Seasoned Alpinist but have never ridden a bicycle in Chamonix, looking for some sage advice on the best trails, techy XC would fit the bill nicely, any advice much appreciated…have also heard of the Holy grail trail is this super gnarly, what do you think for a first timer, worth seeking out..will only have a few days.

There’s a few good trails out of Les Houches, just down the valley. Head up the BelleVue or Prarion lifts then back down into Les Houches. You could also drop into the next valley and explore the trails around St. Gervais but there’s no easy way back to Chamonix unfortunately. The only way back up to the Prarion ridge is via the tramway, which doesn’t carry bikes except the lasst tram of the day, which is a pity.

go to zero g (bike/board shop) and ask for Tom the local guide writer.Holy grail is quite difficult, but by no means the hardest in Cham. Enjoy

Download the link ‘the guide VTT 2011’ from here. Alpine Reds tend to be more techy than in the uk so should suit your requirments.

http://www.chamonix.com/mountain-bike,35,en.html

Certainly been a better summer for the VTT than the alpinisim so far…

Easy way back up from La Fayet (downhill from St Gervais) is to take the train back to Chamonix, 5euro, your Carte d’hote doesn’t cover it as its past Servoz. The trails from Chamonix to Servoz & on to La Fayet can also be really good.

When are you out in Chamonix, as the trail ban is in force till the end of August which rules out lots of stuff in the valley.

First week September, really just looking for the best XC trails.

Roulercaster thanks for that, but i really need recomendations for the best trails, no 4×4 tracks please, i would imagine there is some good stuff on the Brevent, Aiguille Rouge side, is there a trail that traverses high towards the col de montets? any more info on the holy grail trail please.

A good run is to go up the Brevent bubble, traverse via signs for the Floria Buvette to Flegere, up the Flegere lift then across to the petite balcon sud near Lavanchere, which then leads up to Argentiere. You could in theory traverse to the Col du Montets from Flegere, but bikes are apparently banner from the Aig Rouge national park, and you’d have to go through the park. The above is only about 2hrs from Chamonix to Argentiere, and is mostly techy singletrack in a predominantly, but not exclusively, downhill gradient.

Cheers for that, i know the grail trail goes off the Brevent somewhere, do you know anything about the technical difficulty?

There are a couple of bike shops at the east end of the main street – one is specifically mtb- hire bikes and guided rides etc. i suggest you bob in there for local knowledge.

Tom’s green book will do you (just buy it from Zero G on day 1)

Just seen the note about the tramway only taking bikes on the last tram of the day. Is that right? I’m doing a TransAlp in a week or so, was planning on (as part of it) using the tram from St Gervais up to Col de Voza then carrying on from there to Bionassy, Col de Joly, Bonhomme, etc towards Bourg SM,

any info?

c

bump

I was recommend the book by Tom Wilson North …didnt’ get to use it this year as planned due to Mr MC’s crash record requiring surgery. Others on here raved about it.

ChrisE that is not true they take bikes all day on the monorail up from St Gervais. The trail down there from the top of the Prarion is quite good fun, not epic but well worth doing. The only thing that Tom Wilson Norths book doesn’t mention is that the monorail isn’t covered on your lift pass and it costs 15 euro per person. If you ride Les Houches the runs on the front side are really badly shown on the piste map. What they state as VTT trails are all pretty much 4×4 tracks. There are footpaths marked on there, just use them, they are good fun singletrack and no one cares. Watch out you don’t run any goats over tho, they’re everywhere. As you go up the Prarion lift you can see a switchbacky trail under it, do that it’s good fun. Finding the trail head is a little tricky to describe but if you keep your eyes open you’ll spot it. Basically from the top of the lift exit left and go thru the tunnel as you come out the other side start keeping an eye out to your left (downwards!) and you’ll spot what looks like a trail follow it an it will kind of become apparent. Basically there are paths everywhere and they all lead to the bottom.
The Vallorcine DH track at Le Tour is also good fun, pretty full on steep wise and quite tech, but an awesome run.

re. tramway always taking bikes

I was told by a local bloke who lives up on the side of the mountain, up towards Col de Voza, that they only allow them on the first and last trains of the day. Can’t confirm it or disprove it independently myself as I never tried at any other time. I trust the local and he was riding everyday and using the tramway everyday but that’s all I was told.

Tramway

True.

They sometimes get a bit grumpy even on the first and last trains too, the trains are quite small and you end up with a pile of bikes. We went up with 5 bikes and they were’nt overly impressed

Cumbrianmonkey, thanks for that advice, I will let you know how we go on! We’re riding a long ride from Geneva to Nice flitting between the French/Italien border, our route is here

http://www.sendspace.com/file/62t1av
(make sure you click on the sendspace PDF download, not the adverts!)

so the prime consideration is to get on and make progress!

I do know that area pretty well from going there (doing similar rides) over a few years

C

I was there two weeks ago and got a lunchtime ish tram up from St Gervais, nobody looked particularly interested and the driver helped my missis on with her bike.
To be fair no one asked to see a ticket either…

Cant believe no one has mentioned the trail over to Trient and back via the Col De Balme.

Definitely worth a day trip through the Mont Blac tunnel to Aosta – you can get the cable car from there up to Pila for a few euros and do the 10km downhill run back to the town.

agent care to elaborate, whan you say over and back to Trient, is that up the le Tour lift down the tour du mont blanc upper trail down to Trient, then follow the valley trail that gradualy climbs back up to 1900m then back to le Tour, any pics.

Anyone ridden off the col de Balme towards Aiguille des Posettes, down the ridge looks promising then cut back to le Tour.

Have ridden from there to Aiguille des Posettes, then North over the Swiss border through Les Saix Blancs. I havent done the double back thing to Le Tour. The bit I describe though is all on a wide jeep track, hardcore surface on the French side and grass on the Swiss. I think it’s used to service the lifts and to drive farmers between high pastures in summer.

C

Best tracks
Holy Trail
Sick Track
trient from Balme
the 2 trails below the Possettes ridge.
Servoz ridgeline from Brevent

Not for the feint-hearted though!!

Cheers nick, what are the logistics for the Servoz ridgline, is it not quite a long way down the valley from Cham, just off my IGN map.

Am going out to Chamonix for 5 days with girlfriend in 2 weeks and have 2 days planned for riding, am looking for techy XC singletrack stuff, mainly descending (but i don’t mind a pedal). As i only have 2 days i don’t really want to waste any time, any advice on good guides to show me around?

i have Toms green book if you want to borrow it and if you have memory map i have several trails worth riding that are not in the book

I think i may buy the book, thanks anyway. I’d love the memory map files tho. Can you email them?

I looked at the ridge towards Servoz the other night, I was on my own, it was 5.30pm, and I hadn’t seen a sinner for about an hour, so I took the Holy Trail. Is the ridge worth doing and did you head for Servoz or try and cut back towards Merlet?

go find my secret trail in Servoz.

start in the village and climb up towards le fiz, at the first large carpark go left into the woods-the track bends around to the right then dips through a small stream. After that the trail is on the left-follow it down to the road then turn right for about 200mt until you reach a large water pool on the right. The trail then starts on the left hand side of the road and will decsend for about 3 miles to Chedde where you can catch the train back to Cham

About the tram from st gervais, i was there 3 weeks ago with Tom at around 11 oclock and we were not allowed on, and we were told that bikes only allowed on 1st n last ascent, we knew this but were trying our luck, had a cuppa and got the train to mont roc, rode up to le tour and took the best route down to Trient,
freeridenick is spot on with trail knowledge.
Hope you have a great time, im out there from the 20th aug for a week or so, then back on the 8th sept.

I wonder why Tom didn’t mention not being allowed on the train in his little book? Glad we managed to get on the train when we did, train driver must have been in a good mood or something.

Servoz ridge is a pretty epic. The top is proper steep. once you hit the junction lower down we went right, then left at 1434 on the map. slight climb to Gross Pierres then drop down to Montvauthier .the trail right at 1434 could be really good though.
also from Montvauthier we ended going down the road to Servoz. looks to be a black dotted trail on the map south towards La Trappe that could be good?

JHW ???

Only just saw this, I’ve been moving house! Agreed that the stuff above Servoz is proper brilliant, not too busy either because you have to do road climbs to get there (no lifts). The descent from Merlet animal park to Les Gaillands is good too (fully detailed in Tom’s book). My favourite trail in the entire valley is from the Col de Balme to Catogne (there are two ways you can do this and both are good, both are on the map) and then down to Trient. It is not the hardest trail in the valley so you can hoon it, and it has awesome views.

If you want to really get out there and don’t mind pushing your bike uphill for about an hour, haul your bike from the Bionnassay glacier up to the Col du Tricot. The top is an awesome place, and there’s a great descent from there which is testing but rideable. You then get to the refuge and turn right, and there’s an epic singletrack along a gorge down to Champel. The downside of all this is that getting to the Col du Tricot in the first place is hard work and that puts off most people!

Loads of stuff in the valley itself too but I always seem to end up riding at either the top or bottom ends.

I may be out there in the first fortnight of October (I’m still pinning down my plans but this looks likely). I’ll have just finished a 3 week mountaineering course and will be keen to round off the trip with a good climb. If you’re in the area then drop me a line on this thread…

Have just finished for the day, today got to Celliac from near Briancon. Rode what has to be the best traverse I have ever done, just before Col de Fromage. Tomorrows route looks very much more difficult, hoping to get to Refugio Gardetta. Still going hard to meet the flight in Nice.

Was good to ride through Mont Blanc area a few days ago, but too much hike-a-bike. One of the highlights was the ride down from the Bon Homme towards plan de Lai and the ride (cheeky) through the Vanoise.

8 days down so far!
C

I’m thinking about some (very) cheeky riding in the Vanoise near Pralognan in October when it’ll be deadly quiet and (hopefully) nobody will care. It would be really good if you could email me details of what you did, where’s good, guidebooks, or maps or any of the above! I’d love to hear how it was. My email is jhwooding@hotmail.com.

Thanks a lot and glad you’re having a great trip.

Just arrived in Nice. Great adventure. Will email you when in the UK if that’s ok.

C

Wow – good work, very jealous 😛

any info to me as well please (mail in profile)

cheers