Post by Mary on August 4, 2023
Jamie kicked-off the 2023 Alpine season with an Enduro race at the Vélo Vert Festival in Samoens. Just to make it more challenging he rode his hand-built Selwyn hardtail – one of only two hardtails in the race. Jamie just missed out on the podium in his age category, finishing in fourth place. He was very happy with the result as he wanted to showcase just how well bike-builder Alexander Plaisted’s bikes can ride even the most extreme terrain. Alex has recently quit his day job to focus full time on building bikes so if you’re interested in a hand-built frame, drop him a line. Samoens will be hosting the Velo Vert Festival for one more year in 2024 from 31st May to 2nd June. It’s a fantastic celebration of mountain biking and definitely worth a visit if you want an early season trip to the Alps.
Later on in June, we welcomed back George and his group of friends for a 40th birthday celebratory long weekend of riding. George first rode with us when he was in his early twenties with his Dad, Simon. They have both ridden several of our trips together over the past two decades. Simon has now retired from Alpine mountain biking but George is keeping the family tradition going. He’s thinking of bringing his kids out for a multi-activity holiday next year. It’s a real privilege to be able to ride with several generations of the same family.
Jamie welcomed back another group of previous guests on a guided Eiger Tour at the end of June. Jamie hadn’t ridden the route for a couple of years so he’s was excited to rediscover the trails. As always, the night up at Hotel Wildstrubel on the Gemmi Pass was a highlight. I don’t think you could have a more stunning location for a mountain hotel. Jamie is keen to improve the last 2 days of the trip and we’re changing the last night accommodation to another stunning mountain hotel with views of the Eiger. We’re going to test it out as a family this autumn. If you’d like to try out the improved route in 2024, get in touch.
July has been a month of new guests. James and Mike were Alpine first timers and had a fantastic week of centre-based riding in and around our beautiful Giffre valley. They finished the week with the spectacular route up and over the Col d’Anterne, descending over 2000m back to the door of our holiday apartment. This week Jamie completed our first Chamonix to Zermatt tour of the season with another new group. It’s still his favourite point-to-point trip of them all and he never tires of riding it.
Now it’s time for our mid-season break so we’re off with the kids to explore Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada. We’ll be hiking, kayaking and most likely a bit of biking too!
In late August and September Jamie will be back guiding another Chamonix to Zermatt, a Tour du Mont Blanc and then our first ever Briancon to the Mediterranean trip with one of our regular groups. They rode the first stage of the Summit to Sea ride – Chamonix to Briancon – last year and they’re coming back for part two. The TMB will be the last of our trips that were postponed due to Covid so it will feel very good to finally draw a line under that period of recent history.
We’re already taking bookings for 2024 so please do get in touch if you already have a group and a trip in mind.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!