Hi guys,

I’m going to the Alps this summer and staying near Chatel. Can anyone advise any starting points for rides? I know there is loads of stuff in that area, but not sure where to start. We’re taking trail bikes (camber 29er and a zesty) so aren’t after full on downhill runs, more long Singletrack descents (technical stuff welcome, just not massive jumps). Open to climbing but also hoping to take advantage of uplifts sometimes.

Any advice gratefully received!!

I guess a start would be the passport route. Got to be careful about the lifts being open though.

We stayed out in St Jean D’Aulps for our first trip to the Alps last year, and pretty much managed to sort ourselves out by following bits of the VTT route around the area. The maps for this are available from the local tourist information, and also online with bit of searching…

Also there are a couple of books out there, the one we have for this year is the VTT Portes du Soleil vtopo book by Cédric Tassan. It can sometimes be found on Amazon… sometimes not…

Good Choice! I’ve stayed in Chatel a couple of times – it’s a good base. When are you going?

It’s fairly easy to ride to Morgins on an AM bike – you can use the Super Chatel Gondola to gain a bit of height, but the routes aren’t very clearly marked. The links up to Croset are pretty good. The routes back to Morgins down the En They valley are a nice cruise.

We got lost heading over to Togon on DH bikes last year – on a a clear day there must be loads of stuff to explore over there.

There’s a climb out of the back of Croset that eventually takes you to the back of the Nyon sector of Morzine – Dirt featured it a while back.

I’ll send a bundle of mmo or gpx files if you want. Email me.

If you’re staying IChatel, then the best first day in my opinion, is to play in the Chatel bike park first. There are blue, red and black runs and your bikes are perfect for the trails there.

Then after that you could explore over towards Lindarets and on into Morzine which is one of my favourite trails in the PdS.

My days out usually start or end with a couple of runs down Blues & Rock or People in Chatel. Panaromique is also fabulous and flowy.

+1 head towards Morgins and over to Le Crossets.

And jump the river gap!

Chatel is a nice plac, there for a week last year 😆

P1000083 by john_henry_mtb, on Flickr

Free shuttle bus up to the bike park.
There is a nice ride back from the bike park, track starts up an access road to the right of the lifts.
There are a few bike shops but are expensive !
We bought a map to supplement the Passport map and there is a walkers map with a bit more detail on it.
I took my ’05 Kona Dawg and we managed all the stuff that my ability could manage……

Just be aware of the little flag system in the bike park until you know the trails. If I remember correctly little red ones can denote anything from nice tabletop to river gap 😀

Stutter/braking bumps arrrrrggggghhhhhh ❗

There’s a climb out of the back of Croset that eventually takes you to the back of the Nyon sector of Morzine – Dirt featured it a while back.

Col de cou, (The ridge ride) classic Singletrack that drop into Champery, as featured in Dirt.

We are staying in Morzine this year. With the Pleney lift being closed we were thinking of heading over to the chatel bike park. Can I ask how long the ride is (using the lifts) from morzine to chatel? The bike park looks great

From Morzine to Chatel:-

Super morzine gondola – this exits close to the Zore chairlift, from the top of zore there’s a 10/15 minute section of fireroad which is section of fireroad. This brings you out next to a small road junction. There’s an easyish descent that starts beside the junction and takes you into Lindarets. the lift on the other side of the valley takes you to the top of the Chatel bike park. Overall I’d guess about an hour and 15 minutes

On the way back you only have to worry about getting back to Lindaerts for the last lift, everything else is downhill.

Anyone got any space on an August trip?

Thanks for that oliverd1981. We did the passporte in 2010 but I could not remember how long that section took. I hope we can find the switchback descent into lindarett we did then. That was excellent. Thanks again

Not sure there is that much over in Torgon, I did PPdS from there in 2008 and whilst the final drop back into Torgon through woods was excellent there was quite a bit of riding over fields, I can see how the earlier poster got lost.

The group of blues in Chatel are excellent (rock and roller etc), don’t be fooled by the “easy grading”, the red accessed via a short downhill road section from the mid point is really good once you’ve got your confidence.

The riding in Morgins is good too as is the stuff down from Champery back towards Avoriaz.

Col du Cou mentioned above likewise, look on map for Arrette de Berois (probably spelt that wrong)

A lot of good riding isn’t on the trail map, it’s a combination of fireroads and tracks through the woods. Hiring a guide / teacher for a day split between you would be worthwhile and IMO its worth buying an IGN map when you get there

@flinrose, that descent sounds like Tobaggan, has the small jump at the top then a series of tighter and tighter berms. It’s easy to find off the GR5 path which makes up part of the PPdS route

chatel is directly on the PdS loop. Straight up Super Chatel.
On the loop back round (if you do a loop), you’ll be coming up Chaux Fleurie and get to do whatever you like in the Chatel Bike Park. We tended to do that as part of a day out rather than up-down-up-down-etc. Really liked Panoramique+Serpentine (one follows the other).

At top of Super Chatel, there were supposed to be a load of new “Blues” up a chairlift to the left in Torgon (going back down to Chatel I think). It was a cack day by the time we were there, and were running late, so we skipped that and carried on round the PdS loop. No idea what they’re like.

From Chatel back to Morzine, only need to get to top of Rossachons… fro there it is possible to descend all the way to Morzine (with a bit on road and a ride along the river). Just follow the purple signs.

Thanks guys loads of good stuff. Will get a hold of passports map then if I can…

Find it here…
http://en.portesdusoleil.com/portes-du-soleil-domain-map.html

PdS loop is largely marked with burgundy signs, but is orangey on the map. PPdS event follows kind of the same route but varies a bit each year, I think.

Ahhhh Chatel not for me,especially the main one down form the top lift has to be one of the worse in that area! along with the other down to lindarets from there

along with the other down to lindarets from there

That’ll be the trail under Chaux fleurie which has gone from blue, to red to black in 3 years – it’s not really on any of the trail fairies jurisdictions so it suffers. The top section is good but the bottom section is a bit steep for many. It’s easily avoided by following the cat-track instead.

prefer other ways down from there 8) 😉

GPX sent.
Looks like I’m going to miss my Alps ‘hit’ this year 🙁 Have a great time folks.