Chris tells us about the trails he's been riding past week:
In May the lift system in Verbier is closed for maintenance so I have had to pedal a lot this week to get to the good trails, this has been good because I've had a chance to work on my fitness and also I tried to discover some new trails that I wouldn't normally do if the lifts were running. The weather has been perfect for riding: not too hot but not super rainy either, on one of the rides I did encounter a bit of unexpected snow!
'La Mirador': 20km, 800m vertical. A nice gentle fireroad climb up through the forest above Sembrancher, I think I saw one person all morning! The singletrail back down was super flowy at the bottom with some tighter, more technical switchbacks at the top. Maybe my new favourite trail.
'Col des Planches-Martigny-Col du Lein-Le Châble': 43km, 2300m vertical. This was a huge day of pedalling and I climbed the Col des Plaches twice, once from each side. I got some incredible views of the freshly fallen snow on the peaks of Dents du Midi and the Chamonix range. I found a couple of new interesting trails and one that I definitely won't be doing again (picture a knife edge ridge with slippery roots and rocks)!
'Les Fontaines': 18km, 950m vertical. The fireroad above Champsec winds through a beautiful alpine meadow dotted with classic Swiss chalets, I then dipped into the forest and was a bit surprised to find patches of snow still un-melted from winter. The singletrail back down was a great high speed blast on quite a wide trail beside the river with some really cool root sections you could jump right over.
'Foret des Crêtes': 35km, 1500m vertical. The climb up was steep, long and hot on the road above Orsières, not the best. The upside was the view was amazing, every switchback I was getting an ever better sight of Grand st Bernard pass (Italy) and Mont Dolent (France). The trail back down was a beast, the top section was super technical with some really off-camber roots but then the second half mellowed out a lot and the turns were almost bermed so you could really keep some good speed through the corners. I had to stop a few times because I could smell my brake pads! Overall a great trail but I think there's a better way to get to it.
See you soon,
Chris