Our Playground: Mission to Taillefer with Tito Tomasi - Video

Its 4am and my alarm wakes me from my sleep. It's cold outside and I feel like a zombie, but an awesome day of adventure awaits. I get my riding gear on and quickly eat my cereals in preparation for today's program, which will be as tough as it will be exciting. Leaving my van, which I parked in the small village of La Morte, in the mountains near to Grenoble, the sky is clear with the stars still visible in the early morning sky. Even though the moon is small, there's enough light to help me see the trail - so much so that I could almost have done the whole climb without my lights.




I have been in the valley for a few weeks now, trying to find new spots and trails to ride. This isn't a region that I know, so I before making the trip I spent a lot of time listening to other riders more familiar with the region. My friend Antoine was the first guy to tell me about Taillefer and how amazing it was, so I instantly knew I had to go and see it for myself. Of all the information he bombarded me with, he told me that the lake area was beautiful, but for me, the climb to the summit was something I couldn't wait to tackle. Back to the adventure...


My mission for the first day was to climb to the summit of the Taillefer range, sitting 2857 meters above sea level and a long way from the village where I was parked. The first objective was to catch the sunrise from the ridge just before the summit. Before leaving I knew that I would probably have to use the same trail to go up and down, but if I found anything else along the way, I would probably explore and see what was there.


I climbed the ridge just in time to see the sunrise when suddenly two mountain goats ran out in front of me before disappearing out of sight again - life in the mountains is as wild as it is beautiful. All around me, the yellow grass, orange rocks and crystal white snow all added to the kaleidoscope of colours, which was an amazing feast for the eyes. Up here, the views are simply breathtaking, which is why I like about mountain biking. A place where you can be alone and witness the beauty of nature first hand.

I eventually reached the summit after a long hike-a-bike, which was undoubtedly helped by the impressive views over the Alps. The views were so good that I could recognise a lot of the mountains and even the national parks which surround them. Thanks to my curious nature, I decided not to go back down the way I came up and after looking at the map, decided to attack the north face and head towards a lake area that I thought looked good. I knew that this would make things more difficult for me in the long run, but sometimes the challenge is worth it - if you're in the mountains for the day, you have to and go big!


The descent that stretched down the north face was hard, steep, covered in snow and pretty crazy. The snow made it possible and yet impossible at the same time, but the real danger was the slippery ice that lay under the surface. Slowly, but surely I made my way back down and onto the rocks before heading towards the lakes. Taking my time to enjoy all the views was worth every minute of the sketchy trail behind me, but before I could go further down to the valley, I had to navigate my second big climb of the day, which would take me into a forest. In the forest and surfing over the leaves, which had covered the trails and forest floor, was too much fun and before long I was in another valley and in another village.


The adventure still wasn't over as this wasn't La Morte and with a third climb to tackle to get me out of the valley and on the trail home, it was time for another hike-a-bike. At the top and looking down at the next descent, the trail me was both narrow and exposed, but then I like challenging trails and especially ones that connect so many different landscapes and environments such as this one. By this stage I was beginning to feel the burn after of all the hiking and riding, and my legs were feeling heavy. But the fun factor hadn't left me and I made the most of what lay ahead and in no time at all, I was back in La Morte where my van was waiting for me, as was the opportunity to rest my body, enjoy some sun shine and rehydrate.



If you want to follow in Tito's tire tracks, Trailforks is here to help:

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MENTIONS: @TitoTomasi

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