Hi All,
Off to Chamonix with a few mates at the end of the month and wondered if there’s any ‘must-do’ trails while we’re out there? One of our group has an apartment there so knows the place pretty well, but I’m sure he still only knows about a fraction of what’s there.

We’ll be on 160mm bikes so happy to pedal but like the gravity and play stuff too!

Cheers

Get out there before 1 July, as from 1 July to 31 August mountain biking is illegal on all trails except those that are outlined HERE. It sucks, but it is the law.

Thanks for that – we go on the 29th so will get 2 days of free reign and then 2 days of restricted access (which looking at that map, still looks like enough to keep us entertained!)

Holy Trail
Servoz ridge
Sick Track
Trient from le tour
Possettes

Get the Tom Wilson North Book, new version out in the next few weeks I believe.

I quite liked Animal Park. I also rode up the valley to Le Tour and then down to Trient. Which was nice 🙂

Second TWN book

I seem to remember getting a lift up to somewhere called Merlet and com in back down into the valley from there. That was a LOT of fun!

EDIT – it is above Les Houches, here

Rachel

Merlet and the animal park are the same trail. Holy Trail comes in from above.

In the TWN book. Off limits in July/august though

Ride where you like and be very nice to people. Most of the good bike trails aren’t popular with walkers.

FreerideNick’s list is good. One of the other guys on here did some stuff around Emosson last year, down to Switzerland.

The nature reserve descent from Le Tour is good. If you’re heading down from Le Tour at the end of the day take the Petit Balcon from underneath the Le Tour glacier, there is a short climb and then nice flowy stuff down to Argentiere, its way nicer than taking the road.

Emosson down to Martigny in switzerland is excellent. train back to chamonix after a few runs at Dorenaz…

get the post bus up from Finhaut to save riding up 😉

Sorry for hyjacking the thread,

Im going in 5 weeks time, Ive been before and took my Enduro. This time im going with my 456 120mm XC bike.

What trails would be suitable for XC. Im staying on the le praz end of Cham.

– I mean proper XC im willing to climb 🙂 but decents are a must.

The Petit Balcons and trails around Le Tour are better-suited to an XC bike. You might like to do some exploring from Les Houches, some gentle terrain there and nice views. Or you could section some of the Tour de Mont Blanc route, pretty much anything on it ought to give you a good day out.

freeridenick – was that with Bike Verbier, by any chance? Top descent that, and Dorenaz too.

wl, it wasn’t – but I know they “pioneered” the route!

Good xc route Janesy

Up to Montenvers tram at the end of the Valle Blanche. ride along the grand balcon nord to midi mid station. Pick any of the trails back down to chamonix – thats a mans day out!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/trains-in-chamonix-valley-closed-until-8-december-i-hear

No trains above Chamonix so I’ll focus on stuff below Chamonix

“Hugh’s Way” in the TWN book is brilliant as is “Pipeline”

Col du Tricot – gorge trail if you don’t mind serious (1 hr) hike a bike and want something very technical. Someone posted a video of this on Vimeo. This is quite a serious undertaking though…ask me about it if you want details…

Stuff above Servoz/Plaine Joux – just explore!

All the stuff mentioned above but note the train issue (can’t believe this has been allowed to happen)

Easily a week’s riding between Chamonix and St Gervais, gotta be willing to go up hills a bit though

It is all very well saying

Ride where you like and be very nice to people. Most of the good bike trails aren’t popular with walkers.

but unfortunately the trail restrictions are not even a voluntary arrangement like on Snowdon, the restrictions are a local law. You can’t turn a blind eye because it doesn’t happen to suit you.

I went on a guided holiday to Chamonix a few years ago and the guide said “Just say you’re English”, which isn’t a good defence. I was very uncomfortable and had a less-than-optimal holiday sticking to the ‘open’ stuff.

Actually loads of people can and do ignore the local laws, in practise you will never have a problem as long as you’re polite and considerate.

jhw – thanks for the train info. pain in the a***.
I didn’t see your previous post.

have emailed TWN for confirmation.

Maybe more of an issue that the trains not running is the number of fallen trees currently blocking trails. This followed a big storm where 1000’s of trees were destroyed and loads of damage done. Some of the most popular trails have been cleared but there are still a lot that are blocked.

/freeridenick – thanks for the route suggestestion – I’ve done the walk from the aiguille du midi mid station to the le montenvers de glacé before which would be a good ride. However can I ride up to the montenvers instead of using the tram. Like I said ‘proper xc’ I want a long route.

Any other suggestions would be very welcomed.

If you have a car, have a day trip to Pila

My friend with the apartment there has suggsted the following itinerary – feedback and any suggestions welcome from any experts!

Friday 29th – Half day only, so new runs at La Flegere. Red, can be cycled to. Probably do twice.

Saturday 30th – Big day. Bus to La Tour. Cable car to Balme and ride over and down to Vallorcine. Black. Do again then back up and easy Red, Le Tour to Argentiere and up lift to Logan. Down our standard hard Red to Le Lavancher. If tired back to Chamonix, else do La Flegere again.

Sunday 1st – Full day. Les Houches: bike park, Black run (but looks like you have to cycle up). Prepared track from the Bike Park all the way down. Up again and the route under the lift we found last time. Up again and finally the long circuit around the back and down to Les Houches. Back to Chamonix

Monday 2nd – Half day. Bus to Argentiere, lift to Logan again. Down to La Lavancher and across to La Flegere again. Back to Chamonix.

Can get a lift pass for all lifts – except Les Houches- for €20 per day. Not sure about half days

Plenty of good riding there hughjayteens. Can always modify the itinerary closer to the time when you see what the weather’s doing and how people feel.
For the Saturday, consider the trails down to Trient, Tom’s book(s) will give you all the info you need. Also the Les Houches ski area is now incorporated into compagnie du mont-blanc so the bike pass will include both the Bellevue and Prarion lifts, so no uphill needed to get to the bike park (probably)

Montenvers & the Midi don’t let bikes on unfortunately, so riding on the south side of the valley is all human powered.

Hello, its a bit naughty but, i agree with Shandy, if your in a small group and are polite to the French and Japanese! people they will prob stand to one side and cheer you on, English people on the other hand wont. Get Toms new book and go for a ride, trains are going from St gervais to argentiere only, so if you go to Trient remember you got to pedal back, the off road way is more of a carry than a ride. and only 5 bikes allowed on any 1 train at a time. All the above trails are great, except from the top of flegere, unless your on a dh bike imho.

I’ve done the walk from the aiguille du midi mid station to the le montenvers de glacé before which would be a good ride. However can I ride up to the montenvers instead of using the tram. Like I said ‘proper xc’ I want a long route.

You could hike-a-bike it, up the route that skiers use to ski down from the Vallee Blanche – start from the bottom of the summer luge. It’s pretty steep in bike terms obviously – I well know to my cost what’s an easy ski down is a damn steep ride up.

Personally I think Montenvers -> Midi mid is a totally daft idea for a bike ride, there’s be a chunk of walking and no flow at all. But it’s a fine walk.

If you want a nice hike go up to La Jonction, that’s the rock spine that splits the glacier in 2 at the top, to the right of Glacier des Bossons. Go up the right side (not the main tourist route – look on the map) and down the main way, to make it more interesting.

It can’t be more than 20 minutes up the road from Trient to Vallorcine. I have never bothered taking the train, I always just pedal and then take the telecabine back up to Col de Balme.

It’s a 300m climb I think from Chatelard to Vallorcine, took me about 30 minutes. It was fairly heinous but that was because I was in a rush for some reason, at a leisurely pace it would be alright.

The real bugger is getting from Chamonix to Montroc, which will take a lot longer.

Some great beta for the OP here

TWN was my source alas 🙁

I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer though, Chamonix is brilliant and you’ll still find a lot to do there

I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer though, Chamonix is brilliant and you’ll still find a lot to do there

Absolutely, it’s somewhere everyone should go sometime in their lives. And if you have kids take them to walk on a glacier, while there is still a glacier.

Montenvers to Midi is mainly a push. but what uphill in Chamonix isn’t….and the walk under all the big Northfaces is amazing.

Once your there the downhill is epic – which is what its all about anyway.

Some Inspiration
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71958789@N00/sets/72157624822288907/show/

Some nice pics Nick.

Really nice pics.

Great feedback guys (and great pics Nick!).

Is there any local guides who we could maybe book for a day to show us any hidden gems? Booked a guy from Coolbus last year in Les Arcs and he took us on the best day’s biking I have ever had.

I don’t know of any but the places to ask would be:
* tourist information (in the square opposite the back entrance of the cinema)
* Zero G bike shop, the Les Houches end of the main street
* the other bike shop (Legend?) on Avenue Aiguille du Midi
* Hotel le Vert in Les Gaillands.

I know Le Vert do peer group rides at least once a week. If anyone does paid-for guiding, I’m sure they’ll know.

You’ll be able to speak English in any of these places.

Also speak to Ride the Alps http://www.ridethealps.com/ who can put together custom itineraries or possibly provide a guide. I did their Chamonix to Zermatt trip a few years ago, it was excellent. Well worth a chat to them.

Someone in ZeroG measured my Tallboy to within an inch of its life 2 years ago. Great riding esp if you were prepared to ride uphill as well.

Nick’s pics capture Chamonix riding pretty well too – ff and pads, exposure, steeps, views.

Not really my thing (I’m more of a flowy forest singletrack fella and usually draw the line at armour), but horses for courses. Cliffs are ok as long as you’re bolted to them!

Anyone have a link to the new TWN book?

the original is great

Toms Blog is here. http://www.chamonixbikeguide.com/

Lots of good info RE Trains, Trail access in July/August etc.

I think he will be shortly publishing where to get his new book.