Early January 2016 Dave, my brother-in-law, mentioned that his aim was to run the Mont Blanc Ultra Marathon (UTMB) in August 2017. Now in it’s 17th year, the UTMB attracts several thousand athletes from across the world for a trail race circumnavigating Mont Blanc, covering 170km or just over 100 miles (the standard Ultra Marathon) including 10,000m of climbing, all to be completed in under 46 hours. In the spirit of family togetherness and adventure, I declared that if he got a place Henry (my son) and I would be there to cheer him on. Funnily enough, his best mate Mike made the same promise!
The first views of the mountains took my breath away
Fast forward to August 2017 and Dave had not only run three qualifying Ultra marathons in the UK but he’d got a place in the ballot for the UTMB – apparently there are more than 2300 nutters who want to do this mammoth feat of endurance each year! Woohoo; Henry and I were going on a roadtrip to the Alps as part of Dave’s support team, but I'm Enduromum aren't I? Clearly I can't be writing a blog about running and so, as we were going to be spending five days in the heart of mountain bike (MTB) heaven I felt obliged to take ours. With two bikes in the back and Henry in control of the ‘banging tunes’ we left Kent at 4.30am on the Tuesday before the UTMB. 970km and 10 hours later I was still smiling (in case you haven’t gathered, I love my car!) as we rolled into Les Houches, Chamonix.
Enjoying a Mont Blanc Rouge in Les Houches after the drive
Mums and teenage sons don’t always see eye to eye however and on the first day, after a major bust up at the top of Mont Blanc (I’m sure it will become part of VickyBikes family legend once we can laugh about it) we needed a bit of bike time to get our mojo back. We unloaded our bikes and pootled into town to get advice on the local trails.
Mont Blanc was breathtaking
Hmm, yeah, didn't get the clothing right for an hour up Mont Blanc!
As it was already late in the day we thought we’d try out the offroad route to Chamonix. This was going to be part of the UTMB route on Friday so it seemed a fitting place to start. After half an hour’s riding we were thinking of turning for home when we came across a wooden bridge that just begged to be used for drop off practice! Filming and discussing drop offs is perfect mother/son bonding fodder it transpires.
The trusty Boardman is still in service!
Chamonix is perfectly situated for biking in Italy as well as France. After asking around I’d found that Pila (Aosta Valley) was top pick amongst my riding buddies so we decided to try it out. It might seem odd to be going through to Italy when there’s so much good riding to be had in the French Alps, but coming from an island nation, I can never resist the allure of driving to another country.
We weren't the only ones heading to Italy to ride
There’s a saying in Chamonix that if it’s raining there go to Italy as it’ll be dry! When we emerged from the 20km Mont Blanc tunnel it wasn’t exactly dry but it certainly wasn’t the torrential downpour we left behind in France. 11 tunnels and a few satnav-related detours later we found the cable car base in Aosta. To reach the downhill (DH) runs at Pila Bike Park you take a cable-car from the town up to the ski resort, followed by a chair lift to the DH trail heads. The great thing about days like this is that everything feels like an adventure; even successfully wrangling your bike into a cable-car comes with a sense of achievement!
Cable-car station in Aosta
Successful bike wrangling
Exiting the cable-car we found Pila Bike Park was cold, damp and shrouded in cloud. The chairlift was temporarily closed and we didn’t much fancy waiting for it to reopen so instead took advantage of the time to try out the red XC trail back down to the valley floor. It’s a great trail, with a mix of red and black runs. The heavy cloud and drizzle made it slippery and sketchy but that added to the fun. Henry hasn’t done much MTB riding so this was a true baptism of fire and he came off the mountain grinning from ear to ear! The local wildlife had been treated to every cuss he knew but he’d made it down and was ready to go back up and have a go on the downhill runs – I was one proud Enduromum.
It was miserable in Pila that day, but we weren't alone
We stopped for a quick bowl of pasta and then jumped on the chairlift to the top. Heading through the clouds we lost sight of our bikes on the chair in front but were treated to glimpses of the flowing DH trails below. They looked as good as everyone had promised. Unfortunately, as we neared the top, the drizzle became heavy rain and we got soaked – we transitioned from wannabe park rats to drowned park rats! By the time we reached the bottom of the blue we were cold and wet. Knowing the tolerances of a teenager, I didn’t press for more runs and agreed to head back to France for baths and food.
Our bikes are on the chair in front - honest!
On the day of the UTMB we were going to try the local DH runs in Les Houches but coaxing a teen out of his pit can take a long time and we ended up aborting that plan in favour of a quick bike to Chamonix.
"Always search for difficulty not just danger. Go ahead, try, dare. In boldness there's enchantment" Gaston Rebuffat, Alpinist and Mountaineer
I’d heard that Chamonix and the Alps in general are full of sporty, outdoors types in the summer. During the UTMB week however, it’s full of superhumans. The daily start and finish of the five races that run throughout the week combined with a United Nations of competitors creates a festival atmosphere. Dressed in compression clothing and increasingly the distinctive ‘finishers’ gilets, there were athletes everywhere – it was impossible not to be caught up in the excitement whilst also feeling somewhat inadequate on the sporting front.
Your eyes are constantly drawn to Mont Blanc
Read all about our UTMB in Part II, coming tomorrow!
