2000 rewards closer to home

"My Swiss friends are riding in the dry today", said Mael as we stood outside a cafe in Chamonix underneath his umbrella.

A plan was made in my head. Let's use the Dorenaz lift to gain some height and hopefully find the driest trails in the area. Aosta Valley was full of snow, and the Haute Savoie was soaked through.

3 hours after leaving the carpark we made it to the top of our climb, 100 metres or so above Col du Demecre. However there was snow. Maybe there had been some preciptiation in Valais after all?

The snow needed some serious care due to the exposure of the slope that the trail traversed across. Luckily it was that grippy type of snow and below you could see glorious Swiss high alpine singletrack disappearing off into the larch tree's and joining the trail me, Bas & Jarno had done in spring. The one with a horrendous scree field down climb section that rendered the entrance to the descent pointless. New entrance found:

Lower down the grass was damp which led to some creative line taking but it really wasn't that muddy, just on the greasy side. We were soon on the trail I had done with the Dutchies and then across to a trail I had done with another Dutchy in August. In here we found lots of grip and corners begging for loose back wheel action. There are lots of fire road crossings which create great stopping points for re-grouping and talking about the speed, and the life or death moments that just took place.

2000 metres later, after about an hour of descending we made it to the village just down the road from Dorenaz. A short, flat pedal back to the car was the perfect wind down after a huge classically Valaisian descent. TIP TOP as they say!

Why did I bother going south last week? oh yeah, the snow and because I thought the there were better trails away from home.

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