Category Archives: Chamonix ride

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]

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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]

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Who’s way?

Posted on 7th September 2013
"Who's trail" Not a bad start to the ride.

Five weeks is a loooong time to be off your bike in a Chamonix summer! In the past bikes have given me plenty of broken bones (which did generally heal) and scars (that chicks were disappointingly uninterested in) that have kept me away from sports for longer, but 5 weeks with what is basically a sore thumb has been pretty annoying. Still, thanks to the excellent work of the consultants and surgeons at Chamonix & Annemasse’s hospitals, and the brilliant physio from Neil at Clinique du Sport (what percentage of Chamonix residents go through their doors every year?) I can … [Read full post]

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Last minute panic lift riding/local races for local people

Posted on 21st August 2013
Winners podium. Cham-style

“The nights are fair drawing in” I’ve heard no-one say recently, but it doesn’t change that at the end of the month, most of the alps’ lift operators start to stop putting the 50 centime pieces in the chairlift machines and going down needs you to consider getting up first.

Here’s a list of the closing dates for our nearby lifts, along with a couple of beacons of hope for us:

Chamonix

VALLORCINE: 1st Sept

GRANDS MONTETS: 8th Sept

PRARION: 15th Sept

BREVENT: 15th Sept (then Oct 19th to Nov 3rd)

FLEGERE: 15th Sept

LE TOUR … [Read full post]

Also posted in Trail conditions , tagged , ,

Awesome. Le Tour and more.

Posted on 2nd August 2013
See that trail, that'll be the way down. Aye, awesome.

I like tea me. There are few things in life better than a cup of tea, but even better are those 10% of cups of tea that just push up to the next level of tea. Awesome.

I like riding bikes me. There are few things…. And this ride was one of those 10%. It’s not as if the average ever drops that low about here, but that combination of some of the best of a good crop of trails, perfect weather, dry ground but only a couple days after a good soaking and a bunch of mates to share … [Read full post]

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Les Houches, So hot right now…

Posted on 16th July 2013
and loam. The track has REALLY good loam.

 

You might have noticed a bit of a love/hate relationship between residents of the Chamonix valley and the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc. When it involves bikes and the trails for them, then it’s often not their fault, CdMB is just the entity with a name that can be blamed for the myriad land owners barring access for tracks and other interested parties wanting to sell more of their “VTT interdit” signs.

Other times, they could probably try harder.

Well, today CdMB is in my good books. And why is that? Well readers, it’s because the long awaited replacement bike trails … [Read full post]

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To the ends of the valley

Posted on 9th July 2013
But why be picky when you have trails like this

OK, it can get a bit insular here in Chamonix. The steep valley walls cut off any sight of the outside world and, as long as you’re only paying attention to mountain sports, then everything you want is on your doorstep.  It’s a bit of a change to look out of the valley occasional and be reminded that the outside world exists, but to do it twice in less than a week, madness.

To cut a long intro short, the bike ban’s started, so most natural trails are now out of bounds thanks to Arrête Municipale (n° 124/2004) which prohibits … [Read full post]

Also posted in Trail conditions , tagged , ,

Just…a….bit….longer…..to…wait

Posted on 24th June 2013

Lifts open next weekend. Which is nice. There seems to be a bit more of a buzz about town than usual for mountain biking this year. I don’t know if it’s the long winter making everyone over eager for summer activities, the rise of “enduro” racing in magazines and websites making everyone excited about shiny new toys or what, but basically, we’re looking forward to the lifts opening. A lot.

Of course, folk haven’t stopped riding just because they have to get up the hill themselves. The snow lines been slowly working its way up the hill and the trails … [Read full post]

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Known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns

Posted on 28th November 2012

I grew up riding in Scotland and sometimes, just sometimes, I can really miss the riding there. Don’t get me wrong, Chamonix trails are ridiculously good, who wouldn’t want to be quickly whisked up 1000m to ride off on trails, almost every one looking and feeling like it’s from a movie, all in great weather. Or at least great if you’re Scottish.

But despite this, or perhaps because of this, I miss having to ride up singletrack roads, fire roads, push up muddy sheep tracks and, when all else fails, just sprachel straight up the hill with the bike all … [Read full post]

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Telepherique des Glaciers. Uplift of a sort.

Posted on 24th November 2012

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 … [Read full post]

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