can tease, hint, prompt and even promise, but they don’t always deliver.

This one did, laid out in front of us and snaking through the terrain like in all the best photos. We dropped the saddles & headed down. Jarvis Cocker was wrong, it was brilliant…..

Meters Climbed: 1468

Meters Singletrack descended: 930

….. What goes down must come up. We’d been steadily climbing to La Ville des Glaciers for about 20mins from the Refuge La Nova, where we’d discovered that spaghetti will not be served after 3pm. As a Cat 2 road climb, there wasn’t really any other option but to steadily climb and unfortunately my hopes that the narrowness of the road would allow me to stop and get off whenever a car approached was scuppered by the genial motorists driving into the ditch to let us past. I was busy contemplating the strange noise that was emanating from my rear hub when Sanny pointed off the side of the road and politely suggested in Glaswegian that I look. Slowly gliding (soaring sounds more majestic, but really, this was the avian equivalent of a stroll down the shops) about 15 foot away was an eagle of at least 6 foot wingspan. There was no time for getting the camera out, it was just one of those moments you get every so often on a bike when you could savour nature, flora & fauna, and appreciate it for what it was, a bit like the days before we had to document in 1’s and 0’s our every movement. Just as the bird was fading from view, and the camera would have been lowered, its’ mate flew by. That would’ve been an awesome photo. Bugger.…

Meters Climbed: 1568

Meters Singletrack descended: 930

……Should I stay or should I go? Sanny and I were stopped having a discussion about continuing on over into Italy, or stopping for the day in France. It was a 650m climb up the 2516m Col du Salena and then down to the Refuge Elisabetta Soldini, we’d hopefully knock it out fairly quickly, arriving in before the dinner cut-off time of 1900 and getting well ahead of schedule for tomorrow. But then again, the forecast was for an overnight storm starting in the late afternoon, the clouds and wind were building and some peals of thunder had been heard, suggesting that continuing may not be such a great idea. Our decision was made for us when the Refuge des Mottets came into view, and was decidedly closed looking. We swore, secretly pleased that the choice was out of our hands even if it wasn’t the one we wanted, and stoically climbed on.

For 20 meters.

Below us, the Refuge des Mottets was very much open. We had mistaken a sheep herder’s house for a 70 bed hut. There was no debate this time, we went to see what they were serving for tea….

Meters Climbed: 1789

Meters Singletrack descended: 930

16/08/2012