Just got back from Ax in the Pyreneees. Disappointed with the lift-assisted stuff, but with caveats. I am a confident ‘red’ sort of rider, not averse to the odd black bit but not a downhiller of any sort. It was not clear to me exactly whether the marked descents from were actually proper DH stuff or more reasonable. I rode the route marked as red. it was a bizarre mix of completely untechnical dirt, tracks and ‘silly’ DH (difficult carrying *down*hill!). It looked like there had been very little work done on it. It was washed out everywhere. Now, I realise I shouldn’t have expected an hour of Spooky Wood, but I was disappointed.
I did Luchon a few years back and experienced something similar, although rather better. A tiny bit of bike park stuff at the top then basically follow the track/path. The final GR path was nicely technical, the rest largely a waste of height. I think the key is getting local input, there are obviously loads of good trails, *if* you can find them. Marmot Tours do Ax, and AQR Luchon I believe.
On the plus side, I can recommend the area around Le Mayet de Montagne near Vichy entirely – buckets of easy to find high quality XC riding, and a lovely village with pool. Been there 3 times now and still just scratched the surface 🙂
