Hi folks I’m after a bit of advice about riding in the Alps.

Here’s the plan, in September 6 of us will drive down to the Alps (Lake Geneva location but can be change if something better is available) for 4 days for mountain biking. I’m after knowing the best places to ride and is it worth getting a guide to show us some route etc.

Were after singletrack dissents/XC dissents with ski lifts back to the top. I’m not a DH rider and think the DH courses of Morzine and les gets are a bit above the group’s skill level.

Skill level –everyone is very happy riding any red trails with black options sometimes taken like The Slap etc.
Plus were all riding full sus bikes.

Thanks for your time Gaz

I’m not a DH rider and think the DH courses of Morzine and les gets are a bit above the group’s skill level.

Not likely if your next statement is true

Skill level –everyone is very happy riding any red trails with black options sometimes taken like The Slap etc.
Plus were all riding full sus bikes.

Anything I rode in Les Gets or Morzine was longer and rougher but technically no harder than anything I’ve ridden back home. Physically more demanding. I’m sure there is stuff on the main black DH runs that may be beyond you but we stuck to the reds and we were fine.

Id agree with your man above .. First time i went to les gets i was on a 100mm HT and i had no trouble on anything up to all reds i did , I was bit battered around but there were plenty of chicken runs if you did not fancy growing wings .

Id sugest you get up to Les Gets Morzine area (As there will still be people in some numbers) and take the lifts there … not sure when the wider PPDS lifts close this year (think you will be in time) but you can easily go exploring .. hell id sugest doing the PPDS route if you can as its a great intro to the area for when you come back the year after !

There was only one trail we rode where I was terrified. Over in the Lindarets bowl and from the chairlift it looked like the best trail in the world. Once we got on it we were crapping ourselves. Lethal mud over millions of wet roots meant we carried the bikes down most of it. I stood on a northshore bridge at one point and it snapped underneath me 😳

That great to know i could ride at Morzine or les Gets, as its very close to where i plan on staying.

I take it there loads of runs to choose from?

Morzine would be perfect. Loads of runs, different grades and different styles and a good map and lots of lifts.

will the lifts still be open?

Just Checked Les Gets Morzine Lifts only open till the 9th Sept and they are the last ones General PDS lifts will be closed !

Your only gonna get a few days Lift assited in .. I head over to Les gets/morzine first and then get back for a few days at the lake !

http://en.lesgets.com/mtb/informations/

I went last year at this time, and really we were a week too late. Although some of the lifts are open, it is impossible to move between Chatel and Morzine after something like the 4th.

Sorry, I don’t mean impossible – but the critical lifts are open. I would go earlier in future since I feel that you miss so many of the best lifts.

To get a lot of lifts open at that time you’ll want to go to Switzerland. Everything is open into October over here.

So where’s the place to go in Switzerland? Ps cheers for all the advice it’s very much appreciated

There is some great riding in Wallis and Graubunden. They are nicely linked together by train too so it’s possible to do a few point to point days staying in a different place or base youself somewhere like Chur (Graubunden) or Brig (Wallis) and get a load of great riding in not far from base camp.

The riding is much more natural than you’ll find in PdS. It’s mainly on hiking trails so can be fairly technical in nature, but it rewards. The lifts can be used to save the climb and spend the whole day riding awesome trails.

Places like Bettmeralp, Crans-Montana, St-Luc in Wallis or Lenzerheide, Davos, Flims-Laax, Engadin in Graubunden would all give you a few days of great riding.

You’ll find some trail information on my website and if you want more info there are contact details on there too.

http://www.swissalpineadventure.com

If you want lift assisted you do need to go a week earlier really – in rough terms the main summer season is July and August. You may find lifts open weekends only in Sep. Take a look at Haute Jura as well, Metabief.

With a little research you can find resorts where you can get a bus or mountain railway (especially Switzerland) up and then ride back down to the Valley. This would be you mid/late September options.

Graubunden isn’t so well know to the Brit mountain bikers (German speaking canton to East of Switzerland typically accessed via Zurich) but you can get mountain railway up (runs all year of course) and ride down. Above Chur you have number of resorts up to Arosa, plus Lenzerheide and Laax/Films. In Valais you can get the train up to Zermatt and ride down to Visp or even lower. All of this will take more research, for simplicity just go a week earlier and use the ski lifts.

@ir12daveor – nice site.

If you want lift assisted you do need to go a week earlier really – in rough terms the main summer season is July and August. You may find lifts open weekends only in Sep. Take a look at Haute Jura as well, Metabief.

Like I said, Lift assisted is available in Switzerland until mid October. The resorts tend to keep the lifts open until after the October school holidays over here. There are one or two exceptions (Verbier is one I think, but not 100% sure) but lift assisted riding is available in most of the country until October.

The places served by funicular and train can often be used longer. Some of the buses are seasonal and will stop running in October too.

@Jambalaya, thanks. 🙂

@ir12daveor – Thanks re lift info, I see you live in Switzerland, I am very jealous (and looking for work there !). I have some friends with places in Arosa and have done a bit of simple ski touring around there. Hopeing to get out for some riding around interviews this summer. I can dream.

Arosa is nice, there is some great riding accessible from there, but the best trails all lead out of Arosa towards either Lenzerheide, Davos or Tschiertschen. Luckily there are also ways back in too. 🙂

They do have a “Freeride” lift assisted trail there too, but TBH it’s a bit weak.

Skiing in Arosa is nice too. You can do the same kind of routes between resorts in Winter if you are lucky with conditions and have the correct kit.

It’s a great place to work. What industry are you in?

Investment Management (I live and ride in Surrey Hills so fulfil all the stereotypes !)

Arosa sounded great on paper – free lifts etc, but the main lift up to the top of the ridge/DH run refused bikes (i suspect the cows were on the piste and they have priority…), and the lower lift only took you up a little way. But saying that there were some great natural runs down the valley and the campsite was excellent!

get a guide; they’ve already decided which trails are good – your level. imho it’s the best way to get the most value out of the trip.

@prof – As per @ir12’s comment Arosa is a great place to start a ride from eg to Lenzerheide, over to Davos or just down valley towards Chur, it’s not a resort like Lenzerhiede with lots of tails in the resort. I only mentioned it as town is at 2000m and the train runs up there all year and has bike storage hangers, so if the ski lifts are shut there are still options down. Even if lifts are shut its 800m or so up to trail to link to Lenzerheide.

From what @ir12 says with lifts running till October there are lots of options for a late season trip Lenzerheide, Laax, Davos ….

+1 for Lenzerheide. Went there a couple of years ago in late August- ended up in heavy snow on the top of one route (was falling as rain in town)! Good signposting of xc routes from town (a lot starting from tourist info centre) and bunches of GPS routes too. Uplift expensive though (about £20 for a single!) if you are going for mainly downhill!

professor_fate – Member

Arosa sounded great on paper – free lifts etc, but the main lift up to the top of the ridge/DH run refused bikes (i suspect the cows were on the piste and they have priority…), and the lower lift only took you up a little way. But saying that there were some great natural runs down the valley and the campsite was excellent! I reckon you were unlucky that the Hornli lift didn’t take bikes. I’ve never had that experience and can only imagine it was for a very short period of time. The resort advertises free lifts if you stay there, and the day card is only 13CHF (IIRC) if you are not staying in town. TBH though there isn’t really enough trails from the top of the lift to keep you going all day if you plan on only riding back down to Arosa.

If the lifts aren’t running it’s possible to put in about 300m vertical out of town and skirt around the side of Weisshorn to get into the Urden Valley between Arosa and Lenzerheide. You can ride a bunch of trail (but unfortunately a bit of road too) down to Chur from there and get the bus up to Lenzerheide.

I’d personally not base myself in Arosa, but instead pass through it on day rides from other resorts close by. If anyone is looking for tips get in touch. I pointed the blokes from Pink Bike who did an article on CH in the right direction already.

kevtoo – Member

+1 for Lenzerheide. Went there a couple of years ago in late August- ended up in heavy snow on the top of one route (was falling as rain in town)! Good signposting of xc routes from town (a lot starting from tourist info centre) and bunches of GPS routes too. Uplift expensive though (about £20 for a single!) if you are going for mainly downhill! The single run in Lenzerheide is very expensive relative to the day pass. If you’ve got a half tax card for the swiss public transport system the lift cards in Lenzerheide in Summer are half price. 24CHF for a day card is pretty cheap. There is a good amount of lift accessed riding in Lenzerheide.

Thanks for all the replys. I’m thinking of zermatt as the lifts don’t stop till October and the trails sound awesome.

Zermatt is great, but VERY pricy. Definitely spend a day or two there, but get in touch and I’ll let you know a place where you’re money will go a lot further for a couple of days riding not too far away.

Thanks again for the advice.

Ive just said f*** it and booked 7 days with Trail Addiction in les Arcs in july.

Cant wait.