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Pi$$ing down, heavily and has been all day. Left UK earlier than expected (Weds morning) and headed for La Bresse Bike Park to get my eye in for Les Gets next week. I'm currently thinking an Ark would have been better than a bike. Moved on a bit to Metabief, and found a good campsite - still raining and forecast is rain Fri, rain Sat, rain Sun. Most of the Alps seems the same at the moment.
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Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Been watching the weather recently as it does look dire - I changed my flight from last Sat and am heading out next Tues. The forecast is looking better after the weekend, hope it dries out fast!
Yep, got some mates out in Chatel right now and they're perfecting their mud riding skills 🙂
Raining on the mountains - who'd have thought...
The other end of the alps is fine.
Seems the Mega's a bit sticky too:
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yikes!
Ah, Manchester here. I think there might have been a mix up with the weather deliveries.
Someone out in haute savoie ordered a chainring bolt from CRC, and they posted it in a box so big it contained our entire climate
Yes just been checking out the snow cover at La Plagne on the webcams. Was considering joining my parents on holiday in the Jura mountains this week, 11C and raining there, 20C and sunny here!
I'm in Lugano and it's bloody hot and dry 😆
Setting off to Oberstdorf in 36hours for a Transalp. Forecast has been bad but looks much better from now.
phew - we didn't choose last week (but having TdF in our back-yard clinched it anyway)
C
Sorry for the small hijack
ChrisE whats the riding like around Oberstdorf
cos we are going there in sept
It briefly stopped raining in Tignes this morning.
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The bottom of Jump Around.
Thankfully it has gone back to raining again. The lifts have been closed all day and the trails are just mudbaths.
Am in Les Gets and it's rained pretty much constantly for the past three days, which by all accounts is really unusual. Not many people about on bikes at all.
Chavannes is a bit of a mess, could only manage a handful of runs before I lost the will. Off to Chatel tomorrow come rain or shine.
I'm reading this, every time the post updates, hoping, desperately, that someone is going to say that the sun is going to come out on Friday and dry everything out. Myself and 6 others arrive in Morzine tomorrow for three days of gloop by the looks of it. I've even bought a novel to pass the time.
The Mega is a bit different from the norm. This is just outside the top of the DMC lift, about 5 minutes in to the qualifier.
The mud lower down is 'interesting' too.
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Rain sounds a relief. I'm tired of blowing the dust off the bike after riding the mountains of the Lakes at the moment. All the dry ground is making trails far to fast and then struggling to choose from all those locally brewed beers.............merde.
Have fun chrisE, hope the new grips bring those trails alive.
I'm reading this, every time the post updates, hoping, desperately, that someone is going to say that the sun is going to come out on Friday and dry everything out.
I suspect it might take more than a day of sun to dry the trails out.
That's the thing with the Alps. You have to be prepared for all kinds of weather regardless of the time of year. They say it snows on at least one day of the month every month at the highest points you can access by the lifts.
We're driving down tonight and I think I'll be needing the mud tyres 😥
Feel sorry for anyone in or heading to the French Alps. First week of school holidays here and we have been stuck inside all week so far. Thinking about lighting the fire. 1m plus of fresh snow at 3000m odd.
question.
given that it rains *a bit* in Scotland, and Wales. That there's nothing magically destructive about rain in France.
Why can't the French build bike trails that can stand up to rain?
fyi, My parents saw snow in Yorkshire last week.
Im have no pity for those capitalist pigs who choose to go abroad.
Why go to the Alps when we have Skegness and Bridlington?
I like this thread. Last nights ride round the Chilterns was fast and bone dry. Makes me quite content with my decision not to go to the Alps this summer. 🙂
Someone out in haute savoie ordered a chainring bolt from CRC, and they posted it in a box so big it contained our entire climate
Genius post of the week
presumably it takes a [b]lot[/b] more effort to build weather proof trails and if it hardly ever rains like that during the mtb season there's not much point...?Why can't the French build bike trails that can stand up to rain?
D0NK - Memberif it hardly ever rains like that during the mtb season there's not much point...?
it's the French Alps, heavy rain that hangs around for days is never far away.
If it's like this when I'm out there I'm going to give stevo a chinese burn.
I was there last week for the passportes. Utter mudbath...
I'm of to Chatel for a long weekend 17th - 21st next week. PLease let sun come out.. 🙁
ah right. Dunno then.it's the French Alps, heavy rain that hangs around for days is never far away.
edit presumably their business model works otherwise it wouldn't draw so many people. Mind you their business model might be "it'll be reet in a couple of days and there'll still be plenty of rosbifs flying in, just shutdown the lifts til it stops raining" not good for those just calling in for a long weekend tho 🙁
They were selling off mud tyres at Freeride in Morzine a couple of weeks back. Time to buy them up if you're going
Northwind
If it's like this when I'm out there I'm going to give stevo a chinese burn.
Me too, i'll take his right arm, you have his left!!
(19-26th july for me!)
We don't ride in the rain because we don't have to. We wait for the sun 😆
It is not the same type of landscape, topography, vegetation cover etc, it is not the same rain. Think heavy torrents, washouts etc. In heavy weather there is a lot more to be concerned with than muddy bike trails.
Rain plays a small part so not much concession is made for it where it adversely affects 'playing'. Bit like the UK and their preparation for snow.
im not off with family to tignes till 24th so im hoping for a late bright summer !
Then verbier in september with the lads
I usually go out this week for my birthday - kinda thanking my lucky stars at the moment ! looks horrendous
It's a shame but what can you do, it's a gamble. Weather patterns seem to have been less reliable in recent years. We have to consider why .. as well as have a realistic take on these things.
"When you go to the mountains, expect mountain weather" as a guide told us once. I've been to the Alps for a week's climbing (just amateur bimbling on easier routes) and got nowhere due to conditions, we did 3 trips before we actually got on top of anything. We've spent most of 3 days sat in a chalet in Morzine while it rained solidly but half a dozen runs on the Pleney in the worst rain I've seen out there was still one of the most memorable days riding I've done there.
Why can't the French build bike trails that can stand up to rain?
Because the trails are long, it'd be too expensive and the locals are off riding stuff that doesn't get hammered all summer I expect.
...Because the trails are long...
they're really not, i'm surprised just how short they are considering the vertical drop. And i'd be surprised if the km's of trail at GT were much less than the km's of trail at the Chatel bike park)
...it'd be too expensive...
how much is a weeks lift pass these days? £80? - they can afford it.
i suspect that the French don't build surfaced trails because they know they don't have to, we'll go anyway.
You have got too big a chip on your shoulder! They don't build surfaced trails because they don't. It is as simple as that.Nothing to do with ripping the tourists off. Any type of purpose built mtb trail in France is rare enough over the whole country, let alone a surfaced one. We live next to an ideal large forest with vert gains of Glentress size, but no rock outcropping. It could be very very good with built surfaced trails or even any trail other than the tracks it has. But no one thinks like that. Just look at the amount of rock cliffs that no one climbs on, again unclimbed rock is unheard of in the UK.
I'd like to point out that what most of you refer to as the 'French Alps' is in fact the 'northern alps'.
Do not compare the weather in Morzine or even Tignes with the weather in the Ecrin and generally the Alps south of Grenoble.
In summer you can have proper summer weather in the south while in Morzine it's winter revisited.
That said, at the moment the weather is sh*te everywhere.
Its the lazy Swiss you need to be worrying about if you intend going over to their side.
Shut all their lifts on the Sunday of the passportes because apparently it was to hard to evacuate anyone off the mountain. Funny the French thought they'd cope just fine.
The when it dried up the next day they shut the lift at morgins for no particular reason, meaning I could either pedal to the top of the hill, or cycle down to get a train to champery at a local town. I chose the later.
Turns out the Swiss don't pay much attention to timetables however, so the train never appeared, prompting a 1000 meter climb back up an alpine road on supertacky dual ply minions...back to the same place I'd been 5 hours earlier. All done with bronchitis and a rubbing rear brake. Misery.
Sat on the Chunnel now, on our way to White Room for a week then Bourg for a week. Forecast looks slightly better for next week.
Setting off for Les Arcs tonight and indeed the weather is looking pretty good for next week!
A couple of days of fine weather and the trails will be back to normal.
Weather looking up for next week
http://www.meteoblue.com/en/france/weather-morzine?day=3
13th year to the PDS and we get some rain each year. A few years back I think I rode 3 days out of 8 and was head to toe mud on all of those. Plus side is that 1) if you have a car you can drive to La Thuile where the weather can be better, and 2) Bar Robinson opens at around 1300 to get properly Mutziged so you don't really care.
Got the swamp things ready to put on the bikes
Looks like our decision to ride the Passportes on Friday was a stroke of genius. 90 miles on almost completely dry and unmolested trails.
Looks like our decision to ride the Passportes on Friday was a stroke of genius. 90 miles on almost completely dry and unmolested trails.
Bloody hell, 90 miles is a very impressive haul for a day in the Alps, even lift assisted.
90miles of along/downhill?
We've taken an executive decision (or total madness) and have just booked a campsite and hotel extravaganza in Vallnord for the next 10 days. We will be driving from the rain soaked alps, 1st thing tomorrow and sunday, and then leaving a week Friday......I'm either mad or it's a stroke of genius - not sue yet
😯
I've always been really lucky with the weather over there. The worst I had was a whole day of heavy rain which happened to coincide with a pair of broken 888s in our party so we took the day off and went for a drive to Chamonix to purchase some new internals. next day iot was sunny and very much dry enough to drive. Other than that day I've just had a but of drizzle on one day but I do tend to go out in late August when either the weather's better or I've just been very fortunate.
Hope the weather turns for all out there it must be pretty demoralizing to be in a mud bath, some of that stuff it pretty slick when damp and the steep bits take on a whole new dimension.
Fair comment, but they do seem longer than most UK surfaced trails or steeper for similar length. It's the steepness that introduces the braking bumps etc where many UK trail-centres have a flowing dip+rise that can make braking less of an issue.i'm surprised just how short they are considering the vertical drop.
Agreed. TBH I like the more natural feel of some of the trails there anyway, riding on gravel and chip stone when the surrounding area is dirt just feels odd, despite the good surface.i suspect that the French don't build surfaced trails because they know they don't have to, we'll go anyway.
There's a lot of great VTT Pistes tho, I expect there's so many and they're well spread out so the pressure on them is nothing like Afan or GT. So no need to surface them.Any type of purpose built mtb trail in France is rare enough over the whole country, let alone a surfaced one.
OT ramble.. Best riding I've ever done was a point-to-point 10 dayer just riding in a southerly direction following a long-distance GR route and diverting onto whatever looked good that was in the general area. So many VTT signs to try and rarely stuck on anything less than 'good to very good'. Rode many fantastic trails in areas you'd not go for a week, but for a day - amazing stuff.
Agreed - The areas between Briancon and the northern Haute Provence are full of great riding, just a shame you can't do such an easy-access week there like you can in Morzine / Cham. If you wanted to and were happy w/o the chair lifts, Alpsun (Helen Laundon) in Vallouise would be a good tip - GPX files and local guide contacts there.the weather in the Ecrin and generally the Alps south of Grenoble.
You wont regret it Lucien.
pt81 - Member
You wont regret it Lucien.POSTED 26 SECONDS AGO #
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That's exactly the encouragement I needed - Hotel booked (even though we are in Motorhome) as it was mega cheap €600 for half board, for 2, for 12 nights!!!
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Planning on the mega drive back 2 weeks today, for a Sat eve crossing...and hopefully loads of Andorra dust on the bikes.
Late august - Autumn is the time to go to the alps. Mid summer is always wet..
Pissed down yesterday in Les Arcs, drove over the St Bernard pass and the snow was laying, by Le Thuile it was dry and by the time we got to Pila we where shredding dust and regretting not packing sun lotion.
Nobody in Les Arcs belived us, right now it's sunny.
I retract my earlier statement the weather next week - looks like the rain will be sticking around for a couple of days longer!
Just returned last night from a week riding in La Thuile, La Rosiere and Morzine. The latter in solid 4 days of heave rain. All trails are mega muddy with huge braking bumps. Saying that we had bags of fun - you just need to be prepared. Note there are no waterproof gloves to be bough in Morzine or Les Gets anymore 🙂
If you going get yourself proper tyres, waterproof overall, lots of gloves, waterproof socks, spare shoes and have fun!
Cheers
Michal
oh dear, I hope the weather improves as I'm about to set off from Oxfordshire to cycle to Slovenia over the next 2.5 weeks! well I guess I'll pack extra wet weather gear!
Abigale is sat in Geneva airport waitinw to be picked up after an early flight from Luton and the report is sunny, lets hope it stays like that
Aye, it's been a bit minging the past few days. We ducked and dived, re-organised a bit and made the best of it. Only got properly wet on Monday and that was a on a guides' "extra run to check out a trail" after everyone else was safely back at the chalet. New trail didn't work out and we had to do a LOT of pushing back out while it p*ssed down. I've had drier baths.
Went to Pila on Thursday while it was snowing on the French side. Dry and dusty! Looks scorchio for next week, so normal service is being resumed.
Oh, and the French don't build properly surfaced MTB trails because they have no ****ing idea how to do so.
Oh, and the French don't build properly surfaced MTB trails because they have no **** idea how to do so.
But I reckon the old farmers who made the trails at the back of your place Stevo knew how to do it 🙂
Megavalanche women's and challenger event was grim this morning, started in a snow storm! But heavy rain lower down, bloody freezing everywhere.
Megavalanche women's and challenger event was grim this morning, started in a snow storm! But heavy rain lower down, bloody freezing everywhere.
I was meant to be riding the challenger today. Decided to stay in bed. In fact I'm still there now
It's been proper grim rain all day in Alpe D'Huez. So much so I refused to go & cheer on friends racing the challenger. Had a lazy day in the hotel spa!
Little bit apprehensive of what's going to happen for the main race tomorrow. No idea where it's going to start from, if the course changes down to Oz are still in effect, the weather etc. I've not ridden the main track this year, as the weather hasn't allowed us to get up to the top & the bottom half has been unrideable for the most part. Racing it blind on Sunday isn't ideal...
meanwhile in Yorkshire... 😆
Someone out in haute savoie ordered a chainring bolt from CRC, and they posted it in a box so big it contained our entire climate
Well considering it's hot and sunny here at the moment and it would take CRC 2 weeks to deliver a chain ring bolt to England, let alone France - it should be reet when I turn up at the end of the month! 🙂
Done it - we've moved - took around 11 hours in saturday traffic, toll queues (thank god we got a tag) and a couple of stops - about 600 miles in all, with MH and kit. It's hot, sunny, dusty and dry and we are riding VAllnord tomorrow for a few days. It was raining until way past Valence, proper grim.
Good luck to all those heading out there - not sure what the forecast holds....
Forecast seems to be improving for the coming week, sunny Tuesday - Friday if it's correct. I'm heading out Tues so hope it dries out fairly quickly!
Forecast for the Tarentaise is a wee bit cloudy (but dry) over the weekend, then hot and sunny.
Les Arcs was awesome today!
Trails wet but fun with some muddy sections. lots of trails drying out quickly.
Very cloudy start but ended the day with beers in the sun! still clear now.
D0NK - Member
90miles of along/downhill?
Dropped off at Lindarets at 8am. Pushed up over the ridge and rolled the road to Morgins to collect my entry pack. Two laps of the Lindarets - Chatel - Champery loop with a couple of the more fun runs repeated, big push up near Torgon after missing a sign late in the day then road from Chatel up the valley to get the Pierre Longue and Rochessons to the top of the ridge at closing time to roll back through Lindarets and Morzine then down to St Jean d'Aulps where I was staying.
Anyone out today (Monday 14th)? Have the trails dried out much, or are they still a muddy mess?
Tignes/Val D'isere starting to dry out. There is stil a bit of snow in the Borsat area and a couple of trails are still closed.
But.. it is considerably better than it was.
In Mozine at the moment, sunny with little rain over the last few days but the trails are not good at all. Went over to chatel yesterday and all the blacks are shut, the best we found was the super morzine black seemed to run well apart from the top.
Arrived yesterday and went up and done the Pleney. Avoid at all cost unless you like a mudfest having to pedal going downhill unless you like that. kind of thing
Les Arcs is drying out nicely, no rain for last 2 days, all the exposed trails are dry. The runs in the woods are greasy with a few muddy spots but no means a mud bath.
glorious sunshine here too at the moment which is set for the week.
timidwheeler - check out the singletrack around Le Saut I suggested. It will be bone dry. If it's not, come down the valley and shout at me!
Otherwise, yes, all the decent singletrack in the Tarentaise is now bone dry.
Urm.. Steve. I'm not sure where exactly you are but we just had the mother of all hail storms up here. I can't see it being dry for a while. I have never see hail like it. There is now a two inch covering of ice everywhere 😆
It has been lovely in Bourg today 8)
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Sorry it's sideways but you get the idea.
Bone dry in Les Arcs and La Thuile, in fact La Thuile is too dry with about 2 inches of dust!!!