Words & Images Riley McLay

Imitation can be a dangerous thing. As a bike hungry teenager, I spent many of high school days hiding behind a computer screen watching the latest mountain bike edits and documentaries. One of the most noteworthy was a specialized bikes mission where ‘Matt Hunter Tours Mont Blanc’. In the video, Canadian Freeride Legend, Matt Hunter, takes a crew to attempt the Tour Du Mont Blanc: A 174 km loop that fully circles the breathtaking mountain that is Mont Blanc. The Tour Du Mont is a spectacular but challenging multiuse alpine route, where hikers and mountain bikers traverse three different countries through some of the most stunning scenery the Alps has to offer. I have always been captivated with the riding in the Alps. High speed single trail that cuts through the Mammoth landscape with ease. This is shown best by Matt and the crew as they make the Tour Du Mont Blanc their own. The way they showed off the different flow and rough terrain made it something I had to tick off my bucket list. Lucky enough for me, I had chosen to spend the 2023 New Zealand winter vanlife-ing around Europe, taste testing as much of the riding it has to offer. The Euro Tour eventually led us to one of the mountain biking meccas: Morzine and the Portes Du Soleil area in France. Reluctant to take a break from the gravity fed action, it was timw to take on the monster. Joining me on this adventure was a good friend of mine, Fynn Thompson. Fynn, a carpenter from Queenstown who has represented New Zealand in triathlon, is no stanger to getting into the pain cave. A few weeks prior, Fynn had completed the hope 1000, an extremely difficult bikepacking route traversing from one side of Switzerland to the other. The only bikepacking experience I had was completing the Old Ghost Road a couple of years prior. With the Tour Du Mont Blanc having 8, 040 metres of climbing, we knew it was not going to be a walk in the park. Especially with the recommended time to complete the loop being five days. With our tight schedule, we decided to attempt the loop in three days.

Our weapons of choice for this mission was something of an exercise in ‘run what you brung’. We had only brought one bike each from New Zealand to tackle anything Europe had to throw at us. Fynn was running a 170mm Commencal Meta mullet and I was on a 160mm full 29er Marin Alpine Trail. Not your traditional bikepacking rigs, but the extra travel would definitely come in handy. Fynn was also running three different bike bags on his bike (on the bars, under seat, and top tube) whereas I had elected to run just a bar bag and a 50 litre hiking pack. I had run a backpack on my previous bikepacking experience; however, I was going in knowing it wasn’t the most ideal set up as you want to keep as much weight off yourself and on the bike as possible. We also planned on wild camping for the two nights on the tour.

After a quick breakfast and coffee it was time to begin. Our first slight descent into Chamonix would be one of the only times our tyres would touch the sweet smoothness of asphalt. The TMB loop can be ridden in either direction, however we chose to do it clockwise as the climbs are a lot more bike friendly and the downhills are more enjoyable going this way. Reaching the town centre at the base of Mont Blanc would give us a true perspective of the grandness of the size of it. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in both the Alps and all of Western Europe, with the peak situated at 4,807 metres above sea level. Chamonix also acts as an extremely popular base camp for all the types of alpinism activities that the mountain offers. Chamonix was the last place to grab any supplies, so we decided to have another fuel up at one of the local bakeries. Any opportunity to grab food or water was always taken, as there would be long stretches on the track that would be isolated from civilization. Making sure you are eating and drinking enough water is vital in a mission like this. The weather in the Alps can be extremely varied with scorching temperatures one day and fresh snow on the hills the next. However, we were lucky to be hitting a very settled weather window of clear skies and reasonably light winds. Even with us attempting this at the start of September, the tail end of summer, the temperatures were still hitting the early 30s at the peak of the day.

We made our way out of the hustle and bustle and onto the first bit of single track, following the river out of Chamonix for around an hour and a half until we reached the small village of Le Tour. With a chairlift to the top of the ridgeline, Le Tour gave us the only option for any lift assistance on the ride. After a quick discussion, we decided on the purest approach. Proceeding on led to our first big climb, starting on a steep 4WD track following directly under the chairlift. The loose gravel mixed with the gradient was relentless, where it was possible to ride up. It definitely had me rethinking the chairlift decision. Thankfully, the gradient mellowed as it began to zigzag on a harder packed base into the alpine land where local farmers were using the hillsides for summer grazing. The constant ringing of the bells on the cattle added to the atmosphere. Reaching the ridgeline, we approached our first border crossing into Switzerland. This was nonchalantly signified by a tombstone marking the French and Swiss sides of the ridge. No passport checks here. The ridgeline also signified the first downhill of the day. We dropped into a tight rutty-but-flowy singletrack that funnelled us down to the valley below. The flowy meander then switched into an abrupt, increasingly technical drop down to the valley floor. The series of switchbacks would be difficult enough on a normal day’s riding, let alone with us carrying all this gear. As you can imagine, a large descent meant more climbing.

As we pressed up the valley, we switched between singletrack and 4WD roads at a reasonably relaxed gradient. After a couple of river crossings – over some more than questionable wooden bridges – the track began to tighten and become extremely rough. This proceeded for roughly an hour’s hike-a-bike session until the next ridge. We knew these sections were on the TMB as the entire track is advertised to be just 80% rideable. As the sun was setting behind the surrounding hills, we traversed down to the next valley where we tried to find somewhere for dinner. In the small town of Champex-Lac, we parked up at the only restaurant that appeared to be open, right on the shore of the lake. In classic Swiss fashion, we tucked into probably the most expensive chicken burger I’ve ever had but, at that point of the day, money wasn’t something I was worried about. With the last of the day’s light, we made a last push to get another few kilometres down into the next valley before we reached a freshly constructed playground and picnic area. This turned out to be the perfect camp for the night. Clean public toilets and a covered awning to keep away the dew felt luxurious.

The day’s first climb started similar to the day before with a nice ascent up 4WD trail, turning to singletrack the higher we went. In the earlier hours of the day, it felt like we were swarmed by the large number of hikers on the track; the TMB is one of the most popular long-distance walks in Europe, with a majority of its singletrack sections only having enough room for one walker or one biker. This meant there was a lot of giving way, which wasn’t exactly a bad thing as an extra breather made the climb more enjoyable. Entering back into the alpine altitude, the heat of the sun really started to beat down. Unfortunately, this climb was totally exposed and there was no tree cover to hide from the sun. Heat and sun stroke were always in the back of our minds, but we made it to the next ridgeline without issue. This ridge also marked our next border crossing into Italy. “Bonjour” suddenly changed to “Ciao”.

The view into the distance now added a new factor to the vista of Mont Blanc. On the Italian side, the many glaciers that hug the higher points of the mountain are more prominent and visible. However, also visible is the amount they have receded back up the mountain, with bare rocky gullies exposing spots once inhabited by glaciers. A quick inhaling of food and we dropped off into the next valley. This is where things got a bit spicy for me. The previous day, I had felt my back brake starting to fade but didn’t think too much of it. When I started to drop into the Italian valley it was pulling straight to the handlebar and after vigorous pumping I was unable to get any bite out of the brake. On closer inspection I could see brake fluid pouring out of my lever and that I must have blown a seal or two. Inconvenient was an understatement. With no bike shop on the route I decided to just run the one front brake for the rest of the trip. Cautiously making it down, I chose to forgo the next section of trail and boost down the access road to save time and rendezvous with Fynn in the town of Courmayeur for lunch. Luckily avoiding the Italian business siesta, we refuelled, and feeling that I was falling behind on the pace I set out first to try and get a head start. Completing the TMB requires a small amount of navigational skills as you can ride large sections of the route without seeing any track markers. These track markers are shown by either a green or yellow square with the TMB logo on the inside. However, in my overheating and fatiguing state, I managed to not consult my map and rode for roughly an hour up the valley on the wrong side of a massive river. Frustratingly, I was forced to backtrack to the only way to cross the river. This rookie error had put me roughly two hours behind Fynn. After a frantic late afternoon push to make up ground, I found myself traversing a ski field with the sun setting in the distance. Fortunately, I came across one of the many refuges scattered across the Alps and made the call to try and get a bunk for the night. These refuges are manned 24 hours of the day in the summer and often have a fully staffed kitchen. The roast beef, peas, carrots and a selection of local bread and cheeses definitely helped me forget about the mishap of a few hours earlier.

The climb then reached its peak, and we headed over our final border crossing back into France. Standing on the ridgeline gave us the best views of the entire ride; a full 360 degree of European alpine excellence.

Also a treat was the following descent, which was definitely the most flowy and playful downhill of the trip. We approached the township of Les Chapieux where we made a quick stop for lunch. Although a traditional French quiche and salad was not exactly the most ideal endurance fuel, we made do and pressed on to the most gruelling climb on the loop. We nicknamed it “Le Doozy” – 1000 metres of climbing over 8kms of distance. The grade of the trail began too steep to ride, so pushing or carrying your bike was the only option. In the heat of the sun it was pure punishment but reaching the top gave us an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Following a couple of rock garden scrambles, we were treated to a 20km descent through varying terrain. The drop in altitude felt never-ending until we finally hit the town of Les Contamines- Montjoie. By this point, I was personally flogged and could feel the dreaded bonk beginning to set in. In a speedy trip to the supermarket for some kai, a couple cans of Coke and a bag of lollies combined to keep the bonk at bay … for now.

At this point, we only had one more climb and descent to go to complete the loop. In my fatigued state, I chose to take a route that followed a more paved road, whereas Fynn followed the marked TMB trail. This was a timesaving strategy, as again we were trying to work with the remaining daylight we had left. We managed to make it to the top of the last set of hills just as the sun had set. With one head torch and two phone lights we managed to navigate a series of overgrown walking trails that lead into the Les Houches bike park. I was in no mood to try and enjoy any of the bike park trails in the pitch black. Feeling close to exhaustion, we started to pass through the glow of street lights and all of a sudden we had returned back to the van, where we had set off two days earlier. Celebratory high fives were followed by a mandatory McDonald’s trip for a recovery feed and some reflection.

The Tour du Mont Blanc was a master class in character building mixed with some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever experienced on two wheels. Did Matt and the Specialized crew make it look easy? YES. But any type of adventure condensed into a seven minute edit is going to have its fair share of sugar coating. I can personally say the pain was worth it and I am stoked to have it ticked off my bucket list.