Advice on locations for biking in the alps

DoubleYouEss

Hi,

Went to Morzine last summer was good but I wouldn't class myself as a balls out downhiller or freerider, more into enduro riding using lift system, however did enjoy most of the track in Portes Du Soleil.

This august we are heading out to go whitewater kayaking, plan is to start near Bourg St Marice / moutiers, so for biking, Les Arcs I hear is good, but what about other resorts La Plange, meribel, 3 valleys, bride le bains, la tania.

From there we're heading over the petit st bernard pass towards Aosta in Italy. Nearby resorts include La Thuile, Cormayeur.

After this we head north over the Grand St Bernard pass towards Martigny in Switzerland, Verbier is nearby. We then head east passed Sion towards Chur passing Zermatt & Andermatt.

We then head past St Mortiz / Zernez and eventually into Austria near Landeck. Nearby resorts are galtur, Ischgl, Fiss, Solden and St Anton.

So theres quite alot in there but trying to find info online is a nightmare so hoping there are some people out there who can give me some guidance.

Also if anyone can suggest or know of natural routes for an evening ride in any of the areas the please let me know.

Cheers

Mike

Sitter

The only resort you mention that I have any experience of is St Anton (I'm assuming you mean St Anton am Arlberg, there are a few St Antons in Austria, one of which is St Anton am Montafon in the Silvretta area, not too far from Ischgl). There are quite a few routes around there, but they all involve having to do the hard work to get up the mountains as they do not allow bikes on the lifts there. Nearby Lech however does (only about a 20min drive, same ski area in Winter but separate lift operators, hence different rules in the summer). There is a route between St Antin and the Ischgl valley, not done it myself but I know a few who have. If you manage to venture further east, there is Mayrhofen and the Zillertal valley (about 2hr drive from St Anton), plenty of routes and you can start with the lift.

Northwind

La Thuile is bloomin awesome. Probably the best place I've ever ridden- to be fair, we were guided and I have no idea how easy it'd be to navigate solo or if all the good stuff is even on the maps but it was almost all so very good. K2/Pointelles was the pick of the descents IMO. The stuff under the lifts feels a lot like innerleithen dh/enduro, except it goes on forever... Oh, also worth mentioning that the grading is closer to UK grading than most as it's mostly pitched as a trailbike/enduro location rather than a park rat place- so the blacks are not as mental as they can be elsewhere.

We spent a day at Les Arcs and it was the first day, so I think there was a lot of "figuring out the guests" going on, which tones things down a little. So not likely we saw the best of it, and it didn't quite shine the same. But it was still excellent. We mostly rode around the funicular, cachettes and I think the vallandry lifts- cachettes dh was alright, black 8 and the pipeline stuff were better, and pretty much everything around (possibly) the vallandry was ace.

There's some excellent riding from La Rosiere (near La Thuile) but I don't know what's in the park.

I don't know the other locations you mentioned... Tignes up at the other end of the valley from Bourg is good for brain-out fun, there's tons of trails, of very variable quality but it's free, the lift is pretty fast, so it's still worth a visit. There's some fantastic riding at/around Sainte Foy and there's a resort uplift but that brings me round to...guides.

Cos, La Thuile maybe but other than that I don't think you'll see the best of any of these places without a guide. Common theme of people going to Les Arcs without one is "I don't know what all the fuss is about"- because they miss the good bits. Sainte Foy you need a guide even if just to find out where the Uplift of Randomness goes.

There's loads of guides around there, I know White Room aren't doing private guiding like they used to though or I'd recommend Stevo... But, Yvan Bonin (http://www.peisey-vallandry-mtb.com/) was my main guide last year and he is brilliant. Not just a great guide but also a properly inscrutable French Yoda. Almost all the best riding of my life was spent chasing his back wheel, then enjoying his trail commentary "We stop, look. Maybe you ride it, maybe you don't. Ah but you- you do not ride it. " or after riding down some stupidly difficult line. "This next bit, it is not so easy"

dom richards

Hi,

Heading off in a couple of weeks to italian Alps (Aosta Valley) for a 4 day Montian bike trip, staying in Courmayer but planning day trip to Pila. Have transport so can travel
Does anyone have any suggestions as good trails....group is mix of keen XC'ers but planning to get our DH fix in Pila

Any suggestions welcome

Thanks

Northwind

Did I mention La Thuile is ****ing awesome? And only 20 minutes away apparently. Enduro World Series is passing through there next week so we should hear a bit more about it,inexplicably unknown at the moment. I'm going back in August, cannot wait, still my favourite place to ride. Haven't been to Pila but I think we're heading there this year

It's actually pretty easy to go over the col de petit san bernard into France and get to Les Arcs if you're needing to find more riding. (This is a bit crap on your driver, but, everyone else can ride down from the top on both sides- the ride down from the hospice to La Thuile might be slightly harder to follow, and it's a wee bit pedally- but there's nice waymarked trails from La Rosiere down to Seez, from where it's a fast road descent down to Les Arcs funiculaire.)

UH DH

Top tip: If you're after a DH fix, get up to Tignes. About 30min up the hill from Bourg St maurice, and the bike liftpass is free.

Northwind

Mmm. I like Tignes, in a sort of glentressy brain out trailcentre way, but the trails aren't that great. I'd generally choose a day at La Thuile or Les Arcs over Tignes. There's a ton of good riding at Les Arcs if you can figure out the unmapped stuff. Having said that Tignes links up to Val di Sole, which I've not ridden at but heard good things.