It was echoed from Salève, the Juras, and the Alps of Savoy; vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire; then for an instant everything seemed of a pitchy darkness, until the eye recovered itself from the preceding flash.

I thought of pursuing the devil; but it would have been in vain, for another flash discovered him to me hanging among the rocks of the nearly perpendicular ascent of Mont Saleve, a hill that bounds Plainpalais on the south.

Who could arrest a creature capable of scaling the overhanging sides of Mont Saleve?

The scarred Mont Salève looms large over Geneva. The quote above comes from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and describes when the monster has fled and climbs the steep sides of the Salève.

Every year a few hundred intrepid cyclists from Geneva and the surrounding region attempt to scale all 4 sides of the Salève in one ride, thankfully not usually during a thunderstorm, as the course is hard enough as it is.

The day begins in Cruseilles, and we pick up our dossards as early as we can so we can get on the road and hopefully avoid the worst of the day’s heat.

The first climb of the day is the easiest route up the Salève – long but never too steep. It is important to not push too hard on this first ascent, and I had to tell myself not to follow my fellow riders as they rode away from me on the lower slopes.

The climb to Col des Pitons is 12km at an average gradient of 4.8%. It is a great warm up climb, never too steep, and it allowed us to chat and plan our strategy for the day ahead.

Much of the climb is in the forest, which means it was still quite cool as we rode through Les Irons (I always sing Bob Marley to myself as I go through the village - “I’m gonna be Iron, like a Lion, in Les Irons”). Once out of the forest it is worth pausing to take in the amazing views over the countryside towards Annecy and the huge alps to the south.

Once you’re here most of the climbing is done and the road rolls along the top of the mountain towards the col. It’s a nice fun finish to the first ascent and we burst out of the woods into the meadows to be met with incredible views over the Geneva basin. The lake, the jet d’eau and the whole Jura range of mountains.

The road barrels down toward La Croisette where the fantastic volunteers from La Coppandy du Salève set up their refreshment stand. This is where all four of the ways up the Salève meet, so a perfect spot to stop and take in some well needed food and drink.

There is an official way to do the 4S which makes it more of a loop, but as it was a hot day we decided to short cut a little. This meant we headed down the steepest side of the mountain, the side which faces towards Geneva. This is a treachorous descent, and one of the only places I’ve ever had a crash on my bike. So we all took care making our way down to Collonges-sous-Salève where we did a quick u-turn and starting climbing again.

As mentioned, this is the steepest way up and one that I once swore to myself I would never climb. But here I am, grinding my way up the 9.8km slope which has an average gradient of 8.1%. The first section up through the suburbs of Collonges to Le Coin is hard enough, but then the real nasty section starts. The final 4.3km are at an average of 11.1%. Nasty.

The less said about my state of mind up this climb the better, but the flies kept me company as the sweat streamed down my face. The final kilometre seemed to take forever, and everyone just has to go at their own pace so we regrouped at the top to fill out bottles and grab some bananas.

We headed next for what I think of as the “classic” route up. This goes from Etrembieres and is 12.8km long at a gradient of 6.5%. I like to break this climb down into 3 sections:

1) The initial push up the steep slopes at the start and through the village of Mornex to Monnetier. As said, this is very steep at the start but then levels out to nice 5-7% gradients where you can push on (or take it easy depending on how you’re feeling!)

2) Once through Monnetier you’re into the evil section of the climb. This is where the road kicks up very sharply, hitting you with >10% slopes for a sustained few kilometre. This is all in the forest, and the darkness, combined with the gradient really puts you to the test. I’ve uttered a fair few swear words on this stretch.

3) You finally break out of the forest and onto the final stretch. The gradient eases a little and you pass by the arrival of the Telepherique du Salève and continue up past the Buddhist monastery to the large antennae. Here the road flattens, and you know you’re almost there. A quick change to the big ring to speed towards the final ramp over the meadow at the very top and then there’s only one more climb to go.

If you’re here on a normal day, there is a very welcome fountain at the junction of all four climbs at Croisette. This means that you can get by with just bringing a single bidon onto the mountain, as you know that you can always refill here.

We grabbed a quick few more bits to get us up the final climb from La Muraz. This is a fun descent down to the village, especially when you know you’re almost done with the climbing.

All that lay ahead of us now was 7.3km at 7.1%. The legs were certainly feeling the effort now, and the day had heated up to almost 30 degrees Celsius. Those two elements combined to make this final effort much more difficult than it normally is. The climb itself is lovely, steady gradients winding up through fields filled with cows and horses. We passed by the occasional farm and hamlet, all the while keeping our spirits up by chatting about how much we were going to enjoy getting to the top for the final time.

The only real struggle on this climb comes near the end, when the road kicks up to 8.5% for the final couple of kms. Knowing we were close meant we could push through the pain in our legs to get to the finish.

We sank a well needed cold beer toasting a great day out on the bike.

We’d conquered the monster.

What I’ve been listening to while writing

Jamie XX - In Waves

All Bangers! That’s all you need to know. You’re most welcome.

The 4S … a monster day out

Check over your shoulder

Is it really worth it …?