I had spotted the trail to the Col d' Anterne during a run and was mad keen to give it a go on the bike. After asking at the local shops I was told it was not possible as it went through a Nature Reserve but checking the signage and the websites I could see no rules about no bikes... I still dont know whether it is entirely legal but decided to put my Phrase book away and play ignorant! During the ride no-one said anything about me being on a bike apart from "Bon Courage!!".
I was expecting a long day and to avoid the crowds took the first lift to Brevent (2525m). I had run the first bit of the trail before so knew it was going to be tricky with a bike...i didnt quite expect the first 2km of descending to take 1/2hour though!! As the trail descended more and more was rideable but never really turned into the great descent i was hoping for, however the scenery made up for the lack of riding. Unfortunately the climb up the other side of the valley was also a bit of a hike but again in a nice setting. Finally reaching the Col, I was rewarded with stunning views of a great looking singletrack descent!
If I was to do the ride again I would probably miss out the Brevent-Refuge d' Anterne section and start the ride by riding from Plaine-Joux.
The descent to Sixt was awesome and made up for carrying my bike for the last 2hrs!! Some great flowing sections, some techy rocky sections (I didnt clean it all!) and again with awesome views. The odd little climb gave the arms a much needed rest!
Arriving in Samoens (700m), there was the option of waiting for the lift to open after lunch but having made good time I thought I would put some vertical metres in the legs so started the climb up to Station de Samoens and then onto the Gite d' Iglo at 1590m. Fortunately I was rewarded for the hard work and found a nice, woodland descent all the way down to Balme.
A short ride along the valley bottom to Magland and only a 20 minute wait for the train to Chamonix....time to stock up with cakes and coke for the journey!!
Click here for GPS data of the route.
Hi Paul
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot like a route I've got planned for once the lifts close, cheers for putting it up! Unfortunately the trails off the top Brevant lift go through the Aig Rouge National park which has a complete VTT ban (I've got the web address to the arrete somewhere if you want) but you've probably seen how much attention gets paid to that, & all the walkers seem to be more amused than pissed off as long as the VTT'rs are nice with it.
Cheers, Graham
Hey up Graham, yeah i thought i might have been slightly over the legal line on this one! But i thought i'd play ignorant and didnt pass any no biking signs...it just looked so tempting!
DeleteBy setting of early the trails were pretty quiet and all the walkers as you say were more amused by me being on a bike and were generally pretty chatty, well as far as my french conversational skills go!
If I were to do it again though, wouldn't do the Brevent to the Refuge d' Anterne section again would just head up from Plaine-Joux along the road... although that is through nature reserve too i think!!
Actually what is strange is the ride I did yesterday also went into Nature Reserve (the Lac Gers descent)... I later found out this was actually on the Samoens VTT map.
Cheers
Paul