Pic de Chalanches is a great early season tour when the conditions are right, and today they were right. Later on in the season the skiing can be as good, but the approach is much longer and harder as the road from Villard up to lac de l’Orceyrette will be blocked with snow adding some [...]
Filed under: Photo on November 16th, 2008 | No Comments »
The craggy summit of Tete de Gaulent (2867m) can easily be seen from the front of our house and I have been keen to make my way up it for some time now. I managed to tempt David Monteith, an Alpine Club member, who was staying with us to come along.
I wasn’t exactly sure [...]
Filed under: Photo on October 13th, 2008 | No Comments »
This descent came well recommended with Nico Vuilloz himself saying it ‘knocks the stuffing’ out of Mega and Maxi Avalanche courses. With just over 200m of climbing needed for this outstanding 1200m descent it is a must.
The weather looked normal down in Guillestre, but as we headed into the Queyras we could see a [...]
Filed under: Photo on September 15th, 2008 | No Comments »
Lac du Distroit is up at 2519m altitude at the southern tip of the Ecrins National Park. This walk starts from the trailhead in the Rabioux valley above Chateauroux les Alpes. The path climbs up from the valley floor on the south facing slopes under the steep slopes of the Chabreyret ridgeline. There is a [...]
Filed under: Photo on August 13th, 2008 | No Comments »
This is a great line with over 1500m of descent, with around a thousand of it being in a spectacular 45 degree couloir. We used the lifts at Pelvoux which for 5 euros will take you up the first 1000m leaving an easy skin up to the top.
The first twenty meters needed to be [...]
Filed under: Photo on February 20th, 2008 | No Comments »
Jerry Gore had been looking at this ice fall out of his kitchen window for the past few years. He had asked around in the valley and it turned out that it had not been climbed. It looked in condition and I was keen to get out and try out my new leashless axes so [...]
Filed under: Photo on November 29th, 2007 | No Comments »
This trail is just amazing. We started out at about 1600m which gave us some 600m of climbing on 4×4 track before we got to the lake at the col du Lauzet, then another 100m of more technical climbing including some carrying to get up to the 2352m col de Moussiere.
Filed under: Photo on August 11th, 2007 | No Comments »
Bowing to public pressure we have started to name the trails that we ride rather than trying to describe them using the names of the cols or valleys that they pass through.
This is an awesome freeride descent down some great trails. The initial climb is a bit tough as it starts at 2600m and goes [...]
Filed under: Photo on August 7th, 2007 | No Comments »
Another great ride. We used a shuttle to cut down a bit on the climbing making this more of a freeride descent. Though there was still 800m of climbing by the end of the ride. Initially the track heads up some forestry roads out of Ponteil up towards the Cabane de Tramouillon at 1963m [...]
Filed under: Photo on July 19th, 2007 | No Comments »
The lifts opened at Vars yesterday so I headed up to see what they had on offer. There is just the one downhill track that is closed to pedestrians. All the rest of the trails are more freeride and are open to walkers, though I didn’t see many.
Filed under: Photo on July 8th, 2007 | No Comments »
This ride goes through some amazing scenery right in the heart of the Queyras with stunning views. The ride starts out, like so many around here, with a bit of a climb, 800m up to the Sommet Bucher at 2254m. The Bucher sits right in the centre of the Queyras and from it you [...]
Filed under: Photo on July 5th, 2007 | No Comments »
This is a great easy ride out of the ski resort of Risoul at 1850m. The path is all 4×4 and not at all technical as there is only just over 300m of climbing in the whole 9k ride. After an initial climb out of the ski resort up to around 2000m the track [...]
Filed under: Photo on July 4th, 2007 | No Comments »
The Escreins valley is a dramatic remote valley and a paradise of flora and fauna just to the south east of Guillestre. In fact the Rif Bel, the torrent that flows past our house, starts up at the head of the Escreins valley. To get into the valley you either have to walk up [...]
Filed under: Photo on June 30th, 2007 | No Comments »
This trail starts out with a long hard climb from Arvieux at 1500m to Col de Furfande at 2500m. It is pretty constant gradient and was a fairly arduous 2h30 slog. The forestry trail that we climbed up is open to Vehicles though up to 2155m so you could cut quite a bit off the [...]
Filed under: Photo on June 28th, 2007 | No Comments »
I had already read about this ride so when Stew mentioned that he was heading up to ride it I jumped at the opportunity to tag along. There were two other local bikers, both called Pete, as well as an Irish kayaker called Barry in the team.
Filed under: Photo on June 19th, 2007 | No Comments »
This circuit was real adventure mountain biking, if you don’t like having to carry your bike then this is not the circuit for you. It starts here at the Chateau and heads up into the Val d’Escreins up past the marble quarry. The initial climb is on 4×4 track and then it changes to singletrack [...]
Filed under: Photo on May 29th, 2007 | No Comments »
This ride has one of the best, if not the best, singletrack descents that I have ever ridden. Starting near St Crepin the first section of climb on road can be avoided by running a two car shuffle.
On arriving at the small hamlet of Moussiere at 1850m we were already in need of some refreshment.
Filed under: Photo on May 23rd, 2007 | No Comments »
The ski station of Risoul sits at 1850m on the hillside above Guillestre. It is a great resort to ski in in the winter and they run a few lifts for mountain biking in the summer. Out of season though the 1000m descent from the station to the valley floor is a great ride if [...]
Filed under: Photo on May 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »
This little circuit can be done in about an hour so is ideal for an evening blast or it can be linked up with a couple of other rides like the Circuit de Barbein. It has a fairly easy steady climb on 4×4 through a little hamlet and up onto the sides of the Durance [...]
Filed under: Photo on May 19th, 2007 | No Comments »
This circuit starts off down at the hot springs at Plan de Phazy and initially there is a couple of klicks on tarmac before hitting the 4×4 track. This takes you up past La Traverse and Languieu where there are a lot of nice houses dotted around before hitting one of the steepest sections of [...]
Filed under: Photo on May 19th, 2007 | No Comments »
