Start with the good news. Ever fancied checking out the riding in Pila, La Thuile or Valtournenche-Cervinia but the drive’s too far for a day and the lift pass just a bit too much? Well, the Aosta tourist board have heard your cries and initiated the “free ride free day”. Free hotel, free lift pass and free lessons on the 29th & 30th June, follow the links… http://www.iloveaosta.co.uk/2012/05/la-thuile/ride-free-in-the-aosta-valley-this-summer

For the bad, Compagnie du Mont Blanc are upgrading the old Plan Joran chair at Grand Montets, good news for everyone who’s had oil dripped on their lovely goretex gear no? Unfortunately it seems that plan A for constructing the chair is to create a new access road through the village of Lavancher and then up through the forest to the Lavancher bowl and on to the Plan Joran. Most importantly this will cause huge disruption to the village, which is not designed for lorries and it’s not apparent how they’ll fit past some of the houses. For bikes, the construction will take out the descent from Logan to Lavancher, the only legal way down from the Grand Montets lifts in July and August and, if there’s no way to cycle down, why would you be allowed to take a bike up? For more information check out Eric Lasserre’s blog (there’s an English translation in the “commentaires“ or comments field) http://www.blogdericlasserre.blogspot.fr/2012/06/une-route-camions-pour-la-croix-de.html

If you want to make your voice heard, the next public meeting regarding the proposals is due at the end of the month.

And as for the ugly, that’ll be the weather. Snow to 1800m right now. Still, things are looking better from Thursday at least…..

This blog has been playing on my mind for a while now, as I flicked through the assorted skiing and climbing blogs where Chamonix’s community posts conditions and ideas for all to share and wondered why there wasn’t a similar thing happening for bikes. Hopefully this is the start…..

Today seems as good a day as any to launch, with the bike uplift season starting in Chamonix as the Bellevue gondola in Les Houches and the Tramway du Mont-Blanc in St Gervais open. Together these give more than enough trails to keep us busy till more lifts open next weekend.

If that’s not enough for you, the skate park & pump track (which were finished months ago) were officially inaugurated today too. Happy days!

The biggest challenge at the moment though isn’t getting a lift to the top of the trails, but getting down them. A foehn wind storm at the end of April made a wee bit of a mess of the forests. Work is ongoing to cut through the fallen trees, but it’s a big job and the popular walking trails are being prioritised. From the last 10 days or so, I’ve been out on these trails and conditions are….

Chalet Cremerie de Caillet: It took over 2 weeks to clear the trees from the Montenvers railway, so I was expecting this to be pretty bad, fortunately it was mostly the rain that was the problem here yesterday. Path almost completely cleared with just a few trees left to go, most of which will just need a hand saw to dispatch.

Loriaz Chalets: Trails completely clear, despite a fair sized avalanche taking out large parts of the lower trail, merci bien to whoever spent a long time chainsawing through it all!

Animal park, or Petit Balcon from Merlet to Gaillands: Clear and the bridge has been replaced too. Alas the other trails down from Merlet and Coupeau aren’t too easy to pass.

Petit Balcons Sud & Nord: Both clear and riding well, but getting busier…

Plan de l’Aiguille: The descent’s been cleared from the top of the forest road down (though some of the clearing is less than perfect for a bike….) not sure about higher up. There’s logging work at the start of the forestry road, so best to start climbing from behind the campsite for now.