Tag: mountain biking

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.

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!

Home Sweet Home

19th Oct 2016by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

After nearly six months away from home this year its great to finally be home, wake up in the same bed, catch up with friends and enjoy the Fall in the Alps in the autumn. I love this time of year with the valley being quiet, temperatures better for riding, near perfect friction on the rock, early snows of the winter, first turns…the hardest thing can be deciding what to do! Its especially sweet that he hard work in Wales this summer paid off and past the British Mountains Guides’ summer rock test and will be going to Scotland for the winter test next. At the start of summer I had a bad bike crash when I dropped the front end off a jump a piled my neck into the ground. There was a lot of heavy crunching in my back and while I spat out bits of broken teeth, my back muscles went into hard spasm stopping me from getting much air in my lungs. It was a pretty scary experience and with my back feeling weird I made a beeline for the emergency room. The doctor was pretty nonchalant about it, monitored my blood pressure for a few hours and released me armed with a paracetamol and the advice that I might be a little sore in the morning. Having played rugby and raced bike downhill for years I’m not unused to taking hard knocks but this was a new level. A week of not being able to sleep and 3 weeks of complete inactivity had me thinking it was unlikely I’d get into shape for the guides exam. 3 months later and I was starting to move a bit better and not feel like I’d been hit in the back with a sledge hammer, but for a while there were some major doubts about getting over this injury in time! A big thanks goes to Martin Chester who spent a day giving me some great tips during my final preparation for the test. He’s a IFMGA mountain guide and a fantastic performance coach and all round nice guy so check him out at: martinchester.co.uk Also a big thanks to John Whittaker for being the perfect mock client – hope to see you for some Scottish Winter action!

Coaching how to fist jam. Photo Martin Chester

Me leading Shadow Wall. Photo Martin Chester

John Whittaker seconding. Photo Martin Chester

Me on Western Rib, Dinas Mot. Photo Martin Chester

Placing gear on The Chain, a quality crack pitch, Dinas Mot. Photo Martin Chester

On The Chain. Photo Martin Chester

John Whittaker belaying me on The Chain. Photo Martin Chester

John getting the finger locks on The Chain. Photo Martin Chester

John on the jugs. Photo Martin Chester

The following biking photos are from Merlet, my home run.

And Gietroz with Enrico Mosetti and Beatrice Michelotti (photo credits)

Then to the Gabarrou route on the triangle with Phil Brugger who is over from Innsbruck to train in the high mountain. Its ultra dry and the crux would be way easier in rock shoes but feels like M6+ right now. Short and sharp.