It seems incredible that I’ve reached this point already,
but my summer working season is finished! Instead of it being spread out with
some holidays in between like last year, this year has been pretty much full-on
since late May, and boy is my body telling me its ready for a rest.
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| Pushing up high in the Roya valley (photo: Ian Robertson) |
Guiding for a full season is hard. Hard on your body, and mentally
too…..being responsible for an excitable bunch of strangers let loose on steep,
exposed, remote mountain terrain week after week is the most tiring part of the
job. There are always a few who don’t know their limits, don’t respect the environment
we’re in, or forget to leave their egos at home…those are the ones to whom accidents
are waiting to happen, no matter how much you try and help them stay safe. Of
course there’s always the unlucky few who aren’t like that at all, and are just
unlucky….crashing is part of mountain biking, and most of us who’ve been doing
it for long enough will at some point have had some big ones. My French skills
have been tested pretty thoroughly this year, with quite a number of calls to
the Pompiers (French mountain rescue/fire brigade/ambulance service all in one…).
Whenever someone has an accident, you question afterwards
whether as a guide you could have done anything different….were the trails too
difficult, was the speed too fast, were the right briefings at the trailhead
given, did you do everything you could have done to make the ride as safe as
possible? And then after the accident, did you stay calm, did you handle the
situation well, did you do everything right, could you do anything better next
time? I like to think I did OK, and the accidents that happened occurred despite
me doing everything I could to avoid them…still, I’ve learnt things from all of
the incidents to take away, and thankfully all those involved are OK.
My week of guiding in the central Alps on Ben Jones’ Morzine
to Alpe d’Huez trip was fantastic. I was working with Chris, someone who I’d
worked with on lots of TP weeks last year, and it’s always fun working with
him.
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| Haute Savoie scenery! |
Our group were a bunch of Norwegians and a couple from Britain, Fiona and
John, who were all good riders, and up for an adventure….which was a good job
given the weather on the first 2 days! Both Chris and I ended up doing a
significant amount of blind guiding, having to change the planned itinerary
because of storms and torrential rain. Both of us are pretty comfortable with
this and have done a fair bit of it, but it can lead to some pretty stressful
days, essentially taking guests into completely unknown terrain and hoping it’ll
be fun and safe! We seemed to carry it off ok and found some great little
tracks, although to be honest, when you are high up on an open slope, traversing
under pylons and cables from ski lifts, and there is lightening jumping between
clouds above you, and torrential hail bombarding you, any trail that gets you
down and to shelter as quick as possible is a good one!
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| John ignoring the big drop to the left whilst shredding down another great trail. |
Fortunately the weather
improved the rest of the week, and we got to show the lucky guests the awesome
trails we’d discovered whilst recce-ing. There were big smiles all round and
comments of how some of the riding was the best they’d ever done from some of
the group….I can’t wait to guide this trip again next summer!
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| Lars admiring the view to Les Deux Alpes before riding the beautiful singletrack balcony trail shown. |
The following week I spent in Orpierrie, a pretty little
village in Haute Provence, that is surrounded by huge crags, and is one of my
favourite places to sport-climb in France. I spent many long summers climbing
here with Gareth and friends when I was a student, and the place is full of
happy memories of long summer days, climbing hard routes, but also sunbathing,
swimming, chilling out on the campsite drinking coffee and playing on
slacklines. It’s a sleepy little place, quiet, beautiful, and it automatically
makes me feel calm and relaxed here.
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| Le Quiquillon, standing guard above Orpierre |
I managed to persuade good friends Jo and
Simon and their awesome kids Ellie and Jessie (aka Team Chaos) to spend a week
of their summer holidays here this year, and together with another climbing
friend Jonny, we rented a beautiful little gite on the edge of the village. The
week was a perfect break from guiding…lots of climbing, swimming and sunbathing,
a moonlit bbq and night time swim at the reservoir, sitting out at night after good
meals, stargazing and drinking too much red wine, getting tunes from High
School Musical stuck in our heads all day after listening to Ellie and Jessie
singing them non-stop (don’t ask…I’m still singing them now!). A good time was
had by all, and although like anywhere I go that has memories of time spent
with Gareth, there were moments where I felt huge waves of sadness that he
couldn’t be there with us, or I’d have flashbacks of him climbing certain
routes, or particular memories that reminded me of incidents or moments from
past trips, I know it’s somewhere I’ll always feel his presence really strongly
because of all those happy memories. It was somewhere that was a special place
to both of us, and I know he’d have been really pleased that I could share it
with other friends, and that they loved it too. Despite not having climbed much
at all this year, or last, I must somehow have channelled Gareth’s strength and
skill too, as I managed to drag myself up some routes that I wouldn’t have
thought I was climbing well-enough to get up!
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| Orpierre seen from near the top of the Quiquillon |
It was straight back to Sospel after this trip, and another
2 fun weeks of guiding. Great guests, including friends Dan, Jim, Chloe and
Andy, who helped me with some much needed bike maintenance that would have
taken me weeks to try and do alone, more good trails, and plenty of laughter
and good times meant the weeks flew by.
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| Jazz Hands! (Except Dan and Martin, who were obviously far too cool for that!) |
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| Dan shralping round a switchback above Tende |
Having managed to convince Jonny he wanted a return trip to
Orpierre, once the guiding finished it was back to climbing for 2 weeks there. It
was great to spend a bit more time climbing again, feeling more confident and
comfortable on the rock, enjoying the sensation of moving freely and pushing
yourself to climb steeper or more technical routes. Although nowhere near the
level I used to climb when I was doing it regularly, I still love it, no matter
what level of routes I’m climbing. It’s hard to describe, but it just feels
natural to look at a rock face, pick out features and want to climb up. The
engaging nature of climbing, where you are totally absorbed in what you are
doing, the problem-solving needed to figure out a way to move your body
smoothly and efficiently using the holds available, the sensation you get when
you accomplish that and perform a move well, as well as the being outside, in a
beautiful, quiet place, watching swifts diving round the top of the crag,
hearing the church clock in the village chime each hour, with the temperature of
the sun, the daylight hours available, and the fatigue in your arms being the
only limits to how long you climb for. You can’t beat it.
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| The striking line of Le Traversee des Ammonites |
We spent time at
other crags too, Sisteron, where I climbed a brilliant route with no holds,
just a thin seam of fossils to tiptoe along a rising diagonal traverse, and Ceuse,
one of the most impressive looking bits of rock in a country full of impressive
rocks!
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| Ceuse seen in the evening light from the bottom of the walk-in. |
Ceuse sits high at over 1500m, an imposing crag of immaculate rock, with
some of the most famous, and intimidating looking climbs in the world. Famous
for hard routes, spaced bolting meaning scary run-outs, and routes that are
hard for their grade, and one of the longest walk-ins for a sport crag anywhere!
It’s a seriously impressive and beautiful place though, with incredible views,
and great climbing, and if you treat the walk in as you would for a big day out
on a mountain or alpine crag, it’s really not too bad (though I wouldn’t want
to do it every day for longer trips.)
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| Jonny looks up at the impressive line of 'Realization' 9a+ |
So now I’m back in Sospel, with less than a week to the
start of the TP race…eek! After hearing from Ash’s partner Melissa that
everyone will HATE Ash by midway through day 2, I am even more nervous than I
was before! However, I’ve done lots of tough things before, and know that I’m
fit enough for the challenge, and also pretty good mentally at just putting my
head down and getting on with it when the going gets tough…often what is
required on events like this! To be honest, it’s not the overall physicality of
the event that frightens me, it’s the racing down trails that although I know I
can ride perfectly well, racing down them and getting to the bottom in one
piece is a completely different matter!
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| Looking forward to discovering new trails in beautiful places during the TP race... |
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| And hopefully still smiling as much as this at the bottom of each trail! |
I’m also really excited though, about
riding with a fun group of people, meeting more friends, pushing myself, seeing
old friends from last year…. My bike has been rejuvenated with new forks, shock
and bearings, and wheels….thanks to much help from Dan, Andy, Jim and Chloe,
without whom I would still be trying to sort all of the above! So now it’s just
a matter of waiting for the race to start!
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| Rejuvenated bike ready to race! |
It’s a really pretty time of year in the south of France…with
the feel of summer, as the sun beats down each day and you have to seek shade
in the middle of the day, or an afternoon swim in the river to cool off, yet
the leaves changing colour and falling from the trees like its autumn.
Blackberries and figs ripe in the hedgerows, the grass scorched with an end of
summer look to it, and the crunch of dry leaves under your tyres on the trails.
It’s still light until 8 in the evening too and the nights are not yet cold. I
like this late summer time, which we often seem to miss in Britain, where
summer turns quickly to autumn and cooler, wetter temperatures and shorter
days. I’m soaking up as much sunshine as possible, ready for a return to the UK
in a couple of weeks!
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| Late summer evening sunshine |
I was starting to get nervous a few weeks ago, about not
having winter plans sorted….but then I reminded myself that sometimes it’s best
not to have a plan….and since then some exciting opportunities have arisen!
More on those in time, but it’s safe to say I’ll be collecting a few more
airmiles this winter as I journey to new places and new adventures!
Right, time to do some more relaxing and resting up ready
for the race, wish me luck!!
