HIGH UP IN THE MOUNTAINS, TUCKED FAR AWAY THE LIFT-ACCESSED MCTHRILLS AND SPILLS, JUMPS AND BERMS of your usual alpine holiday, is a trail so ridiculous, so absurd and so arseclenchingly nadgery that it genuinely needs to be seen to be believed. I’ve watched a few pixelated YouTube videos of this particular trail, in a well-guarded location in France, and the soundtracks are a riot of shrieks, whoops and expletives, as numerous riders pit themselves against its outlandish features. Not even the best in the world would be able to ride the whole thing, it takes several hours to get there on top of a healthy dose of van uplift, and in places it’s so far beyond exposed that one false move would end in certain tragedy. So why the hell was I drawn to ‘Spineology’, and why am I so damn excited to finally get to ride it? I reckon a lot of it comes down to risk, and my relationship with it.
Just because
As a kid, while my mates were busy building jumps and hucking off whatever they came across,
