Chamonix Bike Blog

Category: Trail conditions

Brevent

This weeks riding has been brought to you by the word Brevent!

First off, if you don’t live in the valley and are looking for a wee conditions update to decide whether to make the drive over or not, check the webcams. The snow line is wandering up and down the mountain and, if the forecast is correct, will continue to do so for the next few days.

How’s the riding been the last few days? After the snow down to the valley last weekend, it took a few days for it to be worth heading up with a bike, but my Tuesday the skies were blue, the temperature crisp, and tracks were appearing on the ground again.

Umpteen laps of the main descent down the fall-line (Plan des Chablettes) have been logged. Unfortunately my preferred entry where you ride up the hill for a couple of hundred meters from the lift station, past the parapont take off field and drop in on excellent techy singletrack is still a bit too snowy to be worthwhile. Instead better to descend under the gondola station and beneath the gondola cables onto the 4×4 track which, though boring, clears of snow much quicker and gets you onto the amazing lower half.

There’s been some small landslips on the lower section, but it’s still 100% rideable if you’ve got the confidence, and once in the trees the riding is some of Chamonix’s finest. I even finally plucked up the courage to air the rock drop just after the start of the trees, the rock lip giving more “kick” than I thought, and Lorne too, hence the missing head!

Generally the paths have been clearing on most aspects, but even down to village height snow has been hanging on in shady N.E. aspects and ice forming near streams, so watch out when exploring….

After Oliver commented on a previous post about the Sentier des Gardes path now being clear again, I headed up on Thursday to check it out. Unfortunately as I went up, the snow started coming down and by the time I got out the lift station conditions were pretty grim.

Instead I decided to loose height quickly on the 4×4 path down past the Col Cornu chairlift and onto the home run. A couple of switchbacks down you’ll see a wee path diving off to the right, and it’s definitely worth following! There’s a few short sections where it’s easier to get off and carry round rocks and trees, but mostly it’s fast flowing singletrack all the way back to the Brevent base station. The trees were holding back the worst of the snow, and the extra moisture on the ground gave the trail amazing grip in the corners. what’s more the miserable weather seemed to be dissuading folk from going for a walk, so there was no-one else to slow up for. It really can be worth heading up, no matter the weather.

02/11/2012
Mixed conditions

It’s not been a great few days on the bike, but what’s the saying, “a bad day on the bike is better than a good day in the office”? Something like that.

First off, Robbie, Lorne & I headed up to the Chalet du Glacier des Bossons for one of my favourite wee tracks in the valley which, for one reason and another, I’d not had a chance to ride this year.

Arriving at the top of the chairlift, having been enthusing about the descent all way up the road and firetrack climb, there was a “Danger” sign and a fence blocking the path, which didn’t bode well. After once again failing to ride the super-tech entrance we discovered why.

The track had been well and truly hammered by the spring Fohen storm and there were trees down all over. At first I thought it could make a nice project and a few days work with a saw could clear it into a cracking VTT track hidden from walkers, but by about 1/2 way down there’s just too much damage.

To finish it off, the final section now has logging work! The riding between fallen trees was still good, but not worth the hassle. to cap it off I had a comedy over the bars in thick leaves at the end of the trail which left me undamaged but with some expensive dings on the bike. Ho hum.

Brevent re-opened on Saturday, which is good news for encouraging laziness, unfortunately winter also made an appearance and by Saturday evening the snow was lying on the ground in town.

Still keen to get out and do something, I went for a short spin in the snow. The loop up on forestry roads by the Mont Blanc tunnel access road and down past the Cascade du Dard is one of the great little loops around Chamonix perfect for when you’ve only got an hour or so, or just don’t want your toes to get too cold (does anyone make a weatherproof pair of skate shoes?).

I always find the worst part of going riding in less than perfect weather is actually getting out the door, and sure enough 5 minutes in I’d got used to the temperature and was enjoying spinning along without overheating and looking about at the valley in it’s first snows for the winter.

The forestry roads which let you avoid the main road up to the Mont Blanc tunnel aren’t continuous but even with a few short sprachels between paths you can ride almost all the way up, keeping the feet out of the snow!

As for the descent, apart from one short section after the bridge at the top, it’s a pretty mellow bit of singletrack without too much rock or root tech. Helpful with an inch or 2 of snow on the ground. Bit of a lack of photos as it was a little chilly to be hanging using the self timer, and it was nice just to be out in the peace and quiet that comes with a covering of snow.

The forecast is for warmer temps during the week, so there should be a return to normal service soon.

28/10/2012
Heads up to head up

After 3 weeks away from Chamonix and off the bike, it’s good to be back. To celebrate*, Compagnie du Mont-Blanc are opening up the Brevent gondola for 2 weeks from Saturday 27th October to Sunday 11th November, so get up there whilst you can as it’s pretty much the last chance on this side of the Alps to get some lift accessed riding done till the snow melts.

Of course, there’s still plenty of riding to do in and around Chamonix whether there’s lifts running or not, and till the snows properly arrive (and possibly even after) the trails will still be getting ridden.

*It’s possible the French half term holidays may have more to do with the opening than my return.

24/10/2012
Sentier des gardes-gardee par des arbres….

I’d kinda thought that all the damage from Aprils fohen storm had been chainsawed out the way so, with a couple hours before work this morning, decided I’d have a quick blast down the Sentier des Gardes track from Brevent.

I’d not been down there this summer, and hadn’t spoken to anyone else who has, but wasn’t expecting any problems….

…..It’s not been cleared since the storm, there’s trees across the track throughout which really kills the flow, and some sections have got very interesting if you out-brake yourself into them! Plenty of other tracks to go at at least.

10/09/2012
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