[Closed] Biking in Chamonix - advice please

Judging by the amount of snow thats still around I wouldnt be sure if many passes will be open for biking in august this year!!!

Gooner,

Check out the Compagnie du Mont Blanc's site..

http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/

Still some snow patches on high but the hot temperatures of late had done their work. Brevent was closed last year cos of the new cabin being built, but bikers were up there last weekend apparently. Down in the valley, the trails were dusty.

I was there last week in June last year for a few days and my mate took me up to a place called La Flegere. The riding down from that was epic; 900m of vertical along a track some 12km long. It took about 15m to do one run and my arms were killed by the end of it.

You really need someone to show you the way though. There is other riding on Brevant and there is DH course at Vallorcine. Have a look at the following website:

[url= http://www.mountainbikechamonix.com/ ]Chamonix MTB[/url]

Seriously the riding in Cham is biblical, very different to that in Les Gets and Morzine as it's all more or less natural. However you need to be careful because the authorities close certain sections off to mountain bikers during the summer and many of the tracks are not dedicated to mountain bikers, you share them with walkers who aren't always the most pleased to see you.

flegere down to la svourez is rad!
the other flegere trail to the hotel in aregntire isnt shabby either

I think the lift is open to bikes all day long, and if there is snow up there it wont be doable, but if no snow its a wkd trail, very hard on hands and arms, jedi"s talking of a trail the locals call sick trail, which speaks for itself.
Im thinking of going to cham on the 24th or 25th of june for a few days, i could do with a couple of people to share the costs, il be driving my nice 5 seater t5 if any body fancies it.

Was that hijacking a thread? sorry if so.
Anyway the week your going all trails will be open to bikers as the ban goes from early july to late august normally, you should also pop through the tunnel to pila in aosta in italy, a very worth while day out, especially if you take a local along, and theres les houches too a couple of good trails there, even doable in lashing rain so worth thinking about.
Have a great time, may see you there.

thanks,

we wont have cars with us so unfortunately cant get to pila

jedi,
i think the ride i want to do means taking two lifts up to brevat from cham town. i know the firstis open to bikes not sure about the second

this is our 5th trip and i agree fledgere is great as is les houches its justthat last year brevant and argentierre lifts were shut and my memory cant remember the trails we did 2 years ago!

the descent from les contamine animal park is rad

The animal park is from merlot i think, not les contamine, but it is v wkd trail, which by the way can be done at the end of the holy trail, if you know where to turn off.
Gooner, you do take the big telecabin to the top at brevent, straight out of the lift to the edge, a slight right for 20 yards then sharp left and your on your way. I am takin a 5 seater and may have space if needed.

yeah sorry. merlot.
we tag it onto the holy trail too

just looked on me raised map and its merlet not merlot, but still not often your wrong.

whatever its spelled 🙂

However, its spelled, Tony.

i ride bikes not teach grammar 🙂

Yeah i know.

🙂

Dont forget the 47 switchbacks and lavancher secret bowl with the le bois turn off, these are a couple of trails from the argentiere lift, do the 47 1st then back to the lift and down to lavancher , follow the river back to town.

fact. chappeau its called by locals

grand montetes lift

That is correct. well done.

Sick trail is mental!
Probably one of the steepest, most technical trails out there. Not for the faint hearted.
The riding in Chamonix is some of the best, but you do need someone to show you where the trails are...

Lads I have done three winters in Cham so I know all the lifts and hills very well. I am going back in August, staying with my wife's folks up on the Savoy. My mountain biking enlightenment came late in life when I was looking for something worthwhile to do with my time in the UK, would any of you care to spill the beans on some good riding in Cham or email to andrewsteen at g mail dot com?

Cheers!

I took a picture of this from the opposite side of the valley from the Aguile Du Midi which is at very lofty 4800m, below Montblanc. Here's a pic of the top station....
[img] [/img]

I had been to Chamonix a couple of times before this walking trip and the guys on the earlier cycling trips reckoned that there wasn't much that was rideable on the Brevent/Flegere side above Balcon Nord. Well the pic revealed loads of trails up high and with a few running back to the valley floor.

On the next biking trip we went right to the top a couple of times. The top sections had some snow even in July.

When we went there, the bikes were carried by 2x3 timbers with hooks, placed in the ski holders.

A lot of paths are closed in the school holidays. You need to check with the Chamonix tourist office to find out the dates and which trails.

On a later trip we managed to get across from the top of Brevent across to Flegere, but we couldn't see much as the clouds moved in.

We wanted to see if we could go up to the top station of Brevent and go off to the left and off the back of this mountain arriving down at Servoz which is a couple of kms further down from Les Houches. There are trails there, but we don't know if they are ridable. You can get the train back up to Chamonic from Sevoz. You can take your bikes on there and it's a cheap ticket.

Chamonix has some hidden gems which took us a few years to discover. I'm sure there are many more. If only I had the time and the money!

spongebob - just to be pedantic, the Midi is at 3800m. The summit of Mont Blanc is 4800m.

If you don't want to pay a guide, check this out..

http://www.tworide.com/article.asp?ID=130

Heard it's pretty well detailed.

I did the Midi back to town on skis 3 times in a day a couple of years back, awesome!!

Everyone has gone a bit schtum on the location of trails. I reckon the following are worth a look for the uninitiated.

Brevent - Over the back towards Servoz (popular walking trails though), Traverse to Flegere, switchback trail skier/riders right of the new gondola.

Flegere - Over the back into Vallorcine (sketchy cols but Floria should be rideable after a push up), up and round via Lac Blanc, through the "tits" and down to Col de Montets.

Le Tour - Bike Trails or over the back to Trient

Grands Montets - Levancher would be a long run. Bit sketchier than the Aiguille Rouge side.

Bike Trails at Le Tour and rumours of Les Houches, although the lift operators at Les Houces have fallen out so who knows what is going on there?

If you need repairs be very careful leaving your bike with Zero G without agreeing the amount of work required. I have heard of a few bad experiences with them.

Everyone has gone a bit schtum on the location of trails.

The thing is, Brevent, Flegere, Le Tour etc, all have various different trails, some more obvious than others, some being just a small turn off one of the more established trails that you may not notice! I couldn't even begin to describe where the best trials are as you really do need to be shown where they are...

I know what you mean twohats. I used to do a fair bit of running on the Petit Balcon thats the main area I have explored without snow cover, and I'd still struggle to follow directions.

On the plus side, my missus has announced that she knows this Tom fella who did the guide book and will give him a shout when we are out there!

Brevent lift is open this summer, although I wouldn't bother - Grand Montets, Flegere, Le Tour and Vallocine are better.

If you want to know where the good stuff is drop in to Zero G and speak to Tom. Buy his book and he might tell you about some other stuff. Watch out for super steep trails though, they aren't designed for bikes like in the PDS.

As always with CHX avoid July and especially August, not just because they limit trail access but because it's super crowded.

i know tom and have his book
going last week in june so should be ok

i only want to use brevant lift to ride the "holy grail" ride

most of our riding will be le tour, flegere, les houches - but may try vallorcine as well

Holy trail = lift to top of Brevent (have been told it will be open)?
descend following signs for Bel Lachat and traverse ridge until refuge Bel Lachat. bear right heading for Aguillettes Des Houches (bit of a hike in places). when you get to the top pause for the amazing view, drop the saddle and ride one of the best tracks anywhere in the Alps(imho).
Make sure you bear left towards merlet animal park after chalets de Chailloux or you'll end up in Servoz (not good if you cant get on a train).When you reach the park follow the fence until you hit the GR5 track and turn right down to the park carpark. Bear left on to the track towards Cham swoopy swoop until the lake /rockwall at les gaillands. spend the next 4 hours trying to take the stupid grin off your face.
Also try the following;
Kandahar at Les Houches (under the Kandahar Lift & brill)
GR5 at Les Houches from the bellvue lift station (very technical in places and rumoured to be Gracias's favourite track).
Vallorcine DH track (push up from the lift station at the top 300m and over the col des possettes for the descent to Le Tour).
Descent from Refuge Bel Lachat (no good for triple clamps)!
2x Descent from the the lognan lift Argentiere. Bear right for the switch backs back to Argentiere as described above. Bear left for the drop back to Cham.
Be mindful of the train/bike policy which limits the no. of bikes per train(think it's 5 per train)?
If you stay in a hotel ask for a free tourist train pass.
Avoid the DH track at Les Houches if its wet.
Be careful in Zero G - unless you're rich or have no choice.
July usually ok - August be very careful as it will be very busy. French will cheer you on, British will moan at you as usual!
Please be aware that nearly all Cham valley trails are "cheeky" so ride accordingly.
Hope to see you there end of July?
Phew! not bad for a first post!

Great stuff Peasnotwar. Going to give the holy trail a go!

Yes, expect plenty of "silly steep" sections in Chamonix.

We have done the bit over the back of Les Houches loads of times. There are a number of routes which take you all the way down to St Gervais, then down to the station to run back up to Les Houches to do it all again.

It's feasible to get over to Megeve this way too. Sorry, need to get the French OS style maps out to give you the names of lifts and peaks to head for etc.

Will definitely do the Brevent to Servoz next time as well as the Flegere-Vallorcine. We were hoping to do Flegere-Valorcine on the day the clouds blew in and visibility dropped to a few metres. It got very wet and all enthusiasm waned!

We once took an old lift and a old mining train up to Lac Emosson from Vallocine. That was interesting, especially riding along the damn wall which is hundreds of feet tall. The ride down to the valley floor was good fun. The lift was expensive, but you can actually drive a car up there.

If you want a tough mostly road hill climbing day (around 5000-5500ft), take the train to Montroc. Ride up to the lift station at Le Tour and get an uplift to Col De Balme, then go off the back down into Vallorcine. Join the road and then take the road up to Finhaut. There's a switchback trail that takes you over into Switzerland and way way down on the road to Martigny. You have lunch then ride all the way back up. It took us 2.5hrs to Finhaut, then another hour back into Chamonix. You can chop off the last bit of road at the summit between the two valleys by going through the railway tunnel (it's wide enough for pedestrians and trains, but you need a light). I would not recommend it because the views are great up there and the road off the top is full of nice bends (cars can't keep up with you on these). The last half hour is a blast back down to Chamonix Sud, part road, part throught the parks, forest, by the river.

There's a good few routes off the Argentiere lift too.

Ah Chamonix, so varied and so few other mountain bikers. I love it!

Does anyone know if you can get the zero-g book online anywhere?

ring or email tom (he is off to corsica for a week soon so be quick)at the shop

http://www.zerogchx.com/index_en.html

they will post to the uk

thanks gooner.

Zero G were always very good to us, but in the last couple of trips we found that they overhiked their rental prices. I always take a bike out there, but my mates were baulking at the fees and vowed to get a bag and take their chances with the baggage handler numpties.

If you do take a bike in a proper bike bag, make sure the bike is bubblewrapped and pipelagged. Gaffer tape the lagging on too. Make sure that you have done absolutely everything to avert any risk of damage!

All the bike shops out there charge a lot for parts. Everything was overpriced compared to here.

We had some cheap £200-£250 XC bike one year (not from Zero-G - they'd run out). The shop charged £100 for four days rental, but I had to fix the brakes and set up the gears to stop the chain derailing and jumping gears. It took a few goes to get it working just right - well i'm not used to setting up bikes properly in the middle of a ride and without a workstand etc. Then a spoke broke and they charged 30 feekin Euros to put that right. The cheek of it! It was a ski shop in Les Houches if I recall. Surly bxxtards too!

In my 30 years experience visiting France, the people there generally don't do customer service!(massive understatement). Such a shame, given all the positives of the country.

Peasnotwar, that was a very informative thread.
Gooner, il be there the same week as you, and planing on doing holy trail on friday 26th, theres probably 4 of us, 2 of us have done it a couple of times, we shall be at the top by 10.30 ish, if your not in a big group and want to come along with us your welcome. Also i get a good rate from the nice guys in zerog!

Damn! I wanna go back and ride Chamonix!! It is cold and wet here, and my last ride had plenty of snow on it.

Hmmm bit futher to go from NZ... but the trails there are sooo much fun!!

The French are 10 times surlier in l'arve vallee (i.e Chamonix and outlying posts) than generally the rest of France. It's a known (by the french too) fact.

I love the Mont Blanc Massif, and the Aiguilles Rouges (i.e. the other side) for the climbing and ski touring etc. Not biked there though. But absolutely hate the circus of the valley. Typically the residents are so far up their own backsides it's laughable. And that is the expats and the natives. I accept that that is a mass generalisation though

forgotmename,

we'll take you up on that
there are 3 (maybe plus another 2 arriving wednesday night)

is that 10:30 at Brevent (ie the seci=ond lift from chamonix town)

i'll be on a black heckler with yellow wheels!

I've been having an interesting "discussion" with a chap who's lived in Chamonix for the last 8 years and reckons that there is no decent riding there 😯 !!!
What an idiot.

I contacted Tom from Zero G, he very kindly let me know that you can buy his book on chainreaction cheaper than him sending it from France 😀

Gooner, done, yep at the top, second lift, looking forward to it already. Theres probably 4 of us, hopefully including Lazy, if he makes it down from mont blanc!

Massive thanks peasnotwar! Plenty to be getting on with there. Mugsys its like any "extreme" place, there are people there to get into the hills and people there who just like the lifestyle and mincing around in bars where they know everyone.

link for Tom's book "Mountain Bike Guide - Chamonix"

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=33195

I've just ridden the les houches dhill track, just like tuesday I tried the black variants but 2 steep for my single pot brakes. it was giod. I also rode rhs of the 1st ns and then cery tight wswitchbacks, and I beared left, les aillouds, 2 finsish with loose shale stone shoots. I walked probably 100m but it still had plenty of rideable tight and sweet rocky singletrack.

They have just introduced buses that take bikes up and down the valley as the train gets a bit over subscribed

http://www.chamonet.com/whats_new_article.php?id_whats_new=4995&id_back=1