Friday, June 17, 2005
Seuil Loop
The micro ski station of the Col du Marcieu looks like a good starting point for a number of routes. Unfortunately the track just after the resort on the left crosses a private hunting ground with lots of warning signs. Knowing French hunter's penchant for shooting anything that moves I decided not to explore futher in this direction.
The Seuil Loop starts fromt the carpark at the Col de Marcieu and heads in the direction of the St Bernard reservoir, intially crossing the hamlet of St Michel on a dirt road. After a couple of switchbacks a path climbs to the right (1km), don't follow this but continue straight on. At 3km the track crosses the walking path of the Tour des Petites Roches, this is a bit steep. Keep going another 500 meters and a forest road leads off to the right, take this and you immediately backtrack on a route that more or less follows the contour of the slope. The track can be muddy in or immediately after wet weather (damn Chartreuse mud!). The track drops down to the top of the Marcieu drag lifts. Just after take a track that leads down to the right, turn left ignoring the track that leads back to the pistes. You now join a nice singletrack. There are some technical bits but nothing that should force a moderate rider to dismount. The track crosses the ski pistes to rejoin the road above St Michel.
Climbing: 337m
Descent: 337m
Distance: 6.6km
Time: 1h00
Route on Bivouak.net:
Boucle du Seuil
The Seuil Loop starts fromt the carpark at the Col de Marcieu and heads in the direction of the St Bernard reservoir, intially crossing the hamlet of St Michel on a dirt road. After a couple of switchbacks a path climbs to the right (1km), don't follow this but continue straight on. At 3km the track crosses the walking path of the Tour des Petites Roches, this is a bit steep. Keep going another 500 meters and a forest road leads off to the right, take this and you immediately backtrack on a route that more or less follows the contour of the slope. The track can be muddy in or immediately after wet weather (damn Chartreuse mud!). The track drops down to the top of the Marcieu drag lifts. Just after take a track that leads down to the right, turn left ignoring the track that leads back to the pistes. You now join a nice singletrack. There are some technical bits but nothing that should force a moderate rider to dismount. The track crosses the ski pistes to rejoin the road above St Michel.
Climbing: 337m
Descent: 337m
Distance: 6.6km
Time: 1h00
Route on Bivouak.net:
Boucle du Seuil
permalink posted by davidof : 11:23 am
MyYahoo