Got home yesterday, after spending a week with MBMB, starting in Chamonix, riding through Switzerland, Italy and back into France.
Mont Blanc from the mid station below the Col De Balme on the Chamonix side.

The cheese farm up above La Fouly, below the Col du Ferret

View from the hotel window on the Lac De Roselend on the thursday night, before the snow came in and we rode through a blizzard on Friday morning, the coldest I’ve ever been on a bike by a comfortable margin…

Before the snow got too bad to stop and take a photo on friday, probably taken at about 2000m

Nice!!! I did that last year – best ride I’ve ever done. We had 4 days of sunshine though, and definitely no snow! Well done…

It was a touch chilly on Friday, wasn’t it?

It was grim, where were you? I felt sorry for the Ultra Trail runners, racing overnight through that is fairly unimaginable. Phil (the guide) said it was the worst weather he’s ever seen on a tour in almost 20 years, and it just so happened to be the last day of his last 3 Countries Tour.

I’m a guide over in the Tarentaise. We were riding at Les Arcs that day, not that far from where you were at Roseland. Started snowing half-way up the Cachettes lift!

We managed to get caught up with the UTMB guys on one trail, felt pretty bad about that! Really embarassing descent, pulling aside for a runner every 30 seconds, “Bonjour! Pardon! Bon Courage!” 😳 They were all really friendly though.

Mind if I steal that last pic for another thread?

😉

Phil is a geezer! 🙂

He’s definitely a character that’s for sure, definitely no messing about . Top guide though.
Depends what thread it is Flashy 😉

Shizer! Looks like a winter ride on Kinder!

Felt like a winter ride on Kinder, just colder!

It’s all gone now – sunshine is back, forecast 28°C at 1500m by the end of the week!

GRRR!!!! It was about 25 in Chamonix yesterday when we left, -7 on the Aguille Du Midi though.

Hey Stevo, yep it was cold on Friday. Nice to know the weather has picked up for you though. Had a great time last week thanks for a great holiday.

On our TMB last year we had two days of 30 degree heat, one day of torrential freezing rain the two days of sunny and cool. That’s mountains for ya. Definitely one of the best rides you can do.

… and yes, Phil is indeed a dude

Cheers Jon!

If the weather had been nice I would have loved to have done weeks more riding, I could see my self doing a season in the Alps very easily indeed…

Fortunately it was a bit warmer 10 days ago 36 in shade and 44 in the sun, Lac Roselend is a stunning spot for a swim. Interesting the route takes you that far from MB. Just over the Col de Pre is Areches, Trail Addictions’s base for Destination X

Lac and Mont Blanc, TA style

[/url] Col du Courvercle by JambalayaPhoto, on Flickr[/img]

Nice to see a good view of the lake, both days we were near it it was cloudy or wet. If it had been nice we would have gone for a swim, I was tempted even in the rain.

Great pictures. Good luck to Phil – I sorely regret that I never got the chance to go on one of his tours, they were by all accounts the best ride of that type in the Alps!

yep, was in chamonix friday/saturday- sure was cold, though the trails held up ok…

Out of interest what sort of bike would recommend for the trip, 120mm FS or 140mm FS or something else?

I had a 120mm Specialized with U-Turn Pikes, so wound them out for the big descents. There are no big drops on the route, just techy switchbacks, so a short-ish travel tough FS would be perfect I reckon. Phil was riding a Stumpjumper, and Jon, the other guide, was on a Five. Thought about going riding in Les Houches on the saturday but the bikes were taken home on the saturday afternoon on a trailer and it was grim in the morning so we didn’t bother.

nice…. bit jealous 😐

Can’t really explain how good it was, even with the weather.