MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Just looking for info on it (how many days, how challenging was the riding, did you do it self-supported etc). Would be interested to hear of your experiences.
Thanks
Jamie at Ride the Alps does this as a guided trip: www.ridethealps.com
I've skied between the two - looks like a cracking bike trip.
I rode it about 3 years ago - all arranged through Crystal Active (IIRC). A van took all the luggage and gave us a few lifts in between. Holiday was 12 days and we rode for 8 I think. Really reasonable price, included meals too. Our driver was actually the husband of one of the company directors and said it was the first time they'd done it and must have made a loss.
I've ridden it twice with Jamie from Ride the Alps.
Both fantastic trips - the riding is unbelievably good.
The longest descent is around 1500m, split into three sections - high alp, a rocky section above the treeline followed by over 50 switchbacks down through the trees.
It brings new meaning to the word awesome! 🙂
Few photos here, but they don't do it justice:
[url= http://www.zen36234.zen.co.uk/Chamonix%20to%20Zermatt/ ]C2Z[/url]
Elsa,
We rode it with Jamie from Ride the Alps a few years ago and are going to do it again this summer - it is a brilliant trip.
Looks nice, does anyone know the route, is it the same as the haute route used by walkers and skiers? or does it need to deviate?
We're still investigating trips, but it would be something we would look to do on our owm / self supported. We did TMB a few years ago self supported and are now looking for another challenge..
I would also be interested in any route info available?
You can do the trip semi self supported with Ride the alps, it might be worth you contacting them?
The route Jamie follows is not the same as the Haute Route - he's chosen trails to suit mountain bikers. Given that guiding people along those trails is his livelihood I don't think Jamie will be too keen to provide any detailed route information. Unless you know the area I think it would be quite hard to sort out a good route.
His website does give you a rough idea of where the route goes.
Looking at it earlier it would be a great bikepacking trip. Think I will have a crack at it later in the year, need to send off for some maps to have a proper look at it.
There are a few rough route descriptions online, going through several villages a day. I suspect that they are not all identical routes, so should be plenty of options to allow for weather and tiredness.
Funny how an forum post this morning, is now turning into an adventure.
self guided write up in the current mountain bike australia - I'll check the recycling box tonight, sure it hasn't been collected yet, and can scan it or can post it to you if interested; there was a google earth map with it I reckon and with the various town names etc, should be possible to piece together the route from the two
mail in profile if interested
Stranger - some great pics in that album!