Glacier Plaine Morte –Col Rawil –Lac du Rawil –Sion

After a7am start in Chamonix,it’s time to load up the trailer andhead out to Crans Montana, Switzerlandto ride the Plaine Morte.Plaine Morteis an epic trail that follows an ancientbisse/aquaductall the wayto the valley floor, ending in the town of Sion in the Swiss Valais.

Getting to the summit involvessome logisticsbut multiple cable cars and a few hours later we are stood at almost 3000m,next to the Glacier Plaine Morte roughly translated as the dead flatglacier.Unfortunately the atmospheric cloud we ascended through managed to blocktheincredibleviewwe’d been promised!

Fortunately, we weren’t just here for the views and after a quick flowy, rocky single track ride to warm up we were straight in to the only uphill/hike a bike section of day – with 44km of descending ahead of us, a short climb was to be expected.

This trail definitely isn’t for the faint hearted, with steep committing chutes to descend, but the amazing surroundings help to take your mind off the tech.

By the time we reached Lac Plan des Roses the cloud was clearing so we took the chance to stop for a speedy lunch. With more than 2,000m of descending still ahead of us we kept it quick and cracked on.

Leaving the loose rocky tech behind us we entered the high alpine pasture, which is less steep and a lot more flowy and fun. The beautiful Barrage de Tesuzier lies ahead and then s the fun really begins.

The bisse takes us over sketchy bridges and through small caves where a good head for heights is vital - did I mention the ride involves some via ferrata? ;-)

Hike-a-biking through a network of caves definitely adds to the adventure and is actually a more recent addition to the trail - health and safety thought it might be a good idea to bring these walk/aqua ways in to the mountainside rather than tacked on to the cliffs.

After navigating the caves it’s back out into the trees, with blue skies above us and some amazingly fast singletrack under our wheels.