A mixed May

Riding the weather patterns

The weather has been very changeable these past few weeks. Which has kept a few of us keen for searching for nice ski turns, and some of us keen for finding sticky 'hero' dirt for our mountain bike tyres to grip into. We visited the Vanoise but got shut down on skiing the Grande Casse as the guardian warned us of wind slab. Still we made the most of it on the Vanoise Glacier and spring conditions.

I've been riding on setups that are actually fairly similar. My Scarpa Freedom SL ski touring boots are pretty light, but far from ski-mountaineering race boot lightness. They do the job on the up's but they are so good on the descents. My Nukeproof Mega AM is also on the heavy side, but it can get up the climbs. However once on the descent it's amazingly capable! The latest technology available in all areas of outdoor sports is simply amazing and is making everything so much more enjoyable and potentially achievable.

For Example

Doing multiple pitches of 60m abseils at 3800m to ski a couloir:

And then a few days later getting first tracks down Domes de Miage (3673m):

It was then time for this somewhere deep in Servoz's moyenne montagnes:

However there was unfortunatly two instances of chain break's that got fixed quickly both times. Though I think we appreciated the rest-bites they gave during the huge climbs!

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What guides do between work in the peak of July

Summer is here, and after fantastic spring riding in Southern France and then all over Valais, Aosta and Haute Savoie with good friends it's been time to get back to summer guiding, taking hikers around the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit. There's much worse things to do, but with three weeks off the bike I was itching to get back on some trails. With a carefully planned week between tours I was excited and made some plans to hit up some classic lines, and some new stuff too. It's mid July now, so in Chamonix valley you have to think carefully about where to go to miss the crowds, and to avoid going on the bike ban trails (July & August). Luckily it's still easy to find quiet trails in nearby resorts, or to simply drop round the back of a hill away from the frontside lifts. It went a little like this: Day 1- La Thuile with Wayne of newly qualified French legal mountain bike guiding service Chamonixmtb.com . Enduro race venue at it's best, rough and raw. ...

Aiguille de la Grande Sassiere 3751m

One of those pure adventure days *warning mega photo post* Ali-venturing as it's been known by over the summer. When Ali from trailAddiction gets grand idea's in his head it always leads to hike-a-bike. Read here on DIRT Mag about a previous mission, its the highest rideable peak in the alps! A special team was organised: A top ten finishing team from the Bivouac Enduro, Mael and Max, Ali, myself and Fred the mountain bike mechanic from Mavic. All keen, all stupid? And then my alarm went off at 04:30. Time to eat and drink as much as possible. I hadn't been up this early since ski touring in refuges last winter. In my tired state I did subconsciously know how to load the bikes onto the trailer, it's easy after doing it everyday all summer. We drove up towards Val d'Isere, then turned left up a singletrack road. It was around 6am, and it was still pitch black. Slowly the sun began to rise: Tignes...

Tour du Mont Blanc: Voie Toller- INTRO

Introduction: Jo Toller is my skiing touring partner. He has been cycle touring for many years all over Europe, and last Autumn he cycled across America aboard is "ultimate touring setup" with 700cc wheels, Rholoff internal gear hub, Ortleib panniers and silly shaped handlebars. He also climbs and walks alot around Cham valley during the summers. For a couple of years now he has had this hybrid TMB route in mind. Last year when I went to watch the Downhill World Cup in Val d'Isere I picked him up from Courmayeur on my return over the Petit St Bernard. He'd left Cham and in 7 hours had reached Courmayeur. He hadn't gone the road cycling route via the Grand St.B & Aosta, no, near Verbier he'd headed up the Swiss Val Ferret Valley as far as the road went past La Fouly and then pushed his bike over the Grand Col de Ferret and descended all the Italian Val Ferret Valley to Courmayeur town. Having walked the TMB in the same, non classical, c...

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