Can anyone identify this trail

Merde, sorry the picture doesn’t work, I’ll try again when I’m at home.

Gemmipass

That looks like Afan to me. What do I win?

Sorry

This one

Don’t worry about it if ID’g this trail publicly will put noses out of joint/cause any issue…I have an idea anyway. More I just wanted to post an epic photo!

I reckon thats Richmond Park?

Behind the Natwest bank in Swindon?

I’m guessing the Lakes, no idea where though. Just because of the way you said it might cause an issue.

Scottyland somewhere, at a guess, but i would like to know where… amazing photo do you have a large res version?

Chamonix

Thorny issues in the fat tyres of mountain biking.

above the mer de galce?

forgetmename will know 🙂

It’s that cheeky path around the back of Hogwarts isn’t it?

Thanks -happy just to peruse maps/try to find it myself. I think I have an idea of where it is…

Think that glacier’s smaller than the mer de glace and the latter doesn’t have rideable trails running by it (I don’t think?)

Have you tried looking at a map?

Bossons Glacier? in the background?

Thanks – I don’t think it’s the Bossons glacier. Or Argentiere, although there is a real nasty trail there that gets you right up close like that. Initially Bossons glacier was my thought too but the trails on the map don’t quite tally. I think this is something much easier to access, oddly.

I bet that is the only 5 feet of the trail which is rideable though. If it’s what I think it is, the main worry would be the crowds. Why the guy in the photo appears to have gone for a dawn start…

Monsieur Maison de Bois 😉

That is the Bossons Glacier. So the trail is this one:

(my yellow arrow is over the trail, pointing in the direction of travel :))

OK, we can do this in public 🙂 You reckon it’s the Bossons trail? It does look similar, but I think it might be the trail running by the Bionnassay glacier toward St Gervais, accessible from Nid D’Aigle. The Bossons trail does not run right up to the glacier in the way that the one in the picture does, but I might be wrong. It looks more like the Bossons glacier, because it’s split in two. The Bionnassay one looks like a really, really rad ride, in any case…

I am not sure if they exactly encourage us to ride either of these trails…

Cheers JHW. Triffic desktop 😀

Is it the Sustrans multi-user trail NCN 67 somewhere near York?

Ahem, jhw, don’t mention the word St Gervais 😀

🙂 There is an even more epic picture by Dan Milner of the same trail (slightly different, more yellow light) which I have as my background – but I’ve forgotten the link so can’t put it up…

Ah, this is it:

Looks pretty sweet…

Looks awesome, where ever it is 😀

OK, yes, 100% definitely Bionnassay now you’ve shown us that.

The way the evening rays are falling would back that up too.

Cool, thanks! Another one to add to the list for next summer.

Having that picture as my desktop has tangibly reduced my productivity at work

Righto… I just noticed a bumper hit on my this photo on my blog (danmilner.wordpress.com) while you’re all scurrying about playing trail detective. Some healthy guesses in there.. So to put your minds at rest it is the Bossons Glacier above Chamonix (not Bionassay above St Gervais). Shot in October, last light (we ended in the dark). No it is not the only few metres of rideable trail..It is 90% rideable for the whole 1200 m descent to the valley floor (got some gnarl in there.. not for the faint hearted or technically inept). But its way out there… there is not legal lift to access it meaning you have to hike the 1200m up to get there. this day we poached the Aiguille du Midi lift by breaking down our bikes and packing them into big luggage bags and dressing like tourists as part of a story Idea I was shooting for another UK mag. It worked, but getting from the Aiguille mid station across to the start of this trail (at the ancient disused mid station) is an hour of carrying across scree and boulder moraine. Either way you earn the descent. Hope that fills some gaps.

Thanks! It’s an amazing photo (and blog) and that is a really funny story to boot…

(just to wrap this up – this is the one I thought it was, you can barely see the trail hugging the glacier the whole way down, it traverses over from the Nid d’Aigle – wonder if it’s doable or just silly?):

jhw – you cant take tour bike up that far on the cog train – so a push from Mt lachat.

I’ll just hide it in an enormous trunk, a cunning plan…

300m push it is then…nothing’s ever simple eh

A query about how to sneak a bike up to the Midi midstation:

Why not just use a soft-shell bike bag? OK, in my case I’d have to paper over the dirty great “CINELLI BIKES” logo, but still. Reckon they’d notice? Especially if I like carried a fishing rod in the other hand, or an umbrella or something.

bike bag in one hand, gun in the other

Dan Milner ran an article in MBUK a few years ago i think. alot of parapents go up (not july and august) so you might get away with it…

I walked up the path underneath last year (no bike) it took 3 hours. would be an awesome ride back down….
i would push up to Montenvers for lunch, along the balcon nord then down though. maybe a night at the refuge as sunset there is amazing.

Sounds like a plan.

It’s interesting that you can paraglide off there but not ride a bike. I can sooort of see why they’re ratty about cyclists generally – the place has history and I do think walkers should probably take precedence, otherwise you get Morzine – but it’s executed badly.

Maybe if they let you ride where you want, if you had a licence or something, where you had to attend a morning course on respecting pedestrians and the terrain etc. It would encourage repeat visits and put off less committed visitors, perhaps with less of a stake in the long-term prospects of the area, who arguably are more likely to ride aggressively near walkers etc.

It would be less ridiculous than the current arrangements.

whoops, just re read dans comment!

So that’s two different descents from 3,000m, three traverses parallel to three separate glaciers, at least four nights spent on the mountain and two separate descents from the dam in opposite directions.

This is going to either be a great couple of weeks or end very badly (chest pains thread…)!

it is probably more to do with room on the actual lift I think. although parapente bags arent exactly small. back in the day they used to let bikes on. they should let them on say last or first lift of the day at least….

looking forward to your TR of this epic 2 weeks you have planned!!! hope your mates know whats in store.

Likewise! Realistically we’ll be lucky to do 1/3 if any of that but aim high…