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Backcountry Weeks
Dates & Prices
Summer 2010:
12th - 19th June
- £349
19th - 26th June
- £399
26th June - 3rd July - £429*
28th Aug - 4th September-
£429
4th - 11th September
- £429
11th - 18th September - £399
18th - 27th
September - £349
* This week should also have some chairlift options
open
(See prices
page for up-to-date availability)
The summer chairlift
season in the Alps is remarkably short. For barely 6 weeks in many resorts
there is the chance to use the ski lifts to climb effortlessly and clock
up more vertical in a day than many ride in a year. When the lifts stop
however, all that lush singletrack doesn't get packed up until the summer
rolls round again. Many of the trails we ride can be accessed without
any need for the chairs. So for a few weeks either side of the chairlift
season, we're offering you the chance to ride the Tarentaise valley
backcountry. This includes many of our favourite trails and some of
the most stunning, unspoiled scenery in the Alps. A bit of climbing
will be required, but less than you might think - maybe about 500m vertical
or an hour of climbing per day. A typical backcountry week might include:
DAY 1 - Sainte
Foy Singletrack
Most of the sublime local singletrack that we ride all summer long
can be accessed using a combination of our own van and some help from
a little pedal power. We'll ride classic trails like The Thin Red Line,
Whisky & Rye and The Beer Run.
DAY 2 - Sunny-side
Tour
We'll
start right from the chalet door in Sainte Foy, riding superb forest
singletrack like The Anthill Mob and Oh No! More Lemmings! before dropping
down to La Masure to pick up the rocky, technical challenge of Ace of
Spades. We'll grab lunch in Viclaire then load back into the van and
climb up towards La Rosiere to ride the Trail of 1,000,000 switchbacks,
then cross over to finish on the incredible flow of Veni, Vidi, Vici.
If anyone has any energy left, we can squeeze in a van shuttle to ride
Helter Skelter or another lap of Veni, Vidi, Vici. Because you'll want
to.
DAY 3 - Mont
Jovet
Mont Jovet
is a bulky, grassy peak near the end of the valley which reaches almost
2,700m. With a large refuge just a couple of hundred vertical metres
below the summit, it's possible to drive to within a few pedal strokes
of the summit. The flanks of the mountain running down into the Bozel
valley are laced with snaking singletrack, running from high alpine
meadows down into tight forest switchbacks.
DAY 4 - The Col.In.
The Col.In.
is one of our most remote and wild days out. We start by driving to
the 2,770m Col de l'Iseran, the highest road col in the Alps. From there,
a superb singletrack descent down the GR5 walking route takes us down
to Val d'Isere. We load up again and shuttle up to a remote car park
on the north side of the valley. From here, some classic cross-country
mountain biking takes us all the way back to Sainte Foy. The route has
everything. Tough technical climbs. Open meadow singletrack. Rock slabs.
Tight forest trails. Escaping the remote wilderness trail, we climb
steadily back up to the 18th centry village of Le Monal. From there,
we have the chance to finish down classic Sainte Foy singletrack trail
Whisky & Rye. The van will be waiting for us at the bottom to shuttle
back to the chalet for some very well-deserved cake.
DAY 5 - Les Arcs
Singletrack
Even without
the chairlifts running, wide swathes of tarmac let us climb up into
the Les Arcs ski domain. Any number of road-side drop-off points let
us pick up many classic Les Arcs singletrack trails running down through
the Malgovert forest back to Bourg Saint Maurice. We'll ride superb
tight, steep singletrack trails like Double Header and Big Gordon and
we'll do as many laps as you can handle.
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Gary knocks back some
Whisky & Rye
Jamie takes on the
Ace of Spades
Gary on the wide open
spaces of the Col.In.
Iona gets lost in the
scale of Mont Jovet
Fred on the Switchbacks
of Big Gordon, Les Arcs
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