hopefully gonna score a day off on a work trip to italy.

not gon ship my bike for just 1 day so wondered what the hire situation was, google not throwing up much info other than those on the official website, 50 EUR for non specific ‘enduro’ bike..

anyone got any info?

nobody?

Try Aeosta Valley Freeride or there is a bike hire company at the side of the lift in Pila

Racking my brain to think what the hire fleet was there the other week, shop at the bottom had loads on a Tuesday or Wednesday. One at the mid station seemed to have a lot of bikes kicking around too, that one was fantastic as they bled my brakes over lunchtime for free.

The bikes kicking around all looked worth riding but for the life of me can’t remember what they were but they definitely weren’t bad enough to cause a second glance. You should be ok with what they were offering, especially the place at the top of the first lift although you’d have to get up there again for the end of the day.

http://www.pila.it/en/skipasses/mtb-rental/mtb-rental-rates/%5B/URL%5D

Was there last week. The top end bikes at the bottom of the Chamolé chair lift were Transition TR500s. Seem to be plenty in the racks.

Bigjim’s over there right now, go and nick his bike.

Cheers. So am I better off driving up to resort or taking the gondola from Aosta? Sounds like I’ll have to give the bike back at the top of it so it’ll be a ride up and back down it at the end of the day…

Check the brake pad wear before you take the bike.

My rear ones burnt out and fell out half way down to the Aosta gondola. The rest of the ride wasn’t much fun.

I have to say the Pila – Aosta downhill ride is awesome. A storming 3000′ descent. Unfortunately the top lift wasn’t open when I was there this summer so couldn’t do the full on top to bottom, having said that I don’t think my forefingers could take it.

If you get chance have a look on the map, there is another run, think its D21 that comes down from Pila to Aosta thats not as cut up and just as much fun.

Otherwise there is a decent hire shop in La Thuile if you’d rather ride more “Enduro” trails than bike park.

So am I better off driving up to resort or taking the gondola from Aosta?

Top section is about 2.5km with a couple of different options, lower is about 12km with fewer options. We did the top blue to get the eye in, the red, then a coffee. After that we went back to the top for a red top to bottom, pedaled back to the gondola (maybe a mile of pedaling) and to the mid section for lunch before another top to bottom.

By halfway down the lower section I was utterly wasted, covered in dust, had one high speed fall, huge smile on my face!

Sounds like the bikes from the bottom of the gondola will be decent so first choice would be hire from there. If you have to finish the day at the mid station you still want to park at the bottom of the gondola, there was a guy ragging it up the switchbacks on a small engined motorbike under the gondola and we got there a long time before him, road is very small and tight. Gondola would drop you right back at your car any way.

The owner of the chalet we were staying in came with us, he was saying the last guys in his chalet who went to Pila parked at the mid (resort) station and came home pretty disappointed about the trip, they’d not seen the start of the lower trail (over the wee ramp by the corner of the chairlift past the wee hire/repair hut) and had ridden the top all day. Big part of the enjoyment was the amount of descending without having to pedal at all!

Aye, I didn’t give the top section a fair go tbh, did 2 runs then we went down the pila-aosta trail and it was just nope, not doing anything else for the rest of the day. Full runs are brutal mind!

it appears the Couis 1 lift may have already closed that week but it looks like a reasonable pedal up the access road?? definitely wanna do the full top to bottom (Desarpa?) at least once… reckon ill have a couple of runs in the stadium, then make my way to the top of the Couis 1 for a full run down to aosta, then see how im doing for time…

The dirt road up to the ridge starts at the top of the Chamolé chair. Just get off the chair and turn right. After about 5mins of whizzing gently downhill you will get to the Couis 1 chair. At that point it will be a several hundred metres’ stiff climb/push to get up to the ridge and the start of Desarpa.

Completing the top-to-bottom is satisfying but signage on the Desarpa is not awesome and while it’s a nice ride down it’s would not be worth having to walk / cycle up and not a patch on the Pila-Aosta run. I had four days and only bothered with it twice.

If you are limited to one day then my advice would be skip Desarpa and the bike park and just do the Pila-Aosta repeatedly until you can’t hold onto your brakes anymore.

hmmm, interesting. but i can bolt the Pila-Aosta run you speak of onto the bottom of the Desarpa? think ill still do it, if i regret it its an excuse to go back!!

this is the route i plotted so im not reliant on signs… https://www.strava.com/routes/10364981

Top section is about 2.5km with a couple of different options, lower is about 12km with fewer options. We did the top blue to get the eye in, the red, then a coffee. After that we went back to the top for a red top to bottom, pedaled back to the gondola (maybe a mile of pedaling) and to the mid section for lunch before another top to bottom.

By halfway down the lower section I was utterly wasted, covered in dust, had one high speed fall, huge smile on my face

That, exactly what we did. epic, every day. Most we did was 2 full runs a day with a few blue or reds at top to get things rolling. Exhausting fun.

My Garmin had the total run at 6 miles and 1700m descent, 13 m of climbing

Not sure why everyone thinks it’s 12km.

Bike “shop” at the bottom of the chairlift hires bikes, body armour, helmets etc. Bubble car up, walk down to chairlift, they’re there. Run to Aosta starts there too.

Aosta by [/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE
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Not sure why everyone thinks it’s 12km.

Because that’s what most sites say it is, including the Pila website, well 11/12km. I think I recorded it at 10/11km a few years ago, but I may have missed a couple of trails as there are sooo many you could take.

Awesome place!

I thought that the 11k was the longest run from the top to the bottom which included a bike park run. Think we clocked the Pila to Aosta freeride run at just over 8k and the one over to the left just a bit less

is that 6 mile run not from the top of the Chamole lift?

trouble with hiring from the the top of the gondola is missing the last run down to Aosta! id prefer to still be as high as possible when the lifts close. suppose i could always ferry the bike back up in the car….. although the shop might shut!

Couis 1 closed for the season on the 19th I think. Views are incredible up there, top part of the trail down (Desarpa) is fun in bits but isn’t worth climbing up for really.

There’s a nice ridgeline option off the top of the Chamolé if you don’t mind a little climb.

Full facer for Pila?

Yes I think so. I had my normal helmet and it didn’t occur to me to pull it out of the car even once.

Full face for sure. If lifts are open run top to bottom, great fun. Nice for lunch everywhere on slopes except cafe with really loud music

That was a good day!! Tracks were brutal! Could barely hold on by the afternoon…

I rented a bike from the broom of the chair lift. I asked for an enduro bike but the woman said I wasn’t allowed on the bike park tracks or the aosta freeride with an enduro bike so ended up with a beasty Devinci Spartan!! Amazing fun!! But obvs didn’t push it up to the top of Desarpa….