Bikepacking around the Combin – Tour des Combins

I ask myself whether the tarp was such a smart idea as the mosquitoes start attacking. With a proper tent, you could just close it behind you and the pests would remain outside. But to save weight, we only have a tarp with us as protection against the rain. And to be honest, mosquitoes were not what I expected at an altitude of 2,300 metres. But apparently the small shallow lake where we’re camping is still a good breeding ground, even this high up. When we arrived here on our bikes a few hours ago, though, there was no sign of them at all.

Best multi-day tour in Switzerland

It’s the first evening on our tour around the Grand Combin. Signposted as the ‘Tour des Combins’, the route leads around the massif once, with its trio of 4,000-metre peaks. Half of the route lies in the Italian region of Aosta and the other half in the Valais. The Tour des Combins is shorter and involves less elevation gain than the Tour du Mont-Blanc, for example, which is only a few kilometres further northwest. But the Combin is much less crowded. Hikers walk the 120 kilometres in six days. By bike, it takes three. The tour is considered one of the best multi-day MTB tours in Switzerland.

But back to the mosquitoes. We’re actually ready for our sleeping bags after the first 40 kilometres, but we’d have to crawl the whole way into them to avoid being bitten. We opt for some brief refuge and walk a few metres to a small ridge, hoping for some wind and some peace and quiet. Half an hour later, it’s seemingly too dark for the little pests and we venture back to our camp.

The next morning we only catch the sun briefly while we mix muesli with powdered milk and water. Dark clouds roll in from the direction of the Combin. Today we’re tackling the pinnacle stage. We want to complete two passes. We can just about see the top of the first pass before it also fills with clouds. We want to cross over the Fenêtre de Durand from Italy into the Valais. The 2,797-metre-high pass is the top point and key section of the tour. Since we’re travelling fairly early in the year, at the beginning of June, snow is still lying up there.

When we leave camp, the rain is almost upon us and it’s rapidly getting cooler. What began yesterday as a midsummer tour now seems two notches more uncomfortable. I pull my gloves and hat out of my saddle bag and put on my long waterproof trousers and my hardshell jacket to ward off the cold wind. At the same time, the trail climbs so steeply that I practically had my own steam bath under my waterproofs. But it’s soon time to stop cycling. The path vanishes into the snow. At first we push up the old snow fields in a series of switchbacks, but the bikes keep slipping sideways. If you’re standing unsteadily in the snow yourself, and then your fully loaded bike starts to slide, you have to really concentrate not to slide back down into the valley together.

We opt to climb up in a direct line so we can hold the bikes a bit better. You might ask why we don’t carry the bikes straight away. Well, each one is packed with a handlebar roller, a frame bag and a saddle bag, which doesn’t make it any easier to carry. Anyway, the rain clouds move on quickly and the terrain flattens out at some point. The last few metres to the pass are even free of snow.

Snow at the Fenêtre de Durand

At the top, however, my fears are confirmed: on the Swiss side, the trail disappears under the snow again. The first kilometre into the valley we have to push. But it’s downhill and the sun is out again. And we get ample reward for our efforts with what comes next. A single trail where we had a good flow going initially before it got tougher later on takes us down into the Val des Bagnes. This is where it paid off having already spent a few days in Aosta. We had warmed up on the world-class trails in the area and also done a few laps in the bike park in Pila. So, we managed to get down here nicely, even with our loaded bikes.

At the end of the valley, we can already see the large Lac de Mauvoisin reservoir directly below the Giétroz glacier. As a result of climate change, the glacier tongue no longer hangs menacingly over the valley and the lake itself is protected by a 250-metre tall dam wall. Until the 19th century, glacier collapses repeatedly blocked the valley here and dammed up water, which then poured into the valley in huge flood waves. Even in Martigny, 40 kilometres away, people lost their lives. Once we reach the imposing dam wall, we switch to tarmac for the first time. Our luggage keeps the bikes firmly fixed to the road. The disc brakes and thick tyres give us far more confidence than on a racing bike and we really let rip on the downhill.

Into the restaurant without a shower

Just before Fionnay, right on the road, the Café de la Promenade with its red parasols beckons. It’s lunchtime, so we need to fill our water bottles anyway and could do with a change from just energy bars, so we sneak onto the terrace with the other guests, unshowered and dirty. Ordering food when hungry – this can only snowball. After several Valais starter platters with dried meat, salami and cheese, it’s time for spaghetti carbonara and polenta montagnarde. And for dessert, a slice of the tarte du jour. A real feast is had by all.

One thing I hadn’t considered: after lunchtime, the route leads back uphill and my bursting stomach is now dragging me down. I also realise that my legs haven’t clocked up quite as many training kilometres as my friends Niels and Benni. Benni, in particular, rides uphill with a relaxed face and has enough breath left to regularly report data from his Garmin. While we’re well informed about the current gradient in percentage and the metres of altitude still to be covered, my buddy Thomas and I just try to keep up with the rear wheels. Winding crank after winding crank, we snake our way up towards the Col de Mille. I happen to look to the opposite side of the valley. The place on the sunny slope looks familiar. A few bends in the forest road later, my somewhat undernourished brain has worked out that we must be opposite Verbier and its ski resort.

The second pass of the day also turns into a race to beat the weather. As we push the last few metres to the Col de Mille (2,473 m), we hear the first crash of a thunderstorm. Fortunately, the Cabane de Mille is located right on the pass. While guests inside are already being served aperitifs, we slip under the canopy. Once the thunderstorm has passed, we want to put some more kilometres behind us. It’s downhill again from here and it will be light for at least three more hours.

Somewhere behind the clouds we should be able to see the Mont Blanc area, but unfortunately not today. The lightning stops after half an hour, we fill our water bottles and set off again. We don’t actually get very far though. We all lost a bit of steam during the break. After eleven hours in the saddle riding 55 kilometres and just over 2,000 metres of elevation gain, our legs are drained. We set up our tarp at a small stream, cook a quick pasta meal and collapse into our sleeping bags.