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Chamonix Activity Report: 18th July 2009

featured in Activity reviews Author Kieran Sharp, Updated

Things have changed weather wise here in Chamonix the past couple of days with some large storms bringing a lot of rain with them, which means climbing is off the menu for now. However, even when it's raining there is still many activities possible and if you have a good set of waterproofs, then you can get out no matter how hard the rain is falling.

Yesterday I got out and braved the weather to get some good runs in on the bike between the heavy rain showers. Getting up to le tour on your bike normally means riding up from the Montroc train station - a ride straight up the hill on the road up to the lift station, but now to many riders' delight, there are special buses now operating which can take up to 15 bikes at a time.

This scheme is a great step forward for mountain bikers in the valley, as if you don't have your own car with you it's been necessary to get public transport up the hill by train which can turn away bikers if there isn't enough room on board, making it difficult, especially if you have a full suspension bike, to ride all the way up to places like Le Tour. Once at Le Tour I got on the bubble lift up to the first station, where it started to chuck it down, so I made my way in to the cafe conveniently situated right next to the station and had a couple of espressos to get me going for the ride down. As the weather had set in the top lift had been closed, so I didn't get to see the most amazing views down the valley.

Once the down pour had dissipated, I made my way down the easier path which is a pretty good one to start with, especially if you're new to downhill mountain biking. The path is wide and the corners aren't too sharp. Chamonix has some pretty steep and hard trails in the area and the ones in Le Tour are probably the best to start with.

Considering there had been a lot of rain recently the trails were in quite good condition with the paths naturally draining easily. You can really let the bike rip down these trails pretty fast without too much consideration for safety!

After hitting the easy trail a couple of times, it was time to head on over to the harder narrower path. This trail down was a lot wetter than the rocky wide one to start with, with more mud on the trail it was harder to get round some of the corners. If you're a bit slow on the bike you might find yourself getting overtaken on this route which can be tricky as the path is pretty narrow, so it's worth making a note of this.

It's pretty easy to distinguish the two paths down, one is obviously a lot wider than the other, so you can see for yourself the easiest route down. The benefit of coming out on a rainy day is that you get the trails mostly to yourself, which was the case on my visit making it a very enjoyable day in between the rain showers.

After I had my fill on the trails I made my way back down the road, not needing to get the bus back down as you don't have to pedal for about 7 miles! Stopping at the office bar in Argentiere on the way back down for one of the best veggie burgers I've ever tasted with a couple of beers to help it down!

Well even with the rain it's still a good time to come out, remember that there is so much to do in the valley whatever the weather! Check out what Evolution 2 has to offer as part of their summer programme. And all this rain has meant the snow has come to Chamonix below 2500m so if you're looking to do some summer glacier touring then I would highly recommend coming out soon.


Don't forget to keep an eye on our What's On Calendar for a full list of events taking place over the summer months.