Late Season Tour de Mont Blanc Trip Report (lots of photos…)

Just got back from an end-of-season Tour de Mont Blanc. Thought I’d share our trip report and some pics:

Throughout the summer, we’d been talking about doing an end of season trip, a chance to ride some new trails with friends and go to some new places. In mid-summer, Pat found himself laid-up with what can loosely be described as a “broken leg” and had the chance to do some proper planning. The idea was to do the Tour de Mont Blanc at the end of September. As soon as you set your sights on the TMB, another question automatically follows – clockwise or anti-clockwise? Having walked most of the route, Pat was set on clockwise, so clockwise it was. The plan was to take our time, not to be too slavish about following the classic route and to ride as much singletrack as possible. That swiftly went out the window as Pat (him again) had to push back the start date (some nonsense about signing for his new house) and, with travel back to the UK for some of the crew already booked, we were down to a 4 day trip. This meant banging out some big days and possibly taking a few shortcuts. Fortunately, Crona & Matt were keen to come along, drive the van, do some walking and hook up in the evenings to watch us fall asleep in our dinner. This meant we could use the van to carry the kit, ride a bit lighter and also maybe cheat a little.

In terms of kit, we would all be riding our NukeProof Mega AMs. These have all been customised a little over the season, so we had various different brakes and tyres between us. Alex, Pat and I had all switched to a 1×10 drivetrain, using a Hope 30t Retainer Ring and ditching the front-mech and shifter, but leaving a granny ring in place. The Hope chainrings have proved to be flawless for me – I haven’t dropped a chain since fitting it and I’ve almost been taken by surprise by the instant power pick-up. I’d become so used to dropping the chain that I was unconsciously putting little half-pedal strokes into my riding to lift the chain back on before climbs or technical sections and it took me a while to break the habit! The setup is ideal for a big Alpine tour like this – you get all the benefits of the narrow-wide 1×10 configuration in a pretty light-weight arrangement, then when you know you’re going to have to slog up a monster climb, you just stop and reach down to flick the chain onto the bail-out granny ring. We had briefly discussed taking our hard-tails to keep the weight down and make the inevitable climbs and carries easier, but in the end decided unanimously to go for the big bikes and there’s no doubt it was the right decision. Even though we were riding big, mostly human-powered days, the trails were no less savage than the local trails we’re used to accessing via chairlifts or van shuttles. Trying to save significant weight on tyres or suspension travel would have compromised the downhills too much and we were far more concerned about enjoying the descents than making good time on the climbs. For sure, something just a little lighter might not have been a bad thing (thinking Mega TR or Orange Five) but the Mega AM does pedal pretty well and has proved to be a top-class singletrack performer over the course of the season. Otherwise, we were sticking pretty much to our normal riding kit – but in hindsight I really don’t recommend dragging an SLR camera around!

Day 1

After a glorious month of September, the first day of the trip, of course, saw steady rain and single-figure temperatures in the valley. From our start point up near the Cormet de Roseland, things were not looking too clever. We were supposed to start with a meaty carry up to the Col de Bonhomme. We couldn’t see much, but we were pretty sure it was snowing up there. I was up for kitting-up and getting on with it, but I didn’t get much back-up, so we rolled down to Beaufort in the van, drank coffee, ate croissants and looked at our options. There was a lot of support for just bailing on the day (it didn’t look like getting any better), chilling out in Saint Gervais and starting again in Chamonix the next morning. Stouter hearts prevailed though and we drove up for an alternative start at the Col de Joly. From here, we got the full waterproofs on and headed off in the direction of Les Contamines – or at least three of us did. Someone thought the warm, dry van looked a bit more enticing. There is a pretty direct route from the col down to the resort, but we felt that was unworthy of our undertaking, so we traversed round a little, grunted up a hefty climb, then made our way along the ridge towards Mont Joly. The waterproofs came off after a few minutes, never to be seen again for the rest of the trip. The weather remained very dull, cloudy and generally about as minging as it could be without actually raining. We’d picked a trail off the map that looked to offer a ridge-line descent and a long series of switchbacks down to Les Contamines. Being used to the rocky trails of the Tarentaise, it was interesting to be riding pure clay on the alpages of the Beaufortain. The surface was teflon-slick and much comedy ensued. I ride in smooth-soled 5.10s so even dabbing didn’t help much – I was just drifting around on 3 points of contact instead of 2. Alex reckons he cleaned it. We have our doubts. Even so, we had a blast and giggled our way down, eventually picking up some rockier, rootier trails above the resort and cruising into town. We had a late lunch-stop in town then cruised on down the road towards Saint Gervais to pick up the second climb of the day, the Col de la Voza. 600m of height gain, mostly tarmac and not even at high altitude. How hard could it be? Pretty hard in fact. Some of the steepest tarmac we’ve ever ridden. We were glad for the bail-out gear. Higher-up, it got steeper still, as we left the tarmac and pointed straight uphill on fire-road. By now we were off and pushing our way to the top. We reached the col and the top of the Saint Gervais tram-way in a “here’s what you could have won!” style (maybe if we’d been there a week earlier Pat?). At least the café was open and we grabbed a quick refreshment before the descent down to Les Houches. I felt I’d earned a cheeky panaché, but was regretting it as the trail proved to be steep and very rooty, as well as covered with freshly-fallen leaves. I was manfully leading the team down until the inevitable happened and I took a fairly big OTB. Got away without serious injury and we dropped down the rest of the way to the valley, to meet the van for a quick lift up to Chamonix, a night in the hotel and a much-anticipated visit to the MBC (is this the only bar in France with good beer?).

Day 2

The cloud was lifting by the start of the second day. Back up to four riders, we grabbed a lift up to Le Tour rather than slog up the tarmac along the valley. A steep climb up through the ski resort eventually lead us to the Col de Balme. Despite the best efforts of the Swiss to send us back down the way we came, then up another climb and onto a fire-road descent, we climbed a little higher then dropped down towards Trient. What a trail – this is what we were here for. Fast, flowing and a little exposed up high, becoming rockier and rootier as we hit the tree-line, then diving off down a steeper variant with technical switchbacks all the way to the bottom. Just fantastic. Pat evened-out the crash count by being roughly thrown to the floor half-way down, but otherwise it was a blast from top to bottom. We climbed out of Trient, avoiding the road option by taking a steady back-road climb up to the Cabin du Glacier. Just short of the cabin, we had a friendly chat with the guy who looks after the trail and aqueduct leading to the Col de Forclaz. Apparently we weren’t allowed to ride the trail, but we might as well since we were there now. It seems to be a psychic bike-ban as there were no signs we could see at either end. The trail, in any case, was a very mellow cruise on wide, well-manicured singletrack. We had a food-stop at the Col de Forclaz (Pat had the world’s most expensive cheese-on-toast). From here, the classic route arcs up and across the hillside, through Bovine and on to Champex. A cracking trail in the opposite direction, for us we had been well-advised that, travelling clockwise, it would be a push up followed by a carry-down. A hubristic approach to this had been considered (well, all those dudes weren’t groups of guides, were they?) but we eventually dropped it after finding a trip report from the legendary Sanny, where even he didn’t recommend it. Instead, we rode from the col directly down to Martigny, to get a lift in the van up to Champex. The trails weren’t great, we ended up on a fair bit of tarmac and it’s definitely something we’d do differently in future. The awesome Emosson Dam descent would be one option, with the climb up from Trient to the dam not being too much more than the climb to the Col de Forclaz.

Day 3

The third day was to be our biggest climb of the trip. We considered using the van to cheat a little, but opted in the end for the purist option, riding straight from the hotel in Champex. Well worth it, as there was great, technical, woodsy singletrack right from the town down into Val Ferret. From there, we cruised steadily up the road to Ferret, gaining about 700m in 12km or so. After talking the owner of a closed buvette into making us some lunch, we started the long, off-road climb to the Grand Col Ferret. From the first few pedal-strokes, I knew it was going to be tough. It was never too steep (probably over 95% ride-able for fresh legs) but I was feeling the last two days and just had to get my head down and suffer my way up, watching the numbers on my altimeter slowly tick upwards. The climb begins on double-track, then eventually on smooth singletrack. It is long, and the col is not even in view until you’re almost there, but we made it in the end, although I was very glad to reach the top. This trail, by the way, would be a fun, fast descent if riding in the opposite direction, but pretty tame for the pain involved in getting up there. We allowed ourselves a long break on the top (a truly stunning place in any case) before tackling the descent into Italy. This was a belter, and definitely much better than the riding on the Swiss side. Starting fast and flowy, but with some exposure, it soon became steeper and rockier, with a bewildering array of stone drainage barriers, logs, re-directions and line-choices. Initially frustrating, it got better and better as you got into it and we started pulling out moves we didn’t know we had in us, popping wheelies half-way round tight switchbacks to get over the next fiendishly-located drainage channel. This lead us eventually to the rifugio Eleina. I thought we were in for some dull doubletrack from here, but Pat unhesitatingly lead us across a field and onto more great singletrack, fast and flowy with tight switchbacks and rock steps mixed-in. Pat had a big OTB to even the scores again (I’d had a minor spill on the first trail of the morning). Initially worried about a wee bump to the head, he was more upset about the annihilated iPhone he found in his bag later. Finally, with the day getting late and the sun starting to drop, we hit doubletrack and were happy to cruise down to our agreed meeting point with Matt and Crona. This is one of my most memorable bike days in years. The climb had been brutal, but the descent from the col and the cruise down Val Veni with the autumn colours and evening sunlight playing over the glaciers will stay with me for a long time. We felt like heroes as we drank in the surroundings and reveled in the trails we’d just ridden. The plan had been to go up and stay in the winter room at the Walter Bonatti refuge for the night but, having already climbed nearly 2000m, we really didn’t have another 400m in us. In the end, after a bracing dip to help the muscles recover, we cruised down to Courmayeur for a comfy bed, beer and pizza.

Day 4

The final day was to take us from Courmayeur back home to Bourg Saint Maurice. We used the van for a little cheat to reduce the long, tarmac slog up the Val Veni. We were brought up shorter than planned by a barrier closing the road, so we were still left with more than enough climbing to keep us honest. Initially on tarmac, this soon changed to rocky doubletrack as we passed below the incredible glaciers and moraines of the Italian face of Mont Blanc. The track was rough and loose and, when it started to kick upward, very energy-sapping to pedal on. Pushing the steeper sections seemed both faster and easier, even though the gradient was never too harsh. At the top of a steeper climb, we stopped for some food by the Rifugio Elisabetta. Here we witnessed an aerial battle between a group of Alpine Choughs and a hawk. Not sure who was attacking who, but the speed and the manoeuvres were spectacular. On the bikes again, we rolled across a flatter section before the trail kicked upwards once more. Soon it became smoother singletrack and remained mostly rideable as we ground our way upwards. We reached the barren, rocky plateau of the Col de la Seigne shortly after mid-day and had time to relax and eat some food to gather our energy for the descent. Having previously walked up this trail, I wasn’t expecting much (although a friend who used to guide the TMB regularly had described it as his favourite of the whole trip). Every big col we’d descended from had been on a stunning trail, each with a unique character. This proved to be the case again. This time, the trail was buff and fast, with many inter-weaving line choices and a mellow gradient. Taken at speed, it became an Alpine-scale bike-park, jumping from one line to another, dropping off ledges as your rut came to an end, popping out just in time to cut off your mates’ over-take. Brilliant fun and we didn’t want it to end. End it did though, and as with most of the big valleys, the valley floor was home only to gravel roads and tarmac as we cruised along towards the Cormet de Roseland, flirting briefly with some time-trialling at Pat’s behest. The Cormet is a bit of a conundrum. A beautiful place and with incredible riding to be had on all sides, the actual direct descent to Bourg Saint Maurice doesn’t really offer much other than the road. With four monster days in our legs, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for a climb into the Beaufortain to hook-up with familiar trails leading down the sunny side of the valley into Bourg. We blasted down the first section of road, then picked-up an untested trail which looked pretty sketchy even on the map but would skip a good chunk of tarmac. This proved to be pretty good, with some flowy sections mixed with some rockier stuff, although it clearly wasn’t used very often! This was enough to satisfy our honour and we cruised the last section of tarmac into town, with only a near-miss on the road to worry about before a long-awaited round of beers and ice-creams back in town.

It had been a stunning trip. The first day aside, the weather had been far better than we could possibly have hoped-for for the first few days of October – we were even nursing sun-burn after the long day-out in Val Ferret. The riding had been magnificent, with every day and every country producing an unforgettable and unique descent. The climbs, while hard, had been manageable, even with the late season ruling out any chance of mechanical uplift (although the van did help a little). So, what about our choice of route? In terms of clockwise versus anti-clockwise, we think we made the right choice, Val Ferret being the main reason. The climb on the Italian side would become a carry for a long section near the top, with the multitude of water-barriers making riding impossible and pushing unpleasant, whereas the Swiss side was almost all rideable. Descending the Swiss side would be a blast, but really a bit easy and un-engaging considering the effort required to get there, while the Italian side was a unique tech-fest that challenged us and drew out the trail as long as possible. From long experience of Alpine guiding, this would be a tough descent for a lot of people and might become a walk-down for some, so that might be a consideration. The trail itself is pretty smooth, but there are so many drainage bars and so many awkward corners that it would be easy to end-up getting off the bike every 10 seconds. Otherwise, there isn’t much to choose. The descent to Trient was superb, but the descent from Col des Posettes to Le Tour in the other direction is also fantastic. Col de la Seigne on the French side was great and the main route down the Italian side would be a bit dull, but there are other options there if you stay higher on the sides of the valley. Our first day through Les Contamines and Les Houches was a bit rushed due to the weather, so we’d take another look at this if doing it again. The link from Trient to Champex is one section that we’d definitely do differently, as our descent down to Martigny was pretty un-inspiring – we think that, if taking a van uplift from Martigny to Champex as we did, that it might be better to head the other way from Trient and pick up some trails marked on the map there or, if more time was available, to climb up above the Col de la Forclaz and ride some other mapped trails from up there down to Martigny. Otherwise, we’re not sure that the Bovine descent to Champex would be enough to persuade us to switch directions. If doing it in-season, the uplift options are pretty even too. Riding clockwise as we did, you can use lifts at Saint Gervais, Le Tour and Courmayeur. Anti-clockwise, you could use the lifts at Vallorcine, Les Houches and Les Contamines. In season, of course, you have to balance the availability of uplifts and accommodation against the inevitable hordes of walkers. We met barely half a dozen people per day on the trails. We left a little bit of unfinished business out there, especially around the Col de Bonhomme, which we’d been looking forward to, but at least it’s local enough that we can check it out another time. We’d definitely do the trip again, maybe with a little more time to explore, but it’s hard to imagine beating this and there are so many other mountains in other countries still out there to explore.

looks rubbish

😉

bok marked for a read later. The pictures look good

Lovely. Did it in 2003, had similar weather to you.

Nice narrative, how do you remember all those details?

Chapeau, enjoyed that.

shifter – I had to make myself write it up day by day or I’d forget half of it! I always find that I have a really good memory for trails, but that if you leave it too long you forget all the fun stuff that happened.

Even with an IGN I can’t figure out where you guys took us in August 🙂

Is Pat the Pat who used to guide for Trail Addiction or another Pat ? 🙂

Definitely another Pat!

I wish I’d seen this before I read through the whole report on Facebook on my phone, bit easier on my old eyes on the computer ! Great ride and report, I like the interesting questions/asnwers around the route and direction.

Sounds like a fun mission. Reading your report and thinking over the trails cements my position in the “anti-clockwise” school of thought.

I did a lovely 48 hour tour with bivvy gear last September and made a wee video of it: http://vimeo.com/75344691

Great shots.. STW needs more of these posts : ) Looks so good there with the late-season colours too. I’ve ridden a few of those trails but not enough yet, can I ask you for a couple of the pic locations? 4th and 6th images.

jameso – 4th pic is above Col de Balme, 6th pic is dropping in on the Italian side of the Grand Col Ferret.

Great stuff Steve,

Trail down to Trient is superb…

@NewRetro – quite a ride that in 48hrs

@jambalaya – yep, wasn’t 100% sure I’d be back at work on Monday morning but the forecast for the weekend was excellent so I had to go for it!

thx

Fantastic!

NewRetroTom – fair play for smashing it out in 48hrs! Shame not to go over Col de Balme though.

Very nice – did TMB on foot in 2012 (opposite direction to you). I found myself picking lines and suffering severe bike-withdrawal much of the time!

Pats Shorts are pretty “Enduro” eh! 😉

jameso – 4th pic is above Col de Balme, 6th pic is dropping in on the Italian side of the Grand Col Ferret.

Thanks.