Chamonix Activity Report: 31st August 2012

There are loads of rides you can do from the Chamonix Valley, many of which are listed in the Chamonix Bike Book along with descriptions and photos.

I'm new to road biking and this week I did my biggest ride yet, to the Col de Forclaz in Switzerland. We set off early from Rue Joseph Vallot in the centre of Chamonix and took the Route des Praz in the direction of Argentiere. The roads were quiet at this time of the morning and on approaching the Grands Montets car park we had a great view of the sun coming up over over Le Tour.

We carried on through Argentiere and tackled our first ascent up the bendy road to the Col des Montets (1461m), from here it is a twisty descent down through the beautiful chalets of Vallorcine all the way to Switzerland. As we picked up speed the thought occured to me that I had recently had cause to take the front wheel of my bike off and I suddenly lost all confidence in my ability to put it back on again properly, I spent the entire descent convinced that it was about to come off and pitch me face-first into the ground. Nerves combined with windchill meant that by the time we reached Switzerland my hands had frozen to the handlebars and my elbows were locked so hard that I feared any future dancing would be restricted to "the robot", so we had a quick stop at the Swiss border to shake the blood back into circulation and then started the next big climb up to Forclaz.

The road hugs the rock face to your right and opens up to give fantastic views of the Trient valley to your left, the views getting more stunning as you climb higher and higher. Forclaz is signposted as soon as you enter Switzerland and the main road runs all the way there, so there's little chance of going the wrong way. You can't see the end until you come round the final steep bend, so the sight of the summit is a last-minute blessed relief.

The col is 1527m high and is popular with road bikers, motorbikers and lots of hikers; there are dozens of signposts pointing out hiking trails that lead off into the mountains. The scenery is vast, beautiful and very "Sound of Music" with rolling green hills and little mountain chalets dotted across the landscape. Once we had got our breath back and taken a few photos we called in at the restaurant for a celebratory strawberry tart; we now have to return at least twice so that I can try the rhubarb and the apricot tarts.

The way home was much easier as it was mostly downhill but our energy levels were pretty much zapped so the climb from the Swiss border back up to Col des Montets felt like a slow death; once past this point though it is plain sailing all the way back to Chamonix. The route is about 53km there and back, the ride up took us about 2-2:30 hours and the return was about half that - click here to view the route map and elevation chart.

Although things are starting to get a little quieter there is still plenty going on; the outdoor swimming pool and the Le Tour / Vallorcine ski lifts are open until 9th September and the Brevent / Flegere lifts don't close until 16th September, see all lift dates here.

The Chamonix nightlife is in full swing, as ever. I had a great night this week at the Jekyll when Thrill Collins were in town, possibly the only band I can think of who can get a bar full of people dancing on the tables to skiffle covers of Happy Mondays, Dolly Parton, The Specials, Peter Andre, Whitney Houston... sounds like a terrible nightmare but it was actually brilliant!

This weekend will be dominated by the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, which sets off at 6:30 tonight in the centre of Chamonix amidst much cheering and general excitement. The winner is anticipated to finish around 4pm-ish on Saturday, you can follow the progress of all entrants on the UTMB website, with the cut-off being 4:30pm on Sunday. Throughout this time there will be a constant stream of exhausted runners staggering through Chamonix and across the finish line, I always get very emotional so I'll be wearing sunglasses all weekend even if we have black skies and rain!

Once the UTMB is underway you can join in the final wine tasting of the season at ChaChaCha; they'll be discovering the delights of biodynamically produced white wines from the Alsace region. The tastings are free but book in advance to be sure of a place, all this cheering can give you a thirst...

See our What's On Calendar for all upcoming Chamonix events.