High-Alps MTB
Tour 2002
A Mountain-Bike Week in the
Swiss, French and Italian
Day 4, Tuesday,
July 23, 2002: Bonneval S. Arc – Col de la Leisse (2758m) - Lac de Tignes
We
start the day with a good breakfast. With us are some motorcycle riders from
A
new day means new strength for Frank who had felt pretty bad last night. We all
start rolling out the valley towards Lanslebourg. We stop in the village to
refill our water bottles from local fountains and stock up on some fruit and
cereal bars.
Today
will be our longest climb on this trip: First we have to climb a long paved
road towards a plateau with the ‘Chalet Refuge de Plan du Lac’ for some 1400m,
then we follow a path into a valley where we won’t be able to ride all parts.
Our total vertical elevation gain for the day will be near 2500m, 1.5 times the
During
the following long climb Markus and I team up and ride ahead, with Frank and
Andi following. We are alone with our thoughts as we ride up the road and start
sweating profusely in the mid-morning sun. Once we reach the end of the paved
road, Markus and I seek out a vantage point high above the road to watch Frank
and Andi climb. We feel like we are in our own ‘Tour de France’.
After
a short time we are reunited again and roll back to the Refuge de Plan du Lac,
a welcome reprieve from the climbing and sweating. It is 2:00pm and we
certainly enjoy the lunch and long rest stop at this nice chalet, which also
serves as a basecamp for winter skiing.
The
landscape is truly grandiose up here in this part of the French Alps, the
‘Parque National de la Vanoise’. We work our way back into the valley, partly
riding, mostly pushing our bikes upward.
Eventually
we reach the Refuge de la Leisse, another welcome rest stop along the way. We
sit and drink, take pictures and day-dream. This is one of those Kodak moments
where you don’t want to get up and move on, it’s just so nice to sit there and
relax…
But
it is already 5:20pm in the afternoon and it is still quite a ways to go. I
often think about how far this would be to walk in or out this valley! With the
MTB you are just so much faster, and your radius of daily trip distance is much
greater, allowing you to see even more of this beautiful landscape in a single
day.
We
climb steadily towards the end of the valley and around the back side of the
Grand Motte, a well known skiing mountain accessible in the winter from the
French ski resorts of Val d’Isere and Lac de Tignes.
Finally
at almost 7:00pm we reach the Col de la Leisse at 2758m, one of our highest
points during this 1 week trip. The view is stunning. The glaciers of the Grand
Motte on one side, the skiing slopes of Lac de Tignes right in front of us, the
dizzying heights of the
Again,
surprisingly, we can ride down almost the entire descent, thanks to a winding
path gently sloping around the bigger boulders or rock bands. This is one of
the most scenic area I know of for MTB riding. The setting sun provides the
perfect light for some additional pictures, as we roll past sheep grazing on
slopes where thousands of skiers and snow-boarders find their way down in the
winter and spring.
After
the long ascent around the back of this mountain we really enjoy this downhill
ride at the end of a hard day. We stop one last time in the evening sun for a
group picture, which shows all four riders with big smiles.
From
here it’s just a few more minutes down the steep slopes to Lac de Tignes, where
a hot shower and dinner awaits the hungry riders. It is a very different
feeling to get here in shorts and warm weather for MTB riding, rather than in
warm cloths for skiing during the winter or spring.
Dinner
is as good as ever, and soon thereafter we fall into our beds still thinking
about the trails and sights of this day in the French Alps.