Tag: enduro

Biking Season

9th Oct 20209th Oct 2020by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Post lockdown. June 3rd the Italian border opens. The ski season is over, time to escape to Finale and the warm welcome of our Italian friends
Chamonix doesn’t have much background in pedalling a bike. Sure there are some talented DH and enduro riders but not many are keen to ride through the mountains. There are a few exceptions, Oli Herren for one. In Aosta Davide Capozzi is always motivated for big missions. He’s lighter and faster than me uphill so I need to ride smart on days with him. Here we rode Col di Bard, Col Citirin, Chaligne, Becca Franca totally 3300 m of vertical, oh and it was still 40C at 1830 at 1000 m!
At Denis Tondo’s alpage in the Brento Dolomites
Dropping into Becca Franca after a long 10 hours riding in 40+ celcius. No gloves or kneepads to maximise heat shedding!
La Thuile lift access enduro day with Morgan Sahlen
La Thuile, EWS K run, Mont Blanc Range in the back ground. Photo Morgan Sahlen
The view to Lake Garda, off the back of Paganella
Bobby visits Chamonix
La Thuile, photo by Morgan Sahlen
Brenta Dolomites, I forgot all my protection except for my helmet and kneepads. Perfect for a place built with razor sharp rock. Photo Tim Longstaff
One of my favourite places in the world, Lake Garda. On the way to show Tim Longstaff my favourite pub in the world.
La Thuile magic. Photo Tim Longstaff
Canazei, Dolomites. We’ve just been soaked to the pants in a thunderstorm, I’m semi hypothermic so Tim and myself take shelter in the pub. In beer we trust! This was shit beer, check out Tim’s great beer at Sapaudia Brewing Company
Col Citrin with Davide Capozzi, this one gets harder the further you descend
La Thuile, photo Tim Longstaff
Posettes, photo Ben Tibbetts
La Thuile
Col Lussons lunar landscape, photo Dave Searle
Col Lusson, photo Dave Searle
Colle della Rosso, my favourite ride in Aosta
Colle della Rosso, photo Dave Searle
Brevent, yep its made of rock. Photo by Luke Jarmey
Back Country Finale in the Land Rover Defender
Piero and Filippo – Back Country Finale in Malare. A pleasure seeing our Italian friends post lockdown.
Bobby and Searle fiddling with the Donkey
Bellachat. Photo by Filippo Gualtieri
Early summer and heading to the Aiguillette des Houches
Alessandro Merlini on Bellachat
Nice view
Heading to Bellachat from Brevent. Rocky as fuck, stunning scenary when you can take your eyes off the trail which will likely be just when you stop
Nice view behind me! I love it up here.
Minna and friends on the skyline
All time crew L-R me, Filippo, Gian Luca, Oli, Alessandro, thingymabob et al, Howard
Me and my very good buddy Filippo on Chaligne above Aosta
Visiting Italian Jaco meets Bellachat, Brevent
Morning shred on Brevent before work, good for the soul
Evening shreds from Plan de l’Aiguille are sick. 1300 m of brown pow.
Check this guy out – that tent hitting the back of the knees would do it for me
Morgan cruising some rock slabs at la Thuile
Davide Capozzi at Col Chavanne. There was a lot of snow towards Col de la Seigne so we skipped that and headed to Col Arp Vielle
Davide Capozzi on the exposed start to Col Chavanne going into Val Veni
Val Veni views with Petit Mont Blanc and Aiguille des Glaciers
Davide Capozzi on the Tour du Mont Blanc trail from Col Arp Vielle. Tour Ronde, Skyway, Dent de Geant in the background.
Emosson to Martigny ride. Not my favourite
Not sure what this is – a wonkey donkey?
La Thuile with Tim and Howard
Evening ride at Le Tour
The remnants of the Le Tour Glacier
Letting the arms rest half way down
Davide Capozzi on the techy root section of Col Citrin
Last descent to St Nicholas after 10 hours and 3300 m. Its still 40C at 1800 hrs.
Poor pack horse looks a bit overladen
Taking in the view at the start of a Chatelyard run
Col Entrelor
Entrelor flowy section
A quick coffee stop in La Thuile on the Col Chavanne – Col Arp Veille loop
The Peuterey Ridge of Mont Blanc from upper Val Veni
The West Face of Mont Blanc, a 2000 m ski odyssey
Mont Blanc’s impressive Freney/Broullard faces above Val Veni
The Aosta autoroute – impressive engineering
Searle and Tibbetts on route to Lusson (3300 m)
Searle and Tibbetts on route to Lusson (3300 m)
Lusson, Loson, every map has a a different spelling in this region of Italian – Franco patois
Searle coming down Lusson
Colle della Rosso
The Italian Dolomites – Sella Ronda Tour with Filippo Gaultieri, Denis Tondo, Patrick DH, Tim Longstaff
Rodella
Marmolada views
Denis
Patrick
Tim getting patched up after slicing his leg open on a drainage channel
Denis showboating for the camera
When you grow up racing mx, you need a proper workshop
Denis showing his mastery of whips and berms
The Willy Wonka rail – a stunning blue flow/jump run
Lake Garda
Patrick and the Brenta Dolomites
Denis spent months shepherding at this hut growing up, now he wants to use it as a overnight stop over on Dolomiti mtb tours
Wait, why’s my bike on the chair?
Lake Garda
Riva del Garda, my favourite pub in the world. Scene of so much fun
Tim enjoying morning swims in the lake
That day I forgot my armour in the Dolomites. Highsided on a landing straight onto my spine. Luckily ribs just bruised for a month.
Chamonix, Aiguillette des Houches. Getting in the runs before the lifts close. Broke my clipless pedals in that crash in the Dolomites and De Masi had my flats so riding the worst pedals ever made.
The start of a beautiful day, riding solo in Aosta. 3800 m vertical, 5 cols, 1 summit. Col di Bard, Col Citrin, Col Malatra (2900 m), Col Entre Deux Sauts, Col Sapin, Testa Bernarda.
Col di Bard
Col Citrin with Mont Velan behind
‘If it didn’t exist 5000 years ago then don’t eat it’ – Laird Hamilton. Forget gels, shakes and other crap. Nuts, berries and some fruit will see you double your efforts
Col Citrin
On the 1400 m climb to Malatra.
Refugio Frassati, modelled on the rock architecture of Petit Golliat
Only 400 m to Malatra
Col Malatra
Sunny everywhere except where I am its hailing!
Flow trails below Col Malatra
Grand Jorasses in the background above Val Veni
Its a big day for a Nomad, 12 hours and 3800 m. I’m looking forward to riding a High Tower next season
Last climb done to Test Bernarda. Final descent of the day arriving in Courmayeur for pizza just as the light started to fail.
Should I stay or should I go? A murky day in Aosta had me soaked to the pants within the first half hour. Then it started to dry up so I set little goals (I’ll turn back there…) but in the end made the summit knowing the descent is a path suited to a gravel bike with no greasy rock to negotiate. In the end a super atmospheric day, the inclement weather providing dramatic scenes up Val Veni.

Alpine Biking

23rd Oct 2018by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

These days Alpine summers are somewhat different to what they used to be. I grew up reading about climbing on the big North Faces and summers so rainy and snowy that impatience got the better of many and they packed up and went home in disgust. Now its all about just how hot its going to be and how long the drought will last. Temps soar into the high 30s during the day with the sun so strong that shelter is required. At night the temperature barely drops and I find myself unable to sleep before midnight with the thick granite walls of our 200 year old house radiating heat. The idea of actually pedalling a bike uphill is my idea of a heat stroke inducing sweaty hell and its restricts me to lift assisted enduro through July and August. Then in September the temperatures drop below 30C and the magical world of Middle Earth opens its doors to riders willing to explore where the winding singletracks will lead. Valais, Savoie and Aosta all hold and incredible network of trails that linked one region to another switchbacking up and over Alpine cols for mile after mile. I spent so much of my life dedicated to racing bikes and the restrictive nature that entails of training hard, resting more than riding, not drinking…alpine biking offers a world of fun where I could probably avoid riding the same trail twice in this lifetime even though I’m riding almost every day. So as this season draws to a close with the first large snowfalls due at the weekend, here’s some of the good moments from another absolutely brilliant alpine biking season.

A big thanks to Oli Herren, Tim Nickles, Tim Longstaff, Graham Pinkerton, Minna Rihiimaki, Rosanna Hughes, Davide Capozzi and the donkeys for all the good times.

Alpine Biking

25th Oct 2017by rosshewittguiding3 Comments

Fall in the Alps. The summer inferno has past giving way to more pleasant temps for bike riding. T shirts at 3300m. Everywhere you look there is a blaze of orange and red as the larches and grasses go off.

I should be in New Zealand skiing new lines but my L5 disc herniated onto the root of the sciatic nerve the day after I finished guiding this summer. No I wasn’t out shredding but simply walking on a forest trail. Biking is a major feature of my rehab as I try to overcome the partial muscle paralysis of my calf and glute – its kept me sane and frustrations at bay. It turns out the Aosta Valley holds some of the best trails Ive ridden in 25 years and my Bronson is now riding sweet with saint brakes – many of these descents are in the 1600 m category so things get very hot!

My unhappy spine!

Full Enduro

23rd Sep 2017by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

This will definitely go down as one of those seemingly endless long hot summers. One heat wave followed the next with the occasional rain shower just prevent things getting too dusty and maintain optimal grip.

After a year off the bike in 2016 with a heavy crash affecting my back, I was really keen to get back out there, albeit with some nerves about having another heavy stack. The main focus of my summer was working as an aspirant guide and staying alive while short roping clients up and down 4000 m peaks and I couldn’t afford to get inured biking. With some amazing rides on my doorstep and the lifts providing easy access, the temptation was too great and on my days off I was able to get free of the rope umbilical and go biking.

It was actually such a busy summer that I rarely had time to sit and contemplate and it was while I looked back over the few photos taken that some amazing memories were triggered. I also got to ride Finale for the first time with local Luca Martini and Filippo Gualtieri showing us some incredible trails and even enlisting the services of the Italian enduro champ just to show how slow we’d become in old age. The possibilities seem endless there and by the end of a day when brain fatigue looms, its time to hit the beach to relax, swim and have an apero. Whats not to like?

I’m really glad I did as much riding as possible this summer. Growing up in Scotland I could only dream of living in a ski resort and being able to clock up 10000 m days on the bike. Reading the bike mags just made me jealous of our American friends in Moab, Durango and the like which seemed to be the ultimate alpine playgrounds back then. I write this with some nerve issue giving me a lot of pain down my leg and Im not sure yet how that is going to pan out – but it hasnt stopped me dreaming of more bike adventures!