Readers Rides: Mountain Biking at Montenvers

Is it a coincidence how closely skiing and mountain biking mirror each other in the Alps? For the ski bum the winter starts before the lifts open hiking up to get the first snows, then the focus shifts to getting as much vertical as possible while the lifts turn before it all starts to wind down in late spring with more leg work to get the snow.

It’s a week before the lifts in Chamonix are due to open for the summer season so mountain bikers are still having to earn their gravity kicks the hard way. Ready for the pedal up, five riders (and 2 dogs) met in the sunshine outside the new Chamonix bike Rentals shop in Chamsud and headed through town towards Planards.

Following the winter “James Bond” track gains you altitude easily (well, relatively easily) and we spent plenty time looking across the valley at the snow covered Aiguille Rouges, debating if we’ll be able to ski off the higher lifts in a weeks time! The gradient slackens off about half way up and we could spin along, past the singletrack turn off that takes you up to the Caillet Buvet. The loop up the James Bond track to the Caillet Buvet and down the singletrack is one of the best non-lift accessed loops in Chamonix and well worth checking out, for more details have a look at route 15 in the Chamonix Bike Book.

We had our sights set on a bigger ride today though, and stayed in the saddle, spinning the pedals up the 4x4 track. Eventually the track gets too steep and rocky to ride and we pushed up through the moonscape to the very welcome sight of the Rocher des Mottets Buvet where the dogs leapt in the pool, the humans stuck their heads in the fountain, and all sat down and panted in the heat.

A comfy seat, great view and easy access to cold cans of juice is pretty hard to leave, but eventually we managed and headed up the hill once more, now in the direction of the Montenvers Hotel. This section of trail is pretty hard going, especially if you’re on your own, as there are several short ladders and squeezes through boulders. Not so bad on foot, but quite tricky with a bike on your shoulder and a dog under your arm! Fortunately we were legion so these sections fell quickly to combined tactics…

As we got higher the snow patches became snow fields became full snow cover and as we passed under the tramway viaducts the decision was made to head down rather than push on through the snow. This, of course, involved sitting down for some more food, water & bike fettling as well as donning armour and bigger helmets for some. The descent is very rocky and pretty technical in places, so even experienced riders should consider padding up as it’s a long way to limp back to town if it goes wrong.

Things went pretty well to start, until getting into the main Montenvers avalanche corridor we found the trail well buried under the snow. Not fancying our chances traversing the steep slope with a fairly unpleasant looking slide beneath it we chose to quit the trail and drop down the edge of the snow until we could traverse at a safer spot by the tramway and rejoined the track a little lower down. It’s melting, but this snow patch is going to be there for a few weeks yet, so take care if you’ve headed up that high.
That was the last of the problems though, and from here on down the trail is a great mix of technical rock and root sections interspaced with faster flowier singletrack. Below the Caillet Buvet the trail is more popular with walkers, so we had to keep the speed a little in check. It’s best to ride here later in the evening during the summer proper as otherwise it’s just too busy to get much flow.

All too soon we were at the end of the trail on the blue run at Planards, but it seems a shame to end such a good trail with a 4x4 track through the ski area, so we headed back up hill briefly to the tramway crossing and joined the great wee (but pretty steep) trail that brings you down to La Frasse, a suspiciously convenient distance from MBC.…