Challenge Stu

Living out here in the Alps, we've been watching the coverage of this fantastic summer of sport in French. Watching TV with subtitles is a great way to try and learn a language, and "il n'a pas les jambes aujourd'hui" is a phrase I saw during the coverage of the Tour de France. It translates directly to the English phrase "He just hasn't got the legs today", and as I climbed Mont de la Grange yesterday I felt it summed up my day. I was attempting the so-called Chatel 3 Peaks. I'm sure this has been tried by lots of people, but I heard about it from a chap called Darren, who made a little video . The idea is to climb the three largest and most famous peaks in the Chatel area as quickly as possible. The three mountains are Dent D'Oche (2221m), Cornettes du Bise (2432m) and Mont de la Grange (also 2432m). Darren and those before him started from various places near the first summit, but I decided to try to run the route as a loop from Chatel. ...

Since we arrived in Chatel, every time I've driven, run or walked either down the valley towards Lac Leman or over into Switzerland I have been hit in the face by the view of a stunning line of mountains - the Dents du Midi. Dents du Midi from the Col de Portes du Soleil The Dents du Midi are a line of seven "teeth of noon" - from east to west (left to right in the photo) Cime de l'Est, La Fortresse, La Cathedral, La Eperon, Dent Jaune, Les Doigts and Haute Cime ranging in height from 3114m to 3259m. Fortunately, the tallest is Haute Cime, which has a convenient ridge running off to the west which allows it to be climbed without the need for full alpinism. Haute Cime Once I realised this a plan formed and I decided to try to run from Chatel to the little campsite at Grand Paradis, near Champery, where the climb begins, then climb the mountain and return in a day. The climb is normally attempted either in a day from Grand Paradis, or in two days using the R...

After our winter in the Trois Vallees ski area, Lorna and I are now spending the summer in Chatel, in the Portes du Soleil area. It’s a great ski area, but more importantly at the moment a fantastic summer area. We’ve settled in to our little apartment (read bedsit), which for seasonnaire accommodation is actually pretty huge. As soon as we arrived I started to dream of running around the stunning mountains and ridges surrounding Chatel, and after about two weeks of living here I even found a race to enter! The first of many I hope, and even better it was supported by Scott, so it must be good! Here’s a quick blog about it… “Trail des cretes du Chablais” translates as “Trail of the ridges of the Chablais region”. There were three races on offer, an 18km (1200m ascent), 42km (2900m ascent), and the monster “Le Contrabandier” race, with 5600m ascent over 76km. I don’t think I’ve ever actually entered a race with more ascent. The route would take us from Chatel south toward...

After returning from the Alps in April, Lorna and I have spent the month of May in the UK. We had a fantastic weekend up in Scotland with my family to begin with, and since then we've been generously hosted by my Sister-in-law, her partner and our new baby neice, in Herefordshire. It's been a great month of chilling out, drinking beer with excellent people, barbeques, gardening and fence building, learning about babies, and a decent amount of running and bike riding. Tayvallich However, while in the UK I also had some serious business to attend to. In 1991 a man called Pete Simpson set out to run a route joining the Dark Peak 15 trigs (the 15 trig points included on the original KIMM map from 1985(I think)) with the 11 trigs from the subsequent White Peak map, into a continuous route similar, in theory, to the Bob Graham round. Though the 15 trigs is reasonably well known and is completed by a fair few people each year, Pete's 23:49 completion of the 26 remains the o...

At the end of March, there were still a few things on my "to do this season" list, so in the last few weeks of the season I've been busy ticking most of them off. We're now back in the UK, so it will soon be time to start a new list for the summer season. I'm really excited about the summer - we're going to be working for Alpine Quests, helping to run three chalets in Chatel, in the Portes du Soleil area. The area is probably the most famous mountain biking region in the Alps so I'm planning to do plenty of riding as well as running. We should have plenty of time off so I can hopefully get really fit and also do some racing. Team Accelerate-Scott are continuing to support me which is fantastic, I aim to pay back their generosity with some good results and publicity over the summer season! So, for now, here are a few photos of the last few "ticks"... 10th April: "Do a race" I ran the Defi la Olympe race, from Brides les Bains t...

When we arrived in La Combe I was quickly inspired by the mountains around us and made lots of little plans in my head - I wanted to run up all the peaks around us, and then what about a "La Combe Skyline", or a long one up the valley from Moutiers, and lots more plans... The season started and the early lack of snow meant I did manage to get up quite a few of the nearby summits, but there were two that always evaded me, and after a few weeks, when snow did eventually arrive, they were unfortunately too dangerous to try. Since January I have been unable to look at these two mountains, Creve Tete and Pointe de Diallant, without wondering whether I would be able to get up them before we leave La Combe. I should point out that in summer neither is particularly challenging, yes they both involve about 1500m of ascent each and the summit ridges are a slightly precipitous, but we're not talking mountaineering and I'm sure they are regularly climbed in summer! In winter they...

There are a few reasons for this post... Firstly, it's been ages - though looking at most running blogs, most posts start with the immortal words "It's been a while since I've written anything", so that's maybe not a surprise! Secondly, I'm feeling slightly smug today after a great run out in the mountains around the Belleville valley. The reason I'm smug is that I, for once, was slightly sensible and turned back when the conditions told me to, rather than getting into the sort of situation I described  here . Must be getting old. As I've mentioned, Lorna and I are currently running a ski chalet in the Belleville valley. It's a fantastic place to live and work, but it is sometimes hard work and the days are often long, with running and skiing stuck in wherever possible. Thursday, however, is our day off, so inevitably this has become my "long run" day. A normal Thursday begins with a mental battle between taking the opportunity for ...