Chamonix Bike Blog

Tag: Les Houches

The longest day

Summer solstice. The longest day, shortest night and start of the countdown to winter. Also an excuse (if an excuse was ever needed) to both go in to the hills to do stuff and go out on the town.

After some warm up laps around Les Houches (trails all riding nice, bit of rain would be good to give some more grip though) we headed up the Bellevue gondola and climbed round towards the Col du Mont Lachet.

The trail down from the col is fairly exposed in places, but I think it’s pretty fun. Not everyone else, or possibly anyone else, agreed…..but I was enjoying myself.

With plenty of daylight to play with we had been aiming to get high somewhere in the valley and ride down in the evening light. Unfortunately all the usual supects that face west and would be bathed in dusky evening light are still just a bit too snowy, so we settled on an east facing lap down to Trient instead

With efficiency few locations in the developed world can equal, the last train from Chamonix to Montroc gets you there with enough just time to sprint up the hill and just catch the Le Tour lifts as they are closing. We had an anxious wait at the top of the Autannes chair to see if our bikes had been loaded or if the lifty had clocked off for the day….eventually they climbed into view.

In contrast to last year, the climb up to the Col du Balme only needed a couple of quick snow crossings rather than wanting to have an axe and crampons. The descent on the other hand still has a few snow patches, succesfully negotiated by all bar me. Saved by my bike and Lorne.

The trail to Trient was as good as always, more fast and flowing than the trails earlier in the day, great to ride in a chain of 4, even if being last generally meant choking on the dust from the others.

Although we were on the wrong aspect to get the best light, the later time meant we met no one else on the whole 20 minute descent, only tired arms and overheating brakes gave reasons to slow up or stop.

The tear down the road from Trient to Chatelard wasn’t as good as the tear down the trails, but did prove that tucking works, tucking and drafting works better, and tucking, drafting and running a semi-slick rear tyre works best.

The climb back up to Vallorcine is slow enough that tucking does little to help, though again less tread is better. Either way, it goes easy enough and soon we were looking at the lengthening shadows around the train station and waiting for a helping hand over (or through) the Col du Montets to Montroc where Lorne & I got out for the last few miles down the valley to beers at Rhodedendrons whilst Nina and Spencer put their feet up.

Of course, summer solstice in Chamonix is not complete without the Fete des Musique so a long day still wasn’t finished.

22/06/2014
Bikes on a train, and other forms of mechanical uplift.

Lifts are open, no more pretending that pedalling uphill is worthy and good.

An opening party was being held at Le Tour with demo bikes, drinks and rumours of new trails, so we headed in the opposite direction to Les Houches.

It seemed a fairly popular choice and it was surprising to see just how much the main DH track wore in over the course of the day.

Not having big bikes in addition to our normal bikes with their mere 160mm of travel, slack angles and huge brakes, Lorne & I rode a few laps of the Prarion front face away from the official DH track before dropping down ‘Who’s way‘ to St Gervais followed by a lap of the Pipeline trail and icecream whilst waiting for the Tramway back up to the Bellevue stop.

The 40 minute ride back up gives you plenty time to recover, so after heading down on the GR5 trail back to Les Houches it was back to quick laps on the Prarion front face again.

All the trails were riding well, though a bit of traffic to clean the loose stones and twigs will help. The official bike trails have had a bit of maintenance and, although there are no new sectors, the long muddy section low on the trail has had a wooden boardwalk put down to save you from the worst of the clart.

Tomorrow, more of the same I think. In the words of Adrian Moffat, it’s the first big weekend of the summer (though I don’t think he ever had riding bikes down hills in France in mind)

15/06/2014
Last train to cold*

Winter’s turned up again in Chamonix, only this time she’s brought her luggage and it looks like she’s staying for a while.

Normally the easiest way to escape her clutches is to head down the road to Saleve, only a quick glance at the website showed they’ve closed until the end of March for works. Valley trails under our own steam it is.

Down the valley and past Vaudagne the geography of the valley changes from the granite boulders and steep coniferous lined slopes around town to mellow slopes with deciduous trees and loamy ground, perfect for the icy conditions.

Before we could hit the loam, we had to contend with the road from town to Vaudagne. As they don’t really grit the roads here (stops the chain getting rusty I guess) the only time we got a break from the black ice on the road was when it was a sheet of inch thick actual ice. Somehow or other, Sandy & I both got there without hitting the tarmac.

Once on the off road, traction improved considerably as long as you stuck to the band where meltwater flowing down the trail had removed the snow before freezing the ground. Sandy couldn’t believe his luck at getting to ride in such warm and easy conditions after spending most of his life MTBing in Aberdeenshire.

The last section of the trail dropped us down to Chatelard just outside Servoz (there’s only one trail on the map that drops you down to Chatelard, you can work out the rest from that) and it’s pretty good even by local standards, a natural bobsleigh run covered in a thick layer of leaves. Skids might not be big or clever but for once you’re not doing much harm, so why not….

Alas the camera succumbed to the cold at this point so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

As we sprachled over the path above the motorway, the next problem presented itself: the train went by en route to the Servoz station 500m up the road.

We were planning on catching the train to save us having to pedal back to Chamonix.

The path over the motorway is hewn from a cliff face and has a fixed rope to help you over.

We weren’t catching the train.

Riding a bike up hill is bound to be good training for something, today it seemed to be good training for being hungry, cold and scared of ice, which pretty much sums up winter climbing for me so that’ll save me having to get the ice axes out the cupboard again. Every cloud has a silver lining etc.

Is this the last ride for the season? Probably not, but if it is chamonixbikeblog will be out of hibernation in the spring.

* If you were into BMX in the early/mid ‘90’s then hopefully this is a hilariously witty play on a tee-shirt design, if not then you missed out on fully rigid bikes that weigh more than a DH rig, and my hilariously witty play on a tee-shirt design.

13/11/2013
Tricot two

Who said September’s the best month for mountain biking in the alps? I did, and I submit this last week as evidence. Stable weather, cool temps, blue skies and quiet trails. We’ll just ignore the snow of a fortnight ago if that’s ok with you.

Last big day off the Chamonix lifts for the summer, where to go and what to do. Well THE Les Houches classic ride from last summer was the Col de Tricot down to Le Fayet. None of us had repeated it since so we figured, why not?

If I’m honest, the weather was a wee bit better last year. Cooler for a start, and without the sense of menace that humidity in the air and building clouds brings after a long period of good weather in the alps. Getting to the start of the route was also easier with the Bellevue cablecar running, but it’s an easy enough ride over from the top of Prarion so I won’t grumble.

The initial descent down to the snout of the Bionassay glacier has got a fair bit more washed out than last season, with all of us choosing to walk some parts that we hardly hesitated on the year before. Conversely other sections had got easier with the worst of the loose rubble cleared away.

The bridge still hasn’t been upgraded to modern 750mm bar standards, but Robbie’s slightly older, and hence narrower, set up did make it further along the bridge than most.

The ascent to the col hadn’t got any easier either, though fortunately for me my bike’s a lot lighter this year so I didn’t have to work as hard!

The putting green surface of the col encouraged a leisurely early lunch and suncream application, it’s probably just as well the descent looks so inviting from there, it’d be virtually impossible to leave otherwise.

Once we had mustered up the enthusiasm to get going we found the descent to be in great condition, the section that had been removed by landslide has been repaired and the whole line was ridden feet up (unless you count stops to take photos, what are the ethics there on claiming a dab free descent?).

We knew though that the initial section to the Miage chalets is just the prologue, the teaser. The real reason for doing this ride comes next, fast flowing singletrack all the way to Champel.

It was just as good as we remembered it, just as flowing, and we stopped just as few times as we were enjoying it just so much. It says a lot about the riding in this area that the last man in the group got shouted at by a group of walkers…….for going too slow and to get off the brakes and speed up!

Of course the slower you go, the longer you get to enjoy the ride. Fast or slow, the trail still eventually comes to an end. With ice cream once again calling further down the valley and us all being keen to ride the pipeline trail into Le Fayet we missed out the fire road section down from Champel and just blasted straight down the tarmac, into St Gervais, past the lift station and on to the start of pipeline. I went off ahead to get photos and waited. And waited. And waited. Lorne & Robbie had missed the turnoff. I could have followed the other trail back to the road and caught up with them, but I’m selfish and I wasn’t going to pass up on some singletrack just for the sake of friendship.

We all met back at the tramway where we had a few minutes to spare till the 1410 tram. As the 1410 tram wasn’t running, this meant we had just over an hour to eat ice cream at the station café. Result.

Whilst enjoying our assorted ice creams (and very good they were too) it became apparent that we weren’t the only riders making the most of the last of the uplift as mtb after mtb came into the station. Chatting to the riders it also turned out that no one was doing very well at finding the turn off to Pipeline! Still, great to meet some new riders and new faces for future missions…

By the time the tram was setting off, bikes and riders onboard outnumbered walkers for the first time I’ve seen. I can’t imagine that 100 years ago when the tramway opened the operators of 1913 envisioned bikes being strewn through the carriages!

Last lift, last descent and what could it be other than the classic line near the Bellevue cables down into Les Houches.

Three weeks of pedalling everywhere awaits. How will we cope?

05/10/2013
Two trails

It might be the last week of proper uplift in the valley before the end of summer but it certainly doesn’t feel like the end of the season.

Les Houches is where it’s at right now and after the success of the ride from Nid d’Aigle it seemed a shame not to check out some of the other lines on the map.

The dotted red line that traverses round rather than over Mont Lachat was the first, and whatdaya know, turns out it is a quick easy way round to the Col Mont Lachat. There is one short section with wire railings in place but it doesn’t warrant the dotted red line.

From the col there’s then 2 ways to descend back into the valley, one taking the fall line through some very tightly spaced contour lines, the other meandering across the hill and missing anything cliff like on the map. In my mind I imagined the first trail being a techy nightmare, but hopefully in a good way, and the second being a continuous band of singletrack working it’s way through forest and open meadows.

Of course, that’s all in my mind.

The steep line was up first. Sandy & I pedalled and pushed round Mont Lachat in the afternoon sunshine, questioning whether it was late September or late July, to the buildings at the col. Our rapid progress was slowed by me discovering the doors were open and insisting I got to go and have a poke about. This, and the obligatory hop about the outside on our bikes, over, we could get on with the trail.

Pretty good on the top part, open and flowy before going into tighter rocky sections. At the split we turned right into the woods, where it was mostly open and flowy with tighter root sections, then suddenly death exposure.

If you’re feart of heights, or even slightly concerned about heights, or have an active imagination regarding geological stability, this trail probably isn’t for you….

It is good though, that’s all I’ll say.

Day two trail two.

This time Lorne is along for the ride. From the map I thought this trail had more potential to be fun riding, but after breaking left at the junction I was a bit disappointed. The gradient was right, but there just hadn’t been the traffic to stop the vegetation encroaching a bit much over the track. After a while the trail became more defined, but flow was still thwarted by fallen trees or collapsed sections of trail.

In between stops the riding was fun enough, and finding derelict lift infrastructure is always a bonus (if you’ve got a mechanical engineering degree at least) but it just lacked that certain something.

Lower down the trail went from lacking an undefined “something” to lacking an easily defined “downhill gradient” I’m happy to ride uphill, but constant changing from steep down to unrideable up gets a bit weary.

I was wondering if I was just having a bad day and the trail was better than I was crediting it but rejoining the previous days trail near the village for the final few kms it was clear where the best riding was.

Two trails, one that’s absolutely brilliant, none I’d recommend.

29/09/2013