Chamonix Bike Blog

Tag: Le Tour

  • Time gentlemen, please

    Chatelard descent Claire

    It’s been raining, some of the trees in the valley have started to yellow and town’s filling with ultra-runners, it can only mean one thing: the summer’s coming to an end, and the lifts shut down till the snow comes.

    The Chamonix lift closures are staggered across the next 2 months:

    VALLORCINE: 2nd Sept

    PRARION: 2nd Sept

    BREVENT CABLECAR: 2nd Sept

    LE TOUR GONDOLA & CHAIRLIFT: 9th Sept

    GRANDS MONTETS: 9th Sept

    PLANPRAZ GONDOLA: 16th Sept (then Oct 27th to Nov 7th)

    FLEGERE: 16th Sept

    BELLEVUE: 23rd Sept

    TRAMWAY DU MONT BLANC: 23rd Sept

    What’s not mentioned is that the Vallorcine DH track, & gondola for bike uplift, closes for the season on Friday due to the Ultra Trail races, so anyone wanting to hit every lift in the valley in a day better get cracking. If you’re looking for a race to end your Chamonix biking season then conveniently the Club des sports de Chamonix have organised a 24hr VTT race in the valley over the weekend of the 22nd/23rd September. For more information click

    Vallorcine valley

    Outside of the valley, lift closing days start from the end of August and by October Champery & Verbier are pretty much your only choices (though Brevant’s back open again by then, which is nice.)

    Grand Massif, started closing on the 26th, all done by 31st Aug: http://www.grand-massif.com/ete/accedez_tarifs.php

    La Thuile 2nd Sept : http://www.lathuile.net/datapage.asp?id=41&l=3

    Portes du Mont Blanc, 2nd Sept : http://www.combloux.com/en/activities/summer/pass.html

    Tignes / val d’isere 2nd Sept (still FREE up till then!): http://www.tignes.net/en/summer-sports/free-and-unlimited-activities-252.html

    Pila, 9th Sept:  http://aostavalleyfreeride.com/index.php with desarpa bike mass dh the weekend after 15th/16th http://www.piladh.eu/en/desarpa-bike/

    Portes du Soliel starts closing the weekend of 02nd September and is mostly closed by the 9th, except Champery which keeps going to 7th Oct: http://en.portesdusoleil.com/summer-lifts.html

    Verbier 17th Sept, then weekends till 20/21st Oct (if weather’s ok): http://www.verbierbikepark.ch/

    As for conditions in the Chamonix valley at the moment, the complaints about the temperature and lack of rain have been answered and there’s been a few days of drizzle and a day of torrential rain. My friend Claire had come over for the weekend to get a break from the Scottish summer in Chamonix, fortunately she packed the goretex.

    Le Tour back bowls

    The skies cleared up on Sunday and, despite a cold grey start, the quick drying trails at Le Tour ensured normal summer service was resumed. The weather is still a bit cooler than it’s been of late, so things are not drying quite as fast as before and as a result there’s lots more grip on the trails. The natural trails are still very busy, though with the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc being at the weekend, the pedestrians are generally moving faster than the cyclists so it’s not the same problem, and in one week it will all be different…

    le tour & cloud

  • Le VTT et les Vaches…

    Moooo

    Whilst bikes seem to be getting discouraged in some areas of the valley, they’re looking more and more welcome up at Le Tour.  There’s some sort of link in the alps where the more suitable the terrain is for cows, the more bikes are welcomed.  After all, Morzine is known locally as the mountain for the cows.

    As the trains aren’t running from Vallorcine this summer (more information here: http://www.thechamonixbikebook.com/news/2012-the-year-there-wasnt-a-train/ if you’ve not already heard)we had to wait for the Vallorcine gondola to finally open at the start of July before the full potential of Le Tour could be enjoyed (well, unless you’ve got the legs for cycling all the way back round).

    Back bowls Le TourVallorcine DH

    To complement the fun but short DH track under the Charamillon gondola, work is almost finished on a new track from the top of the Autannes chairlift.  Compagnie du Mont Blanc seem to be investing a fair bit of money on the track, with a large excavator being used to construct some large features and new bridges being built. The track is already getting ridden, despite being closed for construction (“Ferme” means “good riding” right?) and looks to be bedding in well, as for how well it actually rides, we’ll see.

    More Vallorcine DH

    Over on the other side of the hill, the Vallorcine DH track is open and has had some much needed maintenance. It’s now riding incredibly well, with good course markings out for anyone who’s not hit it before, unlike most of last year… This track is one of the best around, and almost good enough reason to own a big bike just to hit it. Don’t worry though, it’s still negotiable on a hardtail, just don’t expect to feel too fresh by the finish.

    Locals have been busy building on the lower section. It’s not an official part of the track, but it’s definitely more fun than the fireroad to finish off the run back to the gondola, just watch out for some of the gaps!

    Descending to Catogne

    The rest of the area serves up some of the best natural trails in the Chamonix valley, with tracks criss-crossing between Switzerland and France. A new info board was in the process of being erected at the Refuge de Col du Balme which designated the classic descent into Trient as a walkers trail, and the excellent Les Jeurs run to Chatelard as a bike trail. (If you’re not sure about these trails, and can’t work it out from the IGN map3630 OT, then these and more are in the new Chamonix Bike Guide http://www.thechamonixbikebook.com/the-book/ ). There didn’t seem to be any indication of how obligatory these designations were, I can’t see walkers being any happier about losing the Les Jeurs path than bikers about being banned from the Trient run, so I guess we just have to wait and see what develops.

    The Trient run currently has a wee diversion above the village for forestry work, however the diversion trail is of good quality and the descent is still up there as one of the best enduro style runs about.

    Climb from Col du BalmeThe Rock'it

    Finally, just to prove that we don’t need bikes worth more than cars to have fun, following an entertaining mornings climbing in the Aiguille Rouge, we descended on the Elfe Secret track at Flegere with a motley selection of pub bikes and decade old mountain bikes, complete with our climbing gear. It wasn’t the fastest the track’s ever been ridden, and certainly not the most competently, but there was way more laughter than you hear from many storm troopers on 8” play bikes.

    Colin & Ally