Anyone been mtb-ing in the Alps?

[torqueofthedevil]

I was planning on going on a weeks cycling holiday in France but recently fancied doing some mountain biking in the alpes. The organised trips look great but a bit too long / expensive. Has anyone any experience of these?

More importantly, has anyone organised their own mini trip? Just arrive at a resort, rent a bike and go out for a few days? Were the routes easy to follow etc?

[Thorpy]

I don't know if this will be of any help to you but i went out to the French alps (Les Gets/Morzine) in 2007 with a group of friends for 2 weeks. I took my own Downhill bike and had an absolute blast. We used AlpineElements, fairly cheap and you can hire bikes. We never used a trail guide all the main trails are easy to follow.

What kind of riding are you into? XC, Allmountain, Downhill?

[richardxjr]

So you want to mix both road and mtb riding? Good plan.

I take both bikes. Mainly road riding the famous (and not so famous) cols based near Bourg D'Oisans, interspersed with a couple days mtb - fantastic natural trails- guide here at http://oisans.com/activities/summer-activities/mou... and Deux Alpes uplift area

The whole area is cycling heaven (if the weather's alright)

You will get great catered chalet deals during June - proper luxury - but many of the uplifts don't open until July, when it gets rammed what with the Tour and everything else.

These places are both nice.
http://www.peak-adventures.net/our-accommodation/c...
http://www.2alpeschalet.com

Edited by richardxjr on Sunday 15th March 10:50

[SixPotBelly]

A good 10-12 years ago, I was in Les Deux Alpes (or was it L'Alpe d'Huez - i always get those two mixed up) for a long August weekend's glacier skiing. Me and one other of the party took an afternoon off from the snow and hired downhill bikes instead. We just walked into a bike rental shop, and if we could do that in the early 00s I don't see why you couldn't do that now. I'm sure you could even use the interweb to make an advance booking.

No problems with finding the way either, but then map reading is one of the very few things I've never had a problem with. Though with GPS nowadays that shouldn't be an issue for anyone anymore, I'd have thought.


Edit, to say you you could possibly find somewhere to stay on AirBnB too. It all depends on whether you enjoy planning trips or having it all arranged for you, I suppose. Either way, you'll have a great time, I'm sure!

Edited by SixPotBelly on Sunday 15th March 10:57

[richardxjr]

Remember on hired bikes that the brakes will be the other way round

(I'm sure they'll swap them for you though)

[Jimbo.]

richardxjr said:

Remember on hired bikes that the brakes will be the other way round

(I'm sure they'll swap them for you though)

Anywhere 1/2 decent will do. Beware it's F. expensive for anything that'll be of use out there: IIRC it was something like 70-110 euros/day for an Orange Alpine 160 in Morzine.

OP: have you done much MTB before? It's much, MUCH harder/faster/longer/steeper/physically punishing/better over there than anywhere here in the UK.

It's easy enough to do it yourself: no need for organised trips. Book a chalet (or hotel if you wish - most have bike storage), buy a lift pass, get a bike/kit...done!

Edited by Jimbo. on Sunday 15th March 12:23

[anonymous-user]

If you want to go smash out the "bike park" style downhill stuff at LesGes or Morzine, then it's perfectly possible to do it DIY stylee, as the trails are well marked and graded.

If you want to do more All Mountain style "off piste" riding (more technical single track) then your better off heading to places such as Les Arcs and hire a guide to find the good stuff.


I've been several times with The White Room TheWhiteRoom


Amazing trails, Incredibly riding, Highly recommended ;-)

[NCC]

^^^^ this ^^^^

I suspect it's easy enough to do the bike park thing without any assistance but to really enjoy the best of the natural trails, I can't imagine doing it without a guide. They know exactly where to go, meaning you can concentrate on just riding. TBH I'd be very wary of riding some trails without a bit of local knowledge, as it's just so much more "full on" than anything in the UK.

Oh, and +1 with regards The White Room. Absolutely chuffing excellent set up and great people to be around!

Edited by NCC on Sunday 15th March 18:57

[leyorkie]

Been to Chamonix, well signposted an a one way system on the trails, walkers one way bikes the other so you don't come up behind somebody.
Val d' Isere / Tingnes lots of trails of all types but mainly downhill. Bourge St Maurice would be a good base, twice a year they close some cols to all but cycles for a day Lots of trails and epic road rides.

Google and you will find some info.

[MC Bodge]

I've done Bike Park DH stuff (in my own and on rented bikes) at Les Gets, Les Houches, in the Black Forest etc. DIY trail riding around Chamonix and I've done guided trail riding weeks with Bike Village on two occasions a long time ago.

They were all excellent.

[graeme4130]

I was in Morzine last summer, and although the scene is great and there's lots to ride, most of the marked/main trails are in pretty poor shape
Depending on how competent you are at riding, then the best stuff is off the beaten track
I couple of chairlifts gets you over to Champery for the old downhill world champs track, which is very good and well worth the trip

[tjdixon911]

I visited Several resorts through 2014 in Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and France - If your looking for Uplift/Downhill then its pretty easy, if your looking for XC/All Mountain then some of the routes/signage are a bit hit and miss - I would definitely recommend a guide or a decent GPS with routes loaded, I had neither and although found my way round I feel I missed out on a lot. I only had a couple of days in each resort so didn't have the time to explore them properly.

[P-Jay]

graeme4130 said:

I was in Morzine last summer, and although the scene is great and there's lots to ride, most of the marked/main trails are in pretty poor shape
Depending on how competent you are at riding, then the best stuff is off the beaten track
I couple of chairlifts gets you over to Champery for the old downhill world champs track, which is very good and well worth the trip

Last year was particularly bad I think, poor weather at the start of the season reduced the main runs to a sloppy mess and hot / sunny weather at the end of the season set them hard in that state - they're better now than they were a few years ago, but they don't invest enough in trail maintenance - can't be easy though - so much trail, spread over such a massive area.

Even Whistler Bike Park gets in a mess sometimes and they charge about 4 times what PDS do for lifts (for 2 lifts compared to the dozens in PDS).

MTB in the Alps is amazing fun, a guide is worth their weight in good until you've worked out your level though, big mountain, big speed and big accidents if it all goes wrong.

[SwissJonese]

We did a few trips in and around Switzerland when living there. One place which that was pretty good fun was Savognin Switzerland. There is a hotel called the Cube and although a bit basic it is in an excellent location for biking. The cablecar is open in the summer so hitch your bike and enjoy the rest to the top and then ride the many paths down. They do pretty good deals in the summer as the place is pretty empty:-
https://www.cube-hotels.com/en/direct-offer/7

[anonymous-user]

Have a mate who goes away with www.aquickrelease.com although its the Pyaranees not the Alps he says its singletrack heaven. They cater for all abilities and have some good road routes nearby too so you can take a day off and go roadie for a day if you want

[MC Bodge]

It is the sustained steepness/speed and need for hard braking that is the surprise on a first visit to the Alps.

Nervous riders don't get off the brakes and let the bike roll.

[P-Jay]

MC Bodge said:

It is the sustained steepness/speed and need for hard braking that is the surprise on a first visit to the Alps.

Nervous riders don't get off the brakes and let the bike roll.

Too true, I have to admit it took me a few trips to 'get it' first trip especially was a murderous week of boiled fluids, seemingly endless sets of pads and painful arm pump, still it was also one of the best trips I've ever made.

Lucked out with a chalet full of really good lads from around Ireland and the UK and no cared when they got skittled for the 4th time when 20 of us all aimed for the same little metal bridge over the electric fence at the same time or that time you were fast and had to wait or that time you were slow and everyone waited for you.

Can't believe I'm not going this year!

Stayed with AlpineElements they're not the best outfit IMO, but the Lad they had running our Chalet was a star.

[missing the VR6]

I went to Morzine and Les Get's in June 2013, we drove down and took our own bikes, mine a 140mm full sus my mate's a 160mm full sus. We rode all the marked red and blue trails, nothing in Les Gets isn't rollable. Plus did an excellent loop from Les Gets to Morzine over to Avoriaz down to Les Linderats and back to Morzine. That was more of an XC ride rather than bike park.

I'd suggest taking a few spares with you as parts are a little more expensive out there plus it might ruin your holiday if you bust a mech or did a set of pads and couldn't replace it while you were out there.
From memory my mate paid £20 quid to have his front brake bled, so a little more than the UK.

[deadtom]

I've done:

3 x DH trips to morzine/les gets area, including venturing a bit farther afield to the lesser known stuff in Avoriaz, lindarets, morgins, chatel etc. As others have said to get the best out of it you need a DH bike and the accompanying skills

1 x trail trip to swiss alps near Bern. single track was amazing, climbs were punishing, locals were friendly, views were stunning. A guide is a must though as mountain biking is relatively new to that part of the alps so the routes were not well marked

1 x 10 days in alps d'huez region doing the mega. good experience, although the weather was absolutely awful for the entire time we were there. In good weather it would be amazing as some of the trail stuff is just wonderful. We did find some of their gradings were a bit off though..

[MC Bodge]

deadtom said:

As others have said to get the best out of it you need a DH bike and the accompanying skills.

I've ridden the DH at Les Gets, Morzine etc. on a hardtail. It takes a bit of commitment, but catching and passing people on big DH bikes is quite smugly satisfying

A decent DH bike can make a big difference if you are prepared to get off the brakes, off the ground and push through berms though.