France's Cosmiques Couloir is a steep 45-degree, 800m-high, 10m-wide gulley pinched between towering cliffs. I've ridden it once before, on a snowboard, and I can safely say I'll never do that again. It was a sphincter-tightening episode that required ice axes and hope in equal measure in fact, just the kind of 'jolly' day out that's long been putting Chamonix on the map for folk looking to prove something. But I have nothing to prove anymore. If I can finish a descent on a bike or a snowboard without injury and with a smile on my face, then I'm happy.
Now, a decade later, I'm standing with fellow mountain bikers Ludo May, an ex-Enduro World Series racer who represents new Swiss bike brand SCOR, and Jez Wilson, an ex-pat Brit, alongside a derelict cable car station bathed in autumn colours, looking up at the ignominious ice-choked chute that was once the source of so much angst. Thankfully, today's focus is on dirt rather than ice. At our feet lies 1,400 vertical metres of writhing alpine singletrack. Our route bounds down the mountainside in as straight a line as it can get away with, throwing in just a handful of tiny wiggles in more than an entire vertical kilometre, as if sketched on the map by someone with a pen they know is about to run out of ink.
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GRIME TIME - EXPERT WORKSHOP ADVICE
WHEELY ANNOYING
TRAILCREW HAFOD TRAILS
We discover the delights of Wales's newest bike park, located deep in beautiful Carmarthenshire
BIKETEST ULTIMATE HIRE BIKES
We test three park-cum-DH rigs - the kind of bikes available in holiday spots like Morzine and Whistler, as well as uplift venues closer to home
SCOTT GAMBLER 910 - £4,399 A bike park-ready budget beater worth taking a chance on
This latest iteration of Scott's long-standing Gambler launched in 2019.
THE MANY FACES OF MOUNTAIN BIKING
WE HIT THE ARIZONA DESERT AS PART OF A HUGE FEMALE-LED GROUP RIDE THAT PUTS THE FOCUS ON FUN AND FRIENDSHIP
PARIS HERE WE COME!
With the 2024 Olympics in France fast coming around, we take a quick dive into the history of mountain biking at the Games, plus explain what to expect, how to watch and who to keep an eye on this year
TRANSITION SPUR XO AXS - £7,999 Can the smallest of revisions keep Transition's downcountry demon at the top of the pile?
Transition's Spur has set the benchmark for downcountry bikes since its release in 2020.
MARIN ALPINE TRAIL E2 BOSCH - £6,385 Big-battery, high-powered e-MTB for gravity fans at a (relatively) affordable price
The Alpine Trail E Bosch is Marin's first e-MTB to use a four-bar linkage suspension design and a non-Shimano motor.
PINARELLO DOGMA XC - £12,000 Designed by and for Elite racers, with a ride feel to match
STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX & ONTO THE TRAILS
MBUK SUPER BIKE - #128 MATT WALKER'S SARACEN MYST
The British national downhill champ has a new ride for the 2024 race season