About us

We are Lionel Terrail and Jean-Loup Tétard, founders and associates, along with Wyllis Snell, of the company Grandes Itinérances SAS.

Lionel Terrail, managing director, is very familiar with adventure tourism. He took part in developing such activities in France, working for the Grande Traversée des Alpes, first as project manager, then as director. He has also been one of the pioneers of electric bikes in the French Alps.

Jean-Loup Tétard and Wyllis Snell specialize in communications. They have worked on promoting many tourist destinations during their careers. Jean-Loup is passionate about adventure tourism and has taken an active role in its development, notably in the heart of the French Alps. Wyllis is from a well-known Chamonix family that specializes in the distribution of mountain gear.

We are a private company operating without any subsidies. To help us absorb the costs of our investment, we are seeking partnerships with organizations that have links with the Route des Grandes Alpes®, or cycling touring in general, be it for economic, like-minded or local development reasons.

We focus essentially on non-motorized forms of touring, notably bikes and electric bikes (or e-bikes). To turn our website into the go-to platform providing information for anyone considering tackling the Route des Grandes Alpes®, we have joined the digital family created by France Vélo Tourisme, an organization whose excellence in covering cycling networks around France is very well established.

Our aim is to improve our website through time in order to play an increasingly active role at the heart of the community of organizations involved in adventure tourism and cycling trips across the French Alps. Whenever possible, we will also pass on news about issues close to our hearts, such as cycling safety, the evolution of non-motorized forms of transport and the protection of the mountain environment.

Finally, we would like to thank Jean-Christian Hubac for his assistance, Arnaud Bachelard, Philippe Lemonnier and Brice Milbergue (www.fivefingers.fr) for their photos, and Joris Lesueur, creator and coordinator of alpes4ever.com as well as a great specialist on Alpine passes, for contributing not just content, but also his admirable hard work and encyclopedic knowledge of the route to help support our project.