Looking to go for the first time this summer.
Weighing up driving vs flying.
Does anyone have any tips / reccomendations of where to start / stay?
Based in Cardiff so Bristol to Geneva would be a good route if I fly.
There are three of us though so driving could be a better option.
Lastly bike wise do I take the Full Suss with 170mm travel or stick with the long forked (150mm) hardtail?

look at some of my previous threads from profile.

We’re driving. We’re taking 2 HT’s with 100mm (29ers) and a Zesty.

Accomodation reccomnedations in my old threads.

You need to read up about the resorts in the PdS and pick which one you think you’ll enjoy staying in the most.

Mountain Biking Europe book is good for this, and a good investment anyway.

Drive if you can I say, transfers are expensive and three people is a good number for a carload.

Take the full sus I say, provided it’s not a massively heavy tank. And then probably still take it anyway.

Thanks guys.
It sounds amazing. Can’t wait

Passportes du Soleil on a 100mm hardtail? EEK! 😯

I think last year some in our group flew which they got for about £68 each way and then used shuttle service from Geneva to Morzine at 30 euros each way.

I drove and it was about 12 hours down to Morzine once on the other side, the guys that were flying paid the £30 to me that they would of paid to ut bike on the plane and I drove down with the bikes in my van.

I think that flying is probably cheaper and quicker, you arrive a lot more refeshed. But on the flip side, you cannot take a great amount on the plane especially of you take a lot of spares (which it is worth doing if you are there for a while as they are expensive out there).

We stayed with a company called More Mountain, who I could not recommend enough, heard a lot of good things about Flow MTB also.

With regards to bikes, i think you will be fine with either, probably quicker on the DH on your full sus and less tiring.

I drove and it was about 12 hours down to Morzine

12 hour drive there yes…

12 hours on the other side scud? It didn’t take us anywhere near that!

We drove from Manchester to the tunnel, got a cheap Hotel for the night, then on to the first Eurostar in the morning.

Its a long drive the other side. But its a lot more convenient to have your bike and all your gear in the car. Rather than lugging bike bags, full face lids etc onto transfers

Share the driving and have a doze. You’ll love it its cracking. Take a full susser and enjoy it more. You could do it on a hardtail. Why? Other than for a bet, I’ve no idea why you would. It’d be absolutely nackering! But that’s just me

16stonepig.

It was a bit slower on the way back wasn’t it??!! Never buy French!

Is it best to start in a smaller resort to avoid queues etc?
Or is Morzine the one for general atmosphere, craic?

Or is Morzine the one for general atmosphere, craic?

There are more people in Morzine than some of the other resorts but it’s a sausagefest.

Have had a laugh on nights out there, but it can be a bit testosteroney.

scud you must have been there the same time as us with More Mountain.
Was it you or one of your guys that got injured the first ride out?

Was it you or one of your guys that got injured the first ride out?

Yes, that was us 🙄

hows about driving down in the van, any campsites?

Some good advice there.
We have been for the last 6 yrs, drove and flown. I prefer to drive as you can take more stuff. Dare I say we take road bikes as well and do a few Cols and make a week of it, mixing road and trails around Morzine etc.
Bike wise, I see a lot of riders ‘over biked’ there. Basically the full course has a few options here and there that take the DH course. To be honest there ist that many and they are short. I do it on a short travel HT and its a hoot. I would hate to do it on a long travel FS. No need for the full face either, It really is more TECH XC than DH.
There is a bit more up-hill than you would think as well, no fun on a heavy FS with a full face helmet.
Once you have done it you will do it again, the food on route and general good nature is very addictive.

Passportes du Soleil awesome ride, I went with a guide there are XC routes and more gnar trails we kept meeting up with a group of XC riders all on hardtails or short travel sus, I was riding a heckler with 160 Lyric up front , don’t think I would of liked it on a hardtail , times when I wanted more travel, some steep rocky tracks, couldn’t tell you how to find the trails the guide was very good and took us down some fantastic routes wish I could go again. One of the days we ended up having lunch oppsite a glasier over the Swiss border , happy days.

don’t use the ferry!
I’ve been to Morzine loads and always seem to get delayed on the ferry.
After a long drive back from Morzine after an epic holiday, the last thing you want is to be stuck at Calais for 3 hours waiting for a ferry, where the only convenience they have are stinking toilets and a crap vending machine.
This year, I finally arrived home at 2am after walking from Waterloo to my home 5 miles away with a 40lb bike and a weeks worth of kit, tools and spares.

I’ve found that a Patriot is a good compromise. Did it on the DH bike, but that was just way too much weight for the hills.

A hardtail is possible, but you’ll be beaten to death by the end – I’d avoid it.

I think it depends what you’re going to do for the rest of your time there. I was mostly doing DH type stuff for the rest of the week so I took my Enduro (which is basically built up like an SX trail) with a lighter set of wheels/tyres.
As long as you’re on a bike of 35lbs or less that pedals well enough you’ll be fine. The climbs are minimal, but there are a few long flat bits so non-draggy tyres are key rather than the weight or travel of the bike.

If you’re looking at the Passportes then be aware that then be aware that starts at some resorts (Morzine esp) will sell out very quickly (less than an hour last year iirc).
Book the PPDS first, then the accommodation.

If you’re going to stay in a chalet changeover day is Saturday normally, so the event spans two accommodation weeks- and the lifts aren’t fully open til the PP weekend, so if you ride on the Friday then you could have a limited weeks riding beforehand, dependent of course on what you were hoping to ride,

How long are you going for ? That will impact both where to stay and whether to fly/drive.

I like the event, it’s well organised and a fun day out. I think it makes a good focal point for a longer stay be that 4 days or a week. I like to drive for flexibility and because I know the bike is safe. I’ve watched a group unpack their bikes with a beer in hand and that looked fairly stress free, they had bike bags and lots of packing and they brought their bike stands. So you take your preference, a car can transform a longer stay if you use it to explore other resorts.

If its your first trip and you only staying a short time then Morzine and Les Gets are the typical choices of the Brits. Last year we stayed in Les Gets with Ski Blue Ridge and would recommend them and they are flexible on dates. Les Gets is slightly more relaxed than Morzine and we picked up our entry at 7 and rolled down the hill into Morzine (you are not supposed to do this but it wasn’t a problem). Other good choice would be Chatel as it has a good bike park.

If you have more time you might consider another resort which would allow you to ride elsewhere, eg Chamonix or Verbier. You need to plan as mid week lifts only open after the PPdS in some other resorts (full systems open in Les Gets and Morzine before). For example you could stay in Chambery which has some great riding and then take day trips to Verbier etc. this is where your car comes in. The only place to avoid is Torgon, we did it from there once as it was only place with spaces but it would not be recommended.

Last year we took advantage of the additional day and rode the event on Friday. We booked on the opening day and if you get online promptly (remember website opens at specific French time so don’t get caught out with clock difference) you can book to start from your choice. Friday will sell out but is in less demand than the weekend.

Finally the bike, you can ride a hardtail on the PPdS and you’ll see folk out on them, perhaps the only tricky section might be the steep option into Champery and rooty section into Morzine but these are two of the best sections. Also a 100mm hardtail is going to struggle on the sort of trails you’ll want to ride outside the event.

Have fun. We’re going again probably using Champery as our base and intending to ride Verbier, Zermatt (possibly) and Chamonix after.

jambalaya makes a very good point.

go for a week at least if you can!

Some excellent posts here lads. MAny thanks.

We’re doing the PPDS on the Friday as we have to come back Sunday morning as it’s my lads birthday on Monday, we are travelling over on the Wed morning to arrive Weds evening though, so we’ll have the Thurs to freeride and Sat for the same. I think we’ll be doing the same sort of XC trails on the Sat and Thurs as we’re not really downhillers, never doing anything more than Afan/UK trailcentres etc…

Even though i’m on a 100mm HT 29er, i don’t have a lot of choice as it’s my only bike LOL. I’ll be taking all spares including wheels/mechs/chains etc and workstands.

We’re a little vague on what happens and how it all works though, so some information would be most useful please lads.

Lets assume we wake up Friday morning (we’re staying 1.5km from Morzine centre)… ride up to the town…. what do we do ? where do we go ? how do we plan our route etc

If you’re going for that little time then I’d definitely fly. If you can get early flghts out you can get most of another days riding in as the transfer is only an hour. Take the fs bike for a more fun time. The drive is only 8 hours from calais or less if you try (6 is the best I’ve done) but for a such a short time flights all the way.

For places to stay look at prgmtb for top prices albeit slightly out of town, le sherpa/jolly good mountain adverntures for nice food and a bar on site.

Just to save confusion, i don’t know the OP and am not going with him lol.

Great advice guys.
We were planning to go for 4 or 5 days, which would cut into riding time if we drove,
I do like to go prepared with all the back up gear, spares etc though so it is appealing.
Looks like a better option to take the Giant Reign XO, I could slim her down to under 35lbs too.
Other guys have an SWorks stumpjumper and a SC VPFree so a real mixed bag.
The guys want to camp but judging by the feedback i’d say a jaquzzi at the end of the day is a godsend as is a real bed!

Reign X will be a great bike for the area.

Def take your full suss, it’s a very long and bumpy day.

I liked Chatel, Morzine too big for me.

Driving vs flying is about costs vs being knackered after the drive or stopping to sleep en route.

Giant Reign works, thats what I have, it has 160m forks. Forget the weight issue, you want chuckability.

Get up early on the day so you can make registration opening (7am ?) collect your pack, attach your number (nice touch last year it had your name and country flag) get some breakfast and go, they give you some other crap inc the book if you bought it, if you want drag it around the route, we dropped ours back at accommodation.

There is no way you’ll be able to resist red or the easier black trails so forget the “xc only bias” ! My top tip is (on a nice day) ride to Les Gets via lifts then take loft to Mont Chery and ride along ridge to Mont Caly for a fantastic view from a great little local restaurant while you lunch. Then pick your blue/red/easy black route back to Les Gets and then home (you can freewheel down the road to Morzine)

Pete Poddy won the PdS the year we went….

DrP

So, the ‘route’ ? How do we know where that is exactly ?

weeksy – it’s sign posted ! There are a couple of places you can go a bit wrong, easy to miss the Champery steep option (left turn on hairpin near farm) but if your timid it’s one to miss. The standard road ride into the village is however long and a bit dull. There are so many people it’s quite hard to get lost.

DrP – Member
Pete Poddy won the PdS the year we went….

DrP

Pic of Pete and his bike (he said it was the “ideal” PdS bike) …

IMG_0866 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

Needed a bigger saddle….

DrP(itchlove)

definately pencilled in, taking my five pro, looking at driving down in the van from rochdale on thursday to do the ride sat and come back sunday night/ mon am. hope the sun shines!!

jambalaya – last year they opened the registration the night before in Les gets. But it certainly wasn’t common knowledge. Hence when we registered, after a fun day riding Morzine, there was no-one there!

Instead of being up at the crack of dawn and queuing, we got up fairly late, leisurely breakfast, then got right at the front of the queue for the first lift

I’d seriously recommend you do this, if they’re doing it again this year. Its certainly worth finding out

binners – thanks

EDIT: I’ve noticed golf style leary gear appearing on mountain bikers (LaPierre review from our very own STW and I agree, let’s dress like Huggy even if it’s just for day) 😀

We did Hawaiian shirts the last time we rode it! Looked ‘awesome’ (or not…)
I like the sounds of golf wear!

DrP

numptie questions alert…

It’s says it’s on for 29th, 3oth June and 1st July.

I assume it’s a 1-day ride, so could you do it three times, once a day?

If you just do it one of the days, is there a ‘best’ day to do it?

That’s right reggie, one-day ride – happening three times.

Best day to do it is the one it doesn’t rain.

Or maybe Friday.