Chamonix Bike Blog

Tag: Vallorcine

The last big weekend of the summer

End of summer? Ok so it might be the end of meteorological autumn, but outside it’s double digit temperatures, with a warm drying wind rolling over from the south, so for us lot, it feels more like the end of summer.

And what do we do in summer? Ride bikes.

The Loriaz chalet loop is one of the first of the higher trails we ride each year, it’s altitude and aspect ensuring snow free trails that bit sooner than other points around the valley. That and the only way up is under your own steam, so there’s no point putting it off ’till the lifts turn or the road officially opens for some lazy shuttling.

If it comes into condition early in the spring for riding, it also comes into ski touring condition early in the winter so it was a bit of a novelty to be spinning up the fire road on the last days of November for a lap of one of the more varied descents about here.

There’s still a bit of snow near the top, but nothing that needed anything more than stopping to throw snowballs at Sandy. With no real fresh snow on the horizon for below 2000m then if you’ve never ridden the trail (and you’ve not quit biking to drink/ski all winter) g’wan get yourself up there.

Spence and I have ridden the trail umpteen times over the years, but this was Sandy’s virgin ride. It’s always good to show a new trail to someone, keeps the stoke high. Not that that’s hard on the Loriaz descent. There genuinely is a bit of everything on the way down, from the Chamonix staples of hairpins, death exposure and techy steep rocks and roots to the lesser seen open corners, bends of between 10 and 120 degrees, open singletrack, deciduous trees, leaves. Grand.

Another bonus was “orange pow”. A thick layer of pine needles coating sections of the trail which both encouraged drifting like another BC bro edit and leaving a trace of where you went (or went wrong….) for the rider behind you.

Eventually though all good things come to an end and so 750m below the top we get spat out into Vallorcine for the spin back home.

Last big ride of the summer? No idea, the title was really just an excuse to put a link to the best thing to come out of Falkirk since the Romans.

30/11/2014
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
Awesome. Le Tour and more.

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 it with. Awesome.

It started with the potential to go either way, meeting for the 0925 bike bus up to Le Tour. When they work well the bike bus is amazing, but when the driver seems more keen to load it up with walkers than riders, leaving you at the bus stop, or the UCPA gets there first with 20 odd stormtrooping pupils and you can’t fit your bike in, not so good. Today, it all went smoothly and we were on the lifts for 10.

Looking down from the Autannes Chairlift you could see the new section of trail built into the upper VTT trail. It looks pretty good too, but we had plans on the bigger descents into Switzerland and, as the Vallorcine gondola closes between 1230 and 1345, there was a schedule to keep to.

Unsure if we’d be quick enough on a full Trient lap, we started up with a shorter lap from the Col de Balme to the Catogne chalets and down to Vallorcine. Of course when I say shorter, you still get 1000m vert over 9km of the finest riding in the alps. Alpine pasture, dusty singletrack hugging the side of gorges, some fast fireroad to drift about on and a finish down rock rooty singletrack through pine forests with that dappled light that makes it so infuriating to photograph!

Some time, and much amusement, later, we’re getting back onto the Vallorcine gondola. A short pedal over the Col des Posettes and a blast across the hill and we re-set on the Autannes chair. This time though at the Refuge de Balme we stay in Switzerland and head up towards L’Arolette. There’s still a few patches of snow to negotiate round the back here, no apparently the hill doesn’t know it’s August, but they’re all pretty easy to cross. Except for Luke…

We reached the col by hot o’clock, so stopped to drink water, eat a bit and shoot the breeze. Sated, we dropped into the descent across the bowl. You can see 90% of the trail snaking across the hillside here. The bit you couldn’t see turned out to be another patch of snow across the steepest and rockiest section of the mountain. Everyone stopped in time.

From here the trail just keeps giving. There are better natural trails out there, but not many. Like the Catogne descent that it runs near to there’s every sort of riding covered on your way down. Well, every good sort; I didn’t notice any tussocky grass, brake bumps, motocrosser ruts etc.

Eventually we cruised sweaty and dusty into Trient, another 1000m lower and immeasurably higher. Even better, the trail ends but 20m from a(n ice cold) water fountain. Less good was the switch from trail to road for the next wee while, but even that wasn’t too bad. A fast blast downhill to nearly the border then a 20 minute or so pedal up hill to Vallorcine, with the baking hot sun cooking you from above.

Once again we head up the Vallorcine gondola, up to the col and across the mountain, but this time we keep heading down on the ever excellent lower Le Tour DH track. The construction of the new upper section’s obviously taken a fair bit of the shapers time as the trail was running quite loose, you can complain, or you can get on with it and learn to drift. Or your bike can have a tantrum like Ally’s did. It started with a quick stop to fix a puncture (not mine for once, and the only one of the day). Then the fixed wheel couldn’t go back in the frame. Closer inspection revealed that the disk brake return springs were performing more of a braking duty than the pads. Undeterred by the lack of material, Ally affected repairs, and we got going again, headed for Petite Balcon Nord.

PBN doesn’t get ridden at this end of the valley anything like as much as it does lower down, which is strange as it’s my new favourite section of the petite balcons. Not going to complain mind, we all had a blast down to Argentiere and the Grand Montets lift.

Josh had to keep going for home here, so it was only 5 of us that boarded, probably just as well given how grumpy the other passengers were at our presence, ho hum. Another quick break to drink and eat and we were off on the last descent of the day into the Lavancher bowl and then on to Le Bois. This is another anomaly of the Chamonix bike ban, being a totally natural trail, fairly tech in places, reasonably popular with walkers, and yet we’re encouraged to use it. Not going to complain mind, it’s a grand way down the hill. Once in the trees the light was useless for taking photos, so the camera afflicted amongst us were able to just keep going and going and going, as was everyone else having been freed from “wait there a second” “ok, ride now” “can you go up again, I missed it”…. Though the flip side is that it’s a very long way down and you better have strong fore arms if your brake fingers are going to survive.

Eventually, 5 riders rolled into Le Bois and collapsed by the water fountain. These granite and wood vats of ice cold drinking water are up there with tea and bikes in my “things that are great” list, and the Le Bois one is definitely in the upper 10%, especially on a day like this.

Sunshine, friends and over 4km vertical of dusty alpine descending. Awesome.

02/08/2013
Le VTT et les Vaches…

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).

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.

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!

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.

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.

11/07/2012