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Home , Aiguille de Bionnassay, Chamonix, Col Ferret, Val Ferret

D E T A I L S WHERE: massif START/FINISH: DISTANCE: 120 miles over fi ve days PICTURES: Jo Gibson THE | GREAT RIDES

Great rides

Ready to set off TOUR DU for Chamonix MONT BLANC Last summer, Jo Gibson and three companions circumnavigated the by bike. There were ups and downs…

e’re riding the Tour du Mont companies who have tweaked the route to give Do it yourself Blanc,’ I told the table of customers more downhill bang for their buck. W mountain bikers over lunch We based our route on internet research, ALPINE ‘ with our skills instructor. ‘It’s a 120-mile Strava heatmaps, and the availability of BIKING loop around the Mont Blanc massif, mainly refuge accommodation. Chopped into five From May to September, the used by walkers, covering three countries daily stages of at most 32 miles, it seemed accommodation in the area is and ascending over 30,000ft. And it’ll be we would be done by lunchtime. Yet with up to plentiful but it’s best to book unsupported.’ 7,000ft of climbing each day, we had no idea ahead. The nearest airport is The response wasn’t the kudos I had how long we’d be riding. . Car or train are also hoped for. The instructor asked: ’What options. The biking routes are waymarked and the maps emergency precautions have you got in place?’ SMOKING DISC ROTORS are adequate, but plotting Two months later, cloud cloaked the peaks We set off, climbing into the mist that the route on a GPS device above Chamonix, leaving all but the dirty shrouded the Col du Balme. Walkers were is sensible. A good level of tongue of the des Bossons to our ghostly figures in the gloom below. I was stamina is required for long days, and a reasonable level imaginations. Dave, Richard, Darryl and I were grateful for the two ski lifts we used, which of technical ability to enjoy the ready to start our journey. Our packs were cut 2,000ft from what would have been an descents. Riders get by on any heavy, loaded with a library of maps, a battery 8,000ft day. Shivering at the top, we followed bike, but a trail bike with a pack, a well-stocked first aid kit, emergency the track that would take us across the col, dropper seatpost would be my bivvy bags and storm shelters, plus the in search of the descent into . recommendation. Be prepared for mountain weather. essentials for five days of riding in the Alps. Rocky switchbacks straightened into a strip The suspension sank as I sat on my bike. of singletrack. We avoided rocks and hikers, I could feel the weight of the journey ahead. while flexing fingers chilled by the damp The (TMB) is one of mountain air. Then we entered a swathe of the most popular long-distance walks in trees, negotiating steep zigzags into the Vallée Europe. It can be traced back to the 1700s, du Trient. Our cold fingers were forgotten. It when the fascination with all things Alpine was was technical, natural riding that went on and just beginning. Now around 10,000 people on. Every so often we paused, smiling, at the walk the valleys and cols each summer. side of the trail, waiting for disc rotors and Mountain bikers tackle it too, some following thighs to cool. This was what we were here for. the route faithfully, others doing it with tour But what goes down has to go up. On the

OUR PACKS WERE HEAVY, LOADED WITH MAPS AND EMERGENCY KIT. AS I SAT ON MY BIKE, THE SUSPENSION SANK

CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 45 THE ALPS | GREAT RIDES

YODELLING INTO THE GLOOM, WE SET OFF The Mont de la Saxe was covered with hikers and tourists when we arrived, many DOWN MILES OF SWISS MOUNTAIN PATH stretched out on the grass beneath the blazing sun. We snapped photos of below, then began our descent. It was a Alp Bovine (2,091m), Darryl was soon fed up. Swiss couple at the next table, and the sketchy toboggan run of sharp rock, loose ‘I’m braking uphill. Uphill, I tell you!’ Braced scent of the dapper old man’s cigar. gravel, and steep switchbacks booby-trapped against the bike, using it like a Zimmer frame An hour later, we were slogging across a with a slate drainage barrier on each apex. to aid his ascent, he was climbing inch by moonscape mountain side towards the summit It was exhilarating. inch. We were all struggling. The Korean of the Grand (2,537m). Below us, Down in Courmayeur, at the Piazza Abbé walking party we encountered were fascinated. on the balcony of the Alpage de la Peule, a Henry, where the tourists tilt their cameras They took photos. ‘How old are you?’ one man rainbow of t-shirts fluttered above the Swiss at the white-washed church, we scanned the asked Darryl, staring into his flushed face. . Walkers scurried on the flagstones, skyline. Nothing moved save the odd cloud The climb drove home the ups and downs tending their belongings and settling in for chugging through the valley. There would be of the Alps. For every thrilling descent, there the evening. I longed to do the same, only our no help up the mountain; the ski lifts were still. would be a corresponding, tortuous ascent. beds were in the next valley, over the Swiss/ Our hearts sank. It was already past midday. Was it ridiculous dragging a bike up such Italian border. We kept pushing. ‘We could take the road round,’ Dave steep terrain? The pitying looks of the walkers offered, as we forked up olives, walnuts and suggested it was. ‘Not long to go,’ they said. 7,000FT OF CLIMBING tomatoes at a bar. There was that silence I carried on with small deliberate steps, bike ‘We can go down this road all the way to again. The guidebook suggested the 5,000ft balanced on my shoulders. Courmayeur,’ Dave said over breakfast, tracing ascent would take five hours. It was already We reached the foggy summit along with the the day’s route on the map. ‘It cuts out all of 2pm. This would be tight. Korean party. No way were we getting tangled the climbing this morning, then we just have with them on the way down! Without drawing the afternoon.’ FOOTSORE AND TIRED breath, we scrambled onto the bikes and, Silence. While we had over 7,000ft We halted, panting beneath a rare stretch of yodelling into the gloom, disappeared down of climbing ahead, we were all mountain shade on the steep dirt track. Darryl examined the miles of Swiss mountain path below. bikers and were uncomfortable taking the the sole of one of his clipless shoes. ‘Heel’s road option. gone,’ he muttered. I said a prayer to the ALPINE AMBIENCE ‘What about taking a ski lift at Courmayeur, manufacturer of my rubber-soled flat shoes. On day two, in the sleepy hamlet of then?’ Dave asked. It was a good compromise. d’en Haut, the sun rose with us. It turned the We agreed to attempt the morning’s climb. lake to polished glass and lit up the velvet It was steep singletrack. Greenery, heavy green mountain sides of Val Ferret. From the with dew, brushed our legs as we hugged the valley floor, we began an upwards meander sides of the trail to let sympathetic walkers through a pastoral Switzerland. We passed pass. Then we reached a long traverse across wooden houses and hay barns, tracing the Alpine meadows and the tables turned. The banks of the Prayon and stopping to gawp walkers stepped politely aside as the trail at the great glacial amphitheatre at . swept us along, letting us pump the hard Over lunch in the Hotel du Col de Fenêtre undulations for speed. Under a blue sky, with garden, a gentle breeze carried the ding of views of the range across cow bells, a murmur of conversation from the the valley, this was Alpine riding at its finest.

CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 47 GREAT RIDES | THE ALPS

Fact file Left: Be sure to wear shoes TOUR DU MONT you can walk in

BLANC Above: Alpine descents – still DISTANCE: 125 miles. Chamonix- fun on a cross- Champex, 25.5; Champex-Arnouva, 22; country hardtail Arnouva-Lex Blanche, 23; Lex Blanche- Les Contamines Montjoie, 32; Les Contamines Montjoie-Chamonix, 23. It was a hard slog in the hot sun. We walked before, I could see Dave in the distance, huge ROUTE: We rode in the clockwise through two ski lift stations, passed three red backpack bouncing as he gave chase. I direction favoured by bikers. refuges – grabbing ice cream and Coca-Cola shook my head, muttering ‘What’s the point?’ CONDITIONS: Fog followed by four as we went – and continued up above the tree An hour later, we were seated beneath days of bright sunshine. The route is a mixture of singletrack, double-track line. My head was down when I heard Richard sun shades on the edge of the lake (Lac de and quiet road. Many of the climbs announce ‘That’s it, I’m sure it is – Roselend), listening to cow bells, the heavy require you to push or carry the bike. the mountain, Mont Blanc!’ thrum of motorbike exhausts, and chatter. ACCOMMODATION: Chamonix Lodge I looked across the valley to what Richard All about us were groups of roadies and (chamonixlodge.com), Gîte Bon was capturing on his mobile phone. There was motorcyclists. I felt like we belonged, and Abri (gite-bon-abri.com), Chalet Val one peak bigger than the rest, a wisp of cloud the journey felt like a holiday again. Ferret (chaletvalferret.com), Rifugio flying from the summit and a huge glacier When we reached Chalet Refuge Nant Elisabetta Soldini (rifugioelisabetta. com), Chalet Refuge Nant Borrant sliding from its shoulders. I took my own Borrant, we took a moment on the steps, (refuge-nantborrant.com). photograph and plodded on. bikes abandoned beside us. Walkers were EQUIPMENT: Jo: Canyon Spectral, 18L The valley was grey when we reached drinking and chatting. A neat, olive-skinned EVOC FR bag. Dave: Cube Reaction, Rifugio Elisabetta, stumbling into the second man weighed up Dave and Darryl’s bikes. 32L Osprey Escapist, Alpkit frame bag. sitting of dinner that Richard had secured for ‘You’re riding the TMB? On those?’ He Richard: Kona Process 111, Camelbak us in a valiant energy-gel-fuelled final push up was talking about the modest amount of Kudu. Darryl: Specialized Camber, secondhand shop backpack. the last of the climb. Inside, it felt more like a suspension travel on their cross-country Himalayan teahouse. At least 50 walkers sat bikes; Dave was on a hardtail. MAPS/: IGN 3630 Chamonix Mont Blanc; IGN 3531 St Gervais; side by side at long tables, different languages ‘Yes, we are,’ Dave said. The stranger Carte de Randonnées – Pays du Mont mingling, cutlery and crockery clattering. nodded his approval. Blanc. Cicerone Trekking – The Tour of Mont Blanc. Garmin Edge 800. LONG DAY, SHORT TRAVEL BEERS IN CHAMONIX I’M GLAD I HAD: Evoc backpack. Five Only Richard slept well that night. Rifugio On our final day in the shadow of the Mont Ten Freeriders for all the walking. Foil Elisabetta lays its guests out like corpses Blanc massif, mountain civilisation was bivvy bags and emergency shelters. on communal bunk beds, stacked three high. rarely far away. Stone and wooden buildings NEXT TIME I WOULD: Set off two Some of the bunks, naturally, had snorers. clustered on knuckles and plateaus, with weeks later, when the ski lift in At 5am, I got up after failing to rest. Darryl carefully tended gardens and fields alongside. Courmayeur runs. Take ear plugs. and Dave stared at me with hollow eyes over The loomed above FURTHER INFO: Tour du Mont Blanc breakfast. Our fourth day, at 32 miles, would us, its brilliant in the hot sun. Beneath, website: autourdumontblanc.com be our longest. I felt like the walking dead. meadows of flowers bent gently in the breeze. Facebook page: facebook.com/ We had already agreed that we would Our accumulated tiredness couldn’t take groups/13615483101/ take a detour from the TMB proper to avoid anything away from the spectacular scenery. the famously unrideable Col du Bonhomme. We approached Chamonix on an undulating This would involve some road miles, which track beside the tumbling L’, the mountain THE ALPS we made our peace with; there would still be looming large above its lesser cousins. some tough ascents before the end of the day. Chamonix was a different place to the one we Dave seemed unfazed by the blazing heat left. Instead of fog, it was drenched in sunlight Chamonix and the miles we had to ride. As we pedalled and vibrant with life. We got off our bikes to from double-track onto the road to make the walk the Rue du Dr Paccard, mingling among Arnouva Les Contamines summit of the Cormet de Roselend, he latched the rich mix of its international population. Montjoie onto the rear wheel of a passing road rider. We’d done it – and we’d done it ourselves. Lex Blanche As I pedalled steadily upwards, glancing back To celebrate our success, we went in search to Darryl, who was struggling from the day of crêpes and beer.

48 CYCLE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018