Tour du Mont Blanc: Voie Toller- Savoie and Haute Savoie

15:20 Col de la Seigne (2516m), French/Italian boarder- 12 hours riding/walking

The descent into the Savoie and Beaufortain Area is the only area where there in no phone signal for a sustained period. In the back of our mind we knew there were refuges around should the weather turn, but we kept going.

A quick Oringina break in les Chapieux and the push began up to the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme. I was not looking forward to this, so about 20 mins further up we had some caffeine energy gels to help us up to the top.

A rare rideable section nearing the Col

18:30- 2433m

At the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme (2433m) we could see the dark clouds approaching from Annecy direction. Everyone at the Croix refuge was getting settled in for the night, for us though, as the wind picked up, we put all our layers on. We still had an hour or so of light. This is exactly what we had planned as the traverse to the Col du Bonhomme is quite challenging hike-a-bike terrain and at high altitude.

Moments before layering up

We traversed and reach the Col du Bonhomme in about 30mins, the rain never got to heavy luckily, but the light was slowly going.

Col du Bonhomme Michelin marker

The descent was greasy and slippery, we rode some sections, but alot was pushing or shouldering the bikes till we got to about 1800m near the la Balme Refuge/Gite. From here it was steady descending on a rocky fireroad. Jo's hands and wrists getting rattled around, and even mine suffered to the high pressured tyres that were so good on the tarmac.

At 20:00 we still had more off-road descending, but nothing too technical, bare the last 100m of steep rock slabs. It was getting dark now but we zoomed along feeling pretty good. And by the time we arrived at the road it was dark, and time for lights. Perfect timing really.

20:00 dusk

Focaccia was eaten, lights were turned on and we headed away from our last section of off-road with the bright lights of les Contamines in sight. It was a little wetter in this Haute Savoie valley, but we kept pedalling and so kept warm.

2100- St Gervais, Haute Savoie, France...

Energy left to star jump

Comments

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: And the hike-a-bike continued and turned into carry-a-bike, but with the su…

Verb-yeah!

Verbier is a very mixed place. There is great piste skiing & free-riding and access to world class ski touring, but more often its known for it's decadence. Huge picture perfect chalets with wealthy families and their beaufituful/handsome ski instructors fill the resort. And if not that, the seedier side of ski resorts, the bankers with their paid for woman. . .

Talking of horrible, those exposed switchbacks half way down from the Chateau were bloody horrible, lucky the rest of the trail was very good fun.

Well of course, its Swiss Valais, the footpaths are "tip top" and the lift companies are bike friendly. There were still a lot of pistes open for skiing, but after 11am you can use the lower lift from Le Chable to Verbier to access the snow free trails that lead back into the valley floor. Time to explore:

Many thanks to Lorne for some of the cracking photos : http://www.lornecameron.com

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.

Day 2- Blue b…

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