Chamonix to Zermatt – Ride Report

After loading our bikes and bags on to the Ride the Alps van at Geneva Airport, Al Yuille and myself quickly became acquainted with the rest of the bunch during the drive to Argentiere – Chamonix. After putting the bikes together, our guide Jamie Carr gave us the trip briefing and things were looking good. Jamie is ex-team GB, was one of the first to ride mountain bikes in the Himalayas and has a wealth of knowledge for routes in the Alps. This would be my fourth trip with him and something that I had been looking forward to for a few years. The almost perfect weather forecast seemed almost too good to be true.

The next morning we rode out of France and into Switzerland. A well organised mix of off-road climbs and technical descents allowed each of us to establish our relative position in the queue for both climbing and technical descending. After the assistance of a cable car up past Verbier, we climbed the remaining double track to our spectacular overnight stop at Cabane du Mont Fort. The sunset was stunning with views to Mont Blanc and Dents du Midi. Enjoying unlimited portions of Spaghetti Bolognaise, myself and Al started getting to know Vet Nick, driver Nick, Henry, Graham, Annie, Olly and Jose very well. Vet Nick had ridden with Jamie the previous year and was very much looking forward to more epic riding in the Alps. Henry, Graham and Annie were together and had a great amount of experience between them. Olly was a very good technical rider, and Jose would prove to be the most improved rider of the week.

After a hearty alpine breakfast, an early morning technical descent took us down to 2,222m where we traversed on single and double track to the top of Croix de Coeur at 2,174m. After some snacks, we enjoyed some fantastic descending on some rocky rooty technical singletrack through pine forests before a tough climb to Sex Pey. After approximately 8.5 hours, covering 75km with 2,400m descent and 1,950m ascent we reached Evolene. A fantastic day of riding was just the cure for Henry who in the morning heard Arsenal were hammered 8-2 by Man Utd.

 

Another early start on Tuesday allowed us to tackle Coland Bassett de Lona at 2,787m and 2,792m respectively – the highest points on the trip. The route was mostly rideable on double dirt track but the final section involved some hikey-bike, however, this was made much easier with the spectacular scenery and the real sense of being on a tremendous journey. A fast descent to Grimentz via Lac de Moiry propelled us to Gite de St Jean. After being warmly greeted by Freddy the guardian we tucked into fantastic portions of good grub and gazed at the stars in a perfectly clear night sky.  

An easier day on Wednesday allowed us the opportunity of a slightly later breakfast and some time to check over the bikes before riding to Tignousa. I took the option of resting for most of the afternoon, however, Al could not resist the temptation of riding the Swiss National Downhill Course and pushing the Boardman hardtail to its limits. He had pretty much nailed every technical climb and descent, however, whenever passing through small Alpine towns he would instinctively never ride over a speed bump, but instead would roll round them – the old habits of a roadie.

Another early start on Thursday allowed us to cross over the Illhorn at 2,522m after a very tough combination of dirt track, technical singletrack and hikey-bikey. After some expert tuition from Jamie, we attempted to ride the 1,300m descent with over 58 switchbacks which consisted of many rocky rooty off-camber corners in both woodland and meadow. This was fantastic and something that is simply impossible to find in the UK. After a short road climb, and fast flowing woodland singletrack we arrived at our destination at the edge of theRhoneValley. After 8 hours in the saddle, it was again time to enjoy another fantastic meal. By this stage, Graham had firmly established himself as the group DJ, and admittedly his choice in music was good. Jose was moving up the peleton during the climbs and Olly was delirious every time the word ‘switchback’ was mentioned.

On Friday morning we left the Rhone valley and moved into the Zermatt Valley, where we rode along fantastic swooping singletrack trails to the long awaited ‘technical singletrack challenge’. After descending more switchbacks, we then rolled into St Niklaus and checked in at Hotel La Reserve, a fantastically positioned base for exploring Zermatt. Again, perfect weather made this a great day and the base of the Matterhorn was truly within striking distance. Today was Annie’s 40^th and this meant we got Birthday cake after dinner.

Saturday would be our last day of riding as a group. We left St Niklaus and headed up the valley on the cycle trails by the river. As we got about 500m from Zermatt, Al’s chain snapped (he held the record for the number of mechanicals – I lost count of the number of spokes he needed to replace). However, the photo below shows that there are certainly plenty of worse places to fix a chain – I can confirm that his helmet was on for (most of) the trip. On reaching Zermatt, we quickly located the bakery shops and managed to refuel before riding to Sunnega. From here we were rewarded with fairytale views of the Matterhorn and surrounding mountains, including Castor, Pollux and Monte Rosa. The only thing that persuaded us to move again was the last major technical singletrack descent of the trip (and the opportunity to revisit the bakery stores in Zermatt). On returning to the hotel, there was a real sense of achievement after riding a truly epic route.

                                                       

The next morning would mark the official end of the classic C2Z route. Fortunately, Al and myself still had another week to explore. After a relaxing day in St Niklaus (with 2 dinners), Al took the train to Chamonix and spent the rest of his time exploring even more singletrack – not bad for a roadie. He rode Col de Voza and Col de Balme (no lifts were used) and also found a great descent from Col de Posettes direct into Vallorcine.

I spent the rest of the week at St Niklaus with Alison where we started with a variety of hikes to mountain huts, including a classic walk on the Monte Rosa glacier. Later in the week, we were on the bikes and exploring some of the spectacular trails around the Matterhorn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those interested, a more extensive description of the route can be found on the Ride the Alps website: http://www.ridethealps.com/holidays/chamonix-to-zermatt/. In short we climbed around the height of Everest, descended twice that. The days were long, mostly around 8 hours, with spectacular scenery and superb technical riding. If anyone is considering the trip both myself and Al (and Alison) would highly recommend Jamie. I could only imagine that attempting such an epic journey unsupported would be soul destroying.

I think Al’s quote pretty much summed up the adventure:

“Long sweaty days, hard lycra clad bodies, hard riding and 8 in a bed at the Cabane du Mont Fort”