Mt BLANC - A tour before winter -

Mont Blanc is the meeting point of tree border and the meeting point for adventurers.
An inspiring place to me, the tour of this massive mountain has always been a dream. This summer I was dreaming a lot about it, planning on the itinerary, the bike and organization. But more than this, the physical and technical preparation has been a big point and because something good never comes alone, I just get a new partnership with Lapierre and there new ZESTY 650. The perfect bike for this kind of adventure.


Finally, because of the bad weather coming I've quit my job one day earlier and rushed to Trient in the night. Pitched my tent and tried to sleep, but the excitement kept me out of sleeping ... The next day, wednesday, I woke up in this Suiss village, the starting point of the tour, a tree days adventure.


Day 1 -
From this place, when I started pedaling I could admire the Trient's glacier, surrounded by hight summit and lower by the deep forest. So the day started with Balme's pass, the Swiss/France border, that gave me the view on the whole range! An nice view with the early morning light, than the single track went downhill through the grassland then the pine forest. And from Montets pass started the balcony trail, that offer a view on every glacier in the Chamonix valley, some are giant as ice sea and the rocky summit are so high and aggressive. An inpressive view, probably the best in the whole range. This part was hard, physically and technically. It took me a lot more time and energy ... Finally made it to les Houches, a village close to Chamonix, from there I took the lift to the next pass, climb another one, then back on the trail I went down to the Bionassay glacier, amazingly strong place, I crossed the river by the nepalese bridge and than carried my bike to Tricot's pass. The steep, ever turning switchback trail brought me to Miage, than to Truc's dome. A last downhill in the forest on a technical trail to arrive in Contamines Montjoie, and a last climb in the forest to be in my refugee Nant Borant.


Day 2 -
After a good rest in Nant Borant refugee, I get back on the bike for the easiest day of the tour. Early morning climb to Bonhomme's pass, than riding the very alpine terrain to Fours's dome (2756 meters - 9036 feet high) for a stunning 360 degrees view on the Mt Blanc's range and the alps! The riding from this place is just awesome, high speed on the dusty deserted landscape, than turn and jump in the "schiste" famous grey alpine dirt. The trail goes down along the mountain through the small rivers and grassland until, glacier city. A beautiful village and definitely not a city! Lovely place, traditional mountain farming area. From there is a clim on a dirt road first than a single track and finally I had to carry the Lapierre to Seigne pass the France/Italy border. The landscape at this point is amzing, high alpine scenery, no tree, grass land, rocks rocks and glacier. The downhill is just a lot of fun, fast and aerial! After the Elizabetta refugio, the tree are back and the trail goes down to a lake that is the turning point to another climb to Chécroui, a balcony trail to a pass. From there I could see Courmayeur, my resting place for the day. Enough ! The hotel gave me some paper hotel shoes, so I can go around this famous fancy Italian city, find traditional icecream and pizzas !!


Day 3 -
I feel good, my bike works so good, not even a trouble and goodies like XX1, reverb steathl, EiShock computer, 650b wheels and tubeless are helping to make it smooth and light! So happy, when I get on the saddle for the first climb I'm so excited! Pedaling and carrying to Bertone refugee, than a amazing balcony trail in the misty atmosphere. Fast and fun, a few hikers, a few stream and a few bridges. I'm having a lot of fun, this day is going well even if I know how hard it is going to be! The final downhill drives me to the bottom of the valley for a few miles of road, a remote area facing high mountain and galcier, the water here is icy cold! The road became a dirt road and I climbed it until the trail and then carried my bike to Ferret's pass, the border to Switzerland. The view on this part of Switzerland is beautiful, green lush and traditional swiss cottage. The trail that goes down in the valley was cool! First in the grassland, than through the forest, following the view on the glacier it's hard to not fall! The tour du mont Blanc is a classic, it is traditionally a trail that follow rivers and main passes. In this part of it, following the river trough the balcony trail is so good, because I could enjoy the view on the valley and the life style. Cottage, villages, farms and small charming hotel. The rest of the tour is not so smooth, the climb to Champex was hot and hard. I took a break on the lake, breathe before the very last climb. Huge one hour carrying bike, to Bovine a remote place surrounded by Valais country of Switzerland and mont Blanc. Beautiful! Hopefully is it worth it, and the last downhill was incredible!! Fast and tricky!

I finally made it to my car, exhausted ! I don't know about the distance but the elevation was 9100 meters in the total (29 855 feet).
The head full of riding sensations but more important, I was excited by this sensation of success for something personal and important. This feeling that drive us all further and higher, not just in mountain biking but in life in general. Life is short and it is better to live it than dream it.

Vive la vie !