Why The Alps are cool in the summer too
Recharging her batteries on an E-bike tour in Verbier, Isabel Conway – undeterred by the Mamils (middle-aged men in Lycra) – finally discovers peak relaxation
The Mamils (middle-aged men in Lycra) resting on their race-cycle handlebars watch in astonishment while the marmots – little furry creatures occupying nearby rocks – are on hind legs, like cheering spectators, as I make my ‘superhuman’ uphill spurt on a twisty knife-edged Alpine track.
No, this isn’t a wild dream, induced by too much late-night cheese and wine or overloading on our own Dan Martin tackling those super tough gradients in the Tour de France.
Humming ‘I’ve got a tiger in my tank’ (that vintage catchy advert for Esso) I streak past the Mamils, about to remount, bulging calf muscles and paunch-free torsos evidence of a lifetime’s healthy living amid Switzerland’s Combins massif mountains. Sadly it’s not long though before my game is up. Ah yes, another mountain bike cheat.
I can almost hear a nut-brown Mamil snigger as he spots the bottle-shaped battery built into my snazzy powder blue cycle’s crossbar.
‘Nobody minds you taking advantage of a helping hand to make sure you get to the very top,’ Christophe from the Verbier bike rentals shop had said while introducing us to our E-bikes.
The E-bike , a form of pedal power that’s fast catching on as the ‘five-star comfort’ biking option in the Alps, allows those of ‘limited fitness’ to ascend heart-attack free to dizzy heights and spectacular panoramas.
A fit looking guy, Christophe confesses that he often opts for an E-bike rather than a traditional mountain model
when he feels like some exercise and wants to quickly recharge his own batteries ‘without arriving back at the shop soaked in sweat, exhausted and in need of a shower’.
After four-and-a-half hours in the saddle touring 50km of challenging tracks, enjoying the silence and pristine air – not to mention the wondrous views and glorious alpine pasture colours of summer – I want to vote the E-bike as the best mountain invention since the chairlift.
Trying not to blind us with science, Christophe points out buttons taking the bike from whisper-quiet ‘sport’ mode to a gentle whine for uphill ‘turbo’, stressing the importance of steady front and back wheel brake control on steep winding descents.
The bike’s frame and wheels are heavy compared with your average two-wheeler, which is a little daunting.
Pedalling unsteadily uphill (I’ve already forgotten to press turbo) we are heading to the gondola lift and upwards to Les Ruinettes at 2,200m.
I wobble next to a nervous looking pedestrian at a junction leading down to a few seriously grand chalets. What a relief that Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew – who own one of the properties – don’t happen to stroll up the hill at this very moment.
The town’s other celebrity residents include singer-songwriter James Blunt and Richard Branson, who owns The Lodge ski chalet, which ranks among Verbier’s classiest accommodation.
Verbier’s new marketing slogans ‘pure energy’ and ‘infinite playground’ are wooing visitors to the wintertime ski capital of the Valais, one of Europe’s smartest resorts.
Renowned for challenging onand off-piste skiing, Verbier also wants people to know how much there is to experience – from chill to thrill – after the snows melt. The new Verbier Infinite Playground (VIP) pass encourages visitors to see the region as a year-round destination and take advantage of off-peak deals.
The pass includes pedestrian access to mountain lifts, complimentary tours of Verbier’s old village, hikes and deals on sporting activities, allowing the more than 1,000km of mountain bike trails and 950km of footpaths to take centre stage.
The hardcore thrill-seekers in our group are roped together, inching along a ridge taking them to the summit of Mont Fort at 3,300m, while us E-bikers enjoy the tranquillity of high alpine pastures and admire the Herens cows, a black-haired breed whose milk contributes to the famous Bagnes Raclette cheese.
The females are surprisingly aggressive, locking horns and fiercely fighting to topple their leader ‘queen’ off her throne.
Cow fights are a popular mass event down the valley, attended by thousands of spectators, with champion bovine fighters sold for huge sums.
Andras Szecskay, a Hungarianborn ski instructor and mountain bike guide of Singletrail (singletrailverbier.com) shows us some of the best tracks high above the tree line on Verbier’s outskirts.
On a second ascent we take trails pointing to La Croix-de-Coeur, passing an outdoor photo exhibition, sculptures and the perfect photo opportunity – posing inside a timber picture frame, with valleys and stunning peaks stretching into infinity behind us.
Before the day’s final descent there’s a chance for adrenalinefuelled speeding – one of our riders is clocking up 50km/h using nonassisted pedal power – the norm travelling downhill.
We have a welcome rest and a wonderful big lunch at restaurant La Croix-de-Coeur, enjoying great organic food and stupendous views.
Also on our ‘chill’ programme is a visit to Verbier’s Cheese Co-Op Dairy to see how the famous flavoursome Raclette is made.
There’s even a vending machine outside the shop for any out-ofhours cheese emergencies! We’re in efficient Switzerland, so there’s little chance of coins becoming stuck or the machine running out of product.
What could be more chilled than a spot of wild plant foraging followed by yoga up the mountain in Verbier’s ‘infinite playground’, as our more exuberant companions set off on an onerous 15km hike to the Corbassiere Glacier, crossing the vertigo sufferer’s ultimate nightmare – a 190m steel bridge.
It’s my first stab at foraging and the array of edible wild food out there is astonishing.
‘Foraging keeps you in touch with nature, connecting you with history and an existence many of us today are disconnected from,’ says our mountain guide, Cherries Ussher von Maur.
Her Gourmet Gathering tour is a two-hour combination of stroll and forage above La Tzoumaz, viewing beautiful scenery along
‘No, this isn’t a wild dream, induced by too much late-night cheese and wine’
marked trails winding in and out of forests of pine, larch and Norwegian spruce.
Arriving at the charming nature centre and restaurant Maison de La Foret, we learn how to turn what we’ve foraged – from stinging nettles and hogweed to yarrow and wild spinach – into a threecourse lunch.
We use colourful edible flowers – including daisies, wild geranium, lady’s mantle, fire weed and clover petals – to decorate our starters, slicing and chopping to create a dish whose main ingredient is a pesto mixture fortified with curd cheese.
This is spread on brown bread and is followed by cous-cous with wild spinach, hogweed and more iron-enriched greens.
Our stewed wild rhubarb makes a tasty dessert.
I would be lying to say this equals the delicious food we’ve already enjoyed in Verbier’s eclectic range of eateries, including the five-star Chalet d’Adrien, a grilled meat feast at Du Vieux Verbier, the Italian-themed Chez Scalco and La Croix-de-Coeur, which serves local Swiss specialities.
But it’s good to know there is such a thing as a ‘free lunch’ – and it turns out to be much tastier than you might expect. And learning about the edible and medicinal plants we discovered on our ‘cooking weeds’ field trip was truly fascinating.
For the ultimate ‘chill’ the outdoor yoga classes at 2,345m with Manchester-born Kirstin Robertson of Wholeycow fits the bill perfectly.
On a wooden platform at Savoleyres, overlooking the 4 Valleys, the highest peak of Mont Fort in the distance, we are taken through the most relaxing yoga session on the planet, synchronising our breath and movement.
As Kirstin explains, it’s about ‘gaining a heightened awareness of our bodies and our connection to the ground’.
When the hour-long Vinyasa Yoga session ends, blissfully chilled, intoxicated by all that fresh air and agreeably stretched after the exertions of our hikes, I am now filled with ‘pure energy’, mentally floating off the mountain top, without as much as an E-bike in sight.
isabelconwaynagel@gmail.com