Transalp E-Bike Valais - Aosta: the great crossing of the Alps, from the Simplon to Mont Blanc

Meet in Orsières, load the e-bikes into the Exo'bus, and as soon as you step out of the shuttle the crisp air of the Simplon Pass greets you at 2'000 m. Under the watchful eye of the hospice, founded on Napoleon's orders and run by the canons of the Great St Bernard, you begin your epic where the imperial road once ran between Brig and Domodossola. This Transalp takes the spirit of the classic Haute Route and pushes it further: more singletracks, more altitude, more nights up high, and a small group only.

This first day is a riding treat: you surf trails carpeted with larch needles and follow a historic bisse hanging above a wild valley, one of those irrigation channels the Valaisans have carved into the rock since the Middle Ages. It's flowy, it's beautiful, and it sets the tone: 2'300 m of descent to loosen the legs.

Night at a hotel at the foot of the pass, a briefing on battery management for the week, and a first Valais platter to mark the start.

The Exo'bus drops you on the heights of the Moosalp to get to the heart of the matter: today you hunt passes facing the Imperial Crown, those summits above 4'000 m, Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Obergabelhorn, Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, that guard the Valais. The terrain turns more mineral, the lines more technical, and the motor finally proves its worth on the alpine ramps.

At noon, recovery is taken seriously: Valais platter, dried meat and alpine cheese while the batteries recharge. The afternoon chains a second demanding climb before dropping into the Val d'Anniviers, the valley of glaciers and sun-blackened wooden villages.

In the evening you drop your bags at a legendary hotel, a Belle Époque gem perched at over 2'300 m above the valley, with the crown of 4'000-metre peaks as a backdrop to dinner. A place you don't forget.

A royal wake-up facing the glaciers, breakfast wolfed down on the hotel terrace, and you launch onto the dizzying balconies above the Val d'Anniviers, on the trail of the old mule paths. Then pure enduro: a forest descent where the switchbacks follow one another until your head spins.

A cultural stop in the old village of Grimentz with its centuries-old chalets, blackened facades, geraniums at the windows and glacier-wine cellars, then the lifts take you up towards the Corne de Sorebois. The showstopper: a drop-in at nearly 3'000 m above the turquoise waters of Lake Moiry, and a descent that leaves you speechless.

Tonight it's high-mountain hut atmosphere: dormitory, soup, starry sky, authentic and warm. The batteries sleep on the charger, you sleep like a log.

Heading west via the Val de Nendaz, along the high bisses and the pastures of the Rhône. Today you ride the sacred ground of Swiss mountain biking: the Verbier area, where some of the finest pages of Swiss enduro have been written, from the Verbier E-Bike Festival to Enduro World Series rounds.

Under the gaze of Mont-Fort and Mont-Gelé, you link technical traverses and committed descents. Here, motor management becomes an art to clear the steepest kickers without frying the battery, and the guide shares his settings.

The day ends in style on the terrace of a sumptuous hut perched at over 2'400 m, with the Combins massif on the horizon. Look into the distance: those Italian summits will be your playground tomorrow.

This morning, the sunrise over the Combins massif will stay etched in your memory. The adrenaline goes up a notch with an anthology descent, endless and varied, down to the floor of the Val de Bagnes.

After a short strategic shuttle along the Mauvoisin dam, one of the highest arch dams in the world, we tackle the big one: the climb to nearly 3'000 m to cross the border over a pass known only to smugglers and hikers. You then tip over into the Aosta Valley on wild trails, far from any civilisation, on a line the classic Haute Route doesn't cross.

At the refuge, the mood changes: creamy polenta, fontina, a singing accent and a glass of génépi to celebrate the feat. You've just crossed the Alps on an e-bike.

Today you ride on the roof of Europe. This route is a masterclass in alpine mountain biking: a succession of airy ridges where the slightest line error is forbidden, with Mont Blanc as an almost permanent backdrop. The ground is dry, the grip phenomenal, and the 50 km roll by without you noticing the hours.

In the Aosta Valley, a bilingual autonomous region where you're answered in French as readily as in Italian, the alpine pastures are dotted with medieval towers and stone villages. The day ends with a final descent to Courmayeur, mixing fast sections and technical rock-garden passages.

Italian comfort awaits for a well-deserved dolce vita evening: hotel, spritz, fresh pasta and Mont Blanc turning pink at sunset.

The grand finale: an XXL crossing between Italy and Switzerland in the majestic setting of the Val Ferret, beneath the Grandes Jorasses, that brings you back by the trails to Orsières, your starting point. This last day sums up your week: physical, technical and visually breathtaking, from flow trails to rough passages, you dig into your last reserves.

At the finish you're empty, but above all proud: you've just completed a Transalp that many thought impossible on an e-bike, 277 km, over 13'000 m of climbing and 17'000 m of descent between the Simplon and Mont Blanc: the great crossing of the Alps revisited, higher, longer and more exclusive than the Haute Route. You find your luggage at the starting point, the loop is closed, with a week of images in your head.

Ready to live the Transalp E-Bike Valais - Aosta? Small group, limited places: book yours and come join the elite of alpine crossings.