I’m planning to visit Samoens this summer as a friend has a chalet there, which should make the trip more affordable. This will be my first trip to the alps and so, I’m a bit unsure of what i’m doing…

Generally speaking, what’s the riding like? The samoens/grand massif websites describe the area as being more XC/natural than the offerings over in Morzine and Les Gets which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I don’t want to kick myself by picking somewhere that offers below par riding for the alps.

By the looks of it, Samoens has two main lifts to get to the top of the hill. But the second section (the Chariande Express chair lift) looks like it only runs Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Is it possible to get to the top of the hill on the days where the chariande express isn’t running?

I’ve been eyeing up the Haut Giffre trail map and it looks like it might be possible to get up to the top by riding down to morillon on the green from Samoens then taking the Morillon, Esserts and Bergin lift to the top. Although I’m not sure whether you can run along the ridge it looks like you can drop down into les said by taking some one of the red options from the top of the Bergin. I’m looking at this map at the moment – http://www.samoens.com/phocadownload/vtt/carte%20mo-sa%202013%20vd.jpg

Is this the only way, or am I missing an obvious easier route? Or is it something that we don’t even need to consider?

I’ve also read that you can drop in to the Les Gets side from Samoens which could be fun for a day or two (as long as the cost isn’t prohibitive). Can anyone shed any light on how you’d do this?

I’ve tried looking a google maps and the samoens summer map but can’t see how you’d go about doing it. When looking at the map i’ve linked above i’m presuming that the link is somewhere off the bottom left of the map. A website I looked at mentioned that you needed to drop over the ridge line to the north of Samoens and the trail map looks south and doesn’t show any trails up the north side other than hikers paths, i think, hence the difficulty working it out.

Aside from the above, I don’t really know what to expect in terms of time spent riding each day. Is it the case that we’ll be lapping multiple trails in a day or is a more realistic estimate only one or two trails per day? I’ve only really got ski trips as a base for any assumptions but i suspect that things are a little different when you’re on the bike – is there much in terms of ascent required?

If it’s only one or two trails per day, perhaps there’s no need to get over the Les Gets side this trip because there’s plenty in the grand massif to keep us interested?

I’ve been but not biked there. I have mates who go every year and there is some seriously gnarly riding there, but all natural so you could do with a guide for the good stuff really.

I’ll try to find out who my mates use, it’s one of their mates, but i’m sure he has a web site.

Beautiful place though.

I went to Samoens 18 months ago in mid-August. It was a family holiday and not a biking holiday so only had 2-3 days. I can’t comment on traversing into other resorts but from the main lift out of Samoens that didn’t appear to be a ridable track up as an alternative to the Chariande Express chair lift. We hiked down from the top and it was very steep and rocky in places.

Riding was good on the marked trails. I was riding blue/red trails on a Kona Explosif hardtail but there were plenty of people on bigger bikes taking the reds and blacks.

There is a good MTB shop near the lift in Samoens so may be worth contacting them in advance for the wider picture.

Also worthy to note that in the event of electrical storms the lift is shut and tends not to re-open. If you like Alpine road climbs its fine but a good 1 hour to the top.

Firstly have a look at these guys (they are on facebook too) – they run bike holidays there Bike Alp

Riding there is a mix of bike park trails and paths plus some VTT itineries which mostly rely on riding up or a van / car uplift. VTT maps you can only get in paper format from the tourist office unfortunately. The VTT trails are on hiker paths and are generally deserted as most people (us Brits) don’t ride up

There are a couple of other resorts up the valley too where you can ride.

The run down from the top of Les gets / Lac Joux Plan via Bourgeois into Samoens is excellent (search on here). There are no lifts on that side of the hill so you need a lift (taxi) up or ride the climb which is a TdF one (1000+ meters, 18% in places I believe 🙁 ). If you want to ride Les Gets best to drive over there or get a taxi up to Joux Plan / top of Les Gets then ride there/Morzine etc before catching the lift back to the top then doing the 1200m descent back to Samoens. Note that ride is on paths so make sure someone knows where you are as its highly unlikely anyone will come past if you fall/injure yourself.

If you use website geoportal.gouv.fr you can switch on the IGN mapping and see all the paths / trails, plus overlay satellite photos

I will drop you an email with a few things I have

Thanks for the info guys.

I’ll try to find out who my mates use, it’s one of their mates, but i’m sure he has a web site.

If you could find their details that’d be great as I suspect we’ll want a guide for some of the days we’re there.

It was a family holiday and not a biking holiday

Mrs STS will be joining us for the trip and she doesn’t like bikes, what’s samoens village like? Is it quite quiet or is there stuff to do in town?

Also, we’ll be self catered and won’t have a car, is there a supermarket/shop in the village that has enough of a range for 9 days there?

Can anyone give me some pointers on how much ground we could expect to cover in a day? We’re reasonably fit, reasonable riders.

@singletrack – rent a cheap car, it will make the trip much more enjoyable. IMO 9 days in Samoens with no car will drive your Mrs nuts. Most mountain places are quite quiet in the Summer, more so than in the winter, Samoens old village centre is very cute but not for 9 days I would wager.

Thanks Jambalaya, lots of really helpful info there!

My email is in my profile.

Is the chariande chairlift essential or does the grand massif express get you enough height for decent riding and access to the other resorts in the area?

I went in summer quite a few years ago. It was great for riding, with plenty to explore on both sides of the valley. However, there were not lifts running at the time, so if you don’t like cycling up you wouldn’t be happy.

We went over to Les Gets quite a lot, but it was a climb up the Joux Plan. We just headed over early in the morning before it got too warm and it wasn’t too bad as cycling on the road isn’t that hard work and it’s not steep, just very long.

I worked there for the full summer of 1980 as a leader for Rambler’s Holidays. Mountain bikes hadn’t been invented but there’s some cracking walking around that area. I’d advise a trip to the Lac de Gers and up the valley to the Fer a Cheval, stopping to admire the church and the Abbey in Sixt. The Abbey was the Rambler’s hotel; shame it’s disused now. A two-day trip over to Chalet Anterne and thence on to finish on the Brevent would be a stupendous outing.

Thanks 🙂

Have just realised that google searching the forum returns much more in the way of info than the standard search does too…

Turns out my mates use http://www.bike-alp.com/ as per Jambalaya’s post. The guy is called Steve and if he doesn’t know it it’s not worth riding!!

The outdoor pool in Samoens is nice to lounge around, and there are some lovely walks around the valley as well.

I spent 4 months there one winter and didn’t get bored, I was snowboarding most of the time though!!

Fellow STWer put this stunning photo on flickr on the Les Gets/Bourgeoise/Samoes ride – this is the ride in from the lake along a rutted cow path with a stunning view on Mont Blanc

EDIT: photo not posting from my phone unfortunately, have a search on Flickr for Sheldon Atwood – Frenchland set

We went over to Les Gets quite a lot, but it was a climb up the Joux Plan. We just headed over early in the morning before it got too warm and it wasn’t too bad as cycling on the road isn’t that hard work and it’s not steep, just very long.

Post like this make me feel very lame !

OP, rent a car and pursued the Mrs to run you to the top if you want to ride Les Gets then you can meet her for lunch somewhere later (eg stunning view from Mont Caly restaurant overlooking Les Gets).

Your mates isnt called Stuart is he?

Ive been to Samoens in the summer and winter, much nicer place than Morzine/Les Gets (although quieter, depends what you want). Some stunning scenery too.

Have you got access to a vehicle? You can drive/ride over the col in to Les Gets.

I’ve ridden there in the summer. I don’t recall that much about it, but what I do remember is:

– If it rains the mud is hellish – much worse than anywhere else i’ve ridden in the alps, think north downs sticky clay mud. This was further reenforced when I went hiking there a few years later.
– The lifties refused to open the lifts on one day as it was raining (it rained a lot) and they didn’t believe anyone would want to go riding in the rain.
– Some of the lifities interpreted their hours of working quite liberally – E.G. turn up at a lift ten minutes before it’s due to shut and be told by lifitie that they’re going for lunch so you have to wait a hour (and the rest).
– The descent down the torrent de sales to Sixt is one of the best i’ve ever done (and i’ve gone all over the place): starts here: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Samo%C3%ABns,+France&ie=UTF8&ll=45.988315,6.753201&spn=0.004592,0.012456&cid=8823017890663591052&hnear=Samo%C3%ABns,+Haute-Savoie,+Rhone-Alpes,+France&t=h&z=17
I think it’s technically a foot path but you can stick a pretty epic ride together via the Col de porttee (I think – I wasn’t the navigator)
– Riding is all natural so you need to be good at reading a map and scope out the best trails via picking the brains of various forums / guides who work near there

So all in all, i’m glad i went, and if you went on a dry week it’d be epic. But if you get a wet week your milage may vary!

Few photos here (largely from the epic ride) https://www.flickr.com/photos/ewanpanter/sets/72157627662906308/

OP, sent you an email.

Also I checked and you are correct top lift only opens Tues, Thur, Fri and Sunday – I suspect a lot of good riding is available from middle station down though anyway. IME in the Alps the bottom sections are often steeper and more interesting (eg wooded) that the very top

Grand Massif Lifts

EDIT: Ewan, nice photos and tip, bookmarked that !

Your mates isnt called Stuart is he?

NO, my mate who know Steve @ Bike Alp is called Paul, he usually goes there with 2 northern Irish guys called Jonny and Peter, those 3 are my riding buddies but unfortunately i’ve never managed to get over to Sameons with them. 🙁

@traildog – I had to search this out, (Sheldon and his wife rode up too) chapeau to you all ! Blog post of the climb here

I’ve done a week with Bike-Alp in Samoens (learn to pronounce it correctly to avoid the locals laughing at you!) and can highly recommend both them and the location.

Most of the marked trails above Samoens and Morillon are pretty easy to find and are do-able without a guide. You can get over to Les Carroz via the top of the Charian de Express (it’s not open every day if I remember right) or from the top of the Bergin with a bit of riding uphill. There’s a fair amount of off-piste stuff above Samoens on the Les Gets side of the valley and lots more to go at from Les Carroz if you’re feeling adventurous, including a massive drop from the top of the Grands Platieres which gives amazing views over to Mont Blanc. You’d want a guide for this though.

Samoens itself is a great summer destination. Lots of stuff for kids/families going on and it’s pretty unspoilt as far as French Alpine villages go and it has a large central square with lots of bars and restaurants where you can decamp to after the day’s biking. Also tons of other stuff to do in the Giffre valley including walking, climbing, white water rafting, paragliding etc…

@dazh – Sam-ontz or is it Sam-Oh-onz 😉

We rode over from Les Gets. Well from the top of the lift station anyway 😉 The climb to the top looked a bit like this:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ob3PR2]Les Gets MTB holiday – June 2014[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

then there was the panoramic 360 degree view off the top

[url=https://flic.kr/p/o9iLUN]Les Gets MTB holiday – June 2014[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

And we ended up in this bar in Samoens a bit later.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/obiBJF]Alps MTB trip[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Sadly I didn’t get any pics of the decent. But it’s the one Sheldon did and there’s a video somewhere on youtube. It was blooming fantastic as well. Mostly right by the edge of the mountain. Half way down there’s a wooden jetty that the paragliders lob themselves off.

We’d love to go back and ride some more of the trails there. And that bar was fab 🙂

Locals pronounce it Samowanz.

Big thanks for all the info. Plenty to digest so glad that I’ve got the day off whilst waiting for some sofas to arrive.

The photo albums everyone’s posted make me really want to get out on the bike!

Jambalaya – Email received, thanks for the extra info, I’m sure it’ll come in really useful.

I’ve been looking at the bike-alp site, do they offer a guiding service separate to the chalet bookings? It doesn’t look like it but thought i’d check.

singletrack – they used to offer guiding separately not sure if they still do, it’s worth asking, give them a call

We went there a few years ago. There is some excellent XC on the non-lift side of the valley. The climbs are quite tough so unless you can sort uplift or are super fit, one ride a day might be enough! You can get maps from tourist info and the trails are very well signposted once you know what to look for. One to do is to ride up and up and up the road for a good 2 hours to the Joux Plan col between Samoens and Morzine and then take the track across to the cross you can see on the hill and then just keep going down.

As someone else said the ride above Sixt is good and you can get there on a great riverside single track. You can get over to Flaine on the Chariande lift (with a bit of a push) then take the DMC cable car and then descend to Sixt, You would want full body armour for that one though! Or from Flaine, take the lake side single track and work way to Lez Carroz and then lifts and trails back to Samoens – this would be a proper day out. You can work out all these routes from the map at tourist info.

I didn’t think much of the lift assisted riding but am more of an XC gal. Do remember it being quite muddy though. Plenty to keep you busy for 9 days – the four described here are all day rides.

There is a lovely outdoor pool in Samoens, the town itself is very quaint and they have a programme of entertainment and cultural things on in the summer. But possibly not enough to keep your wife entertained for 9 days. Shops in town and a bigger and cheaper supermarket on the road to Morillon – you could get there on your bike in 10 mins.

Sammwah

Lots of good riding, start with the tourist office map. Lifts aren’t as ubiquitous as Portes du Soliel and not all open every day.

Most of the best riding is off the Joux Plan side, though an epic day from Samoens 1600 round to Flaine then downhill from 2500m on top of Grands Platieres back to Samöens takes some beating. Last summer was shit and we didn’t ride MTBs from Samoens at all; July 2013 had brilliant weather so rode until bits fell off people and bikes. Ho hum.

There’s not really trails off the chariande express, it’s more a link to get across to Flaine/ Lea Carroz (which is also doable from the two lifts out of Morillon.

. Morillon has best lift assisted riding though as others have said it gets very muddy in wet and is slow to dry out.

The river trail runs right up the valley from Taninges to Sixt which is a useful link as trails don’t start and end in same place. Enjoy!

One to do is to ride up and up and up the road for a good 2 hours to the Joux Plan col between Samoens and Morzine and then take the track across to the cross you can see on the hill and then just keep going down.

OP, this is the ride / map I sent you FYI with recommendation of a road uplift 😉 Note the bottom half from Chantemerle is a marked VTT trail

Another good option is to speak to one of the airport shuttle companies, if you’re flexible you may get a cheap run over to Morzine/ Les Gets if they would otherwise be going empty to do a pick-up.

Then ride PdS til mid afternoon, nip up the Ranfolly from Les Gets, pedal across to top of Joux Plan (basically flat) and do the Bourgoiuse descent back to Samöens to finish on a beer at Bar Le Savoie.

I’ve always pronounced it Sam Ones seemed to get me by.

I thought the last s was silent – Sam-whan.

Right, who ever goes there next ask a local!! 🙂

I thought the last s was silent – Sam-whan.

This is the one we were told and it served us well. Just don’t say ‘sam-oh-en(z)’ or you’ll get confused looks and gallic shrugs 🙂

Sam-Whan is probably close enough for foreigners.

The oe is dipthongised, so it’s Sam-Oh-an, but the local accent does blend it into a kind of W sound.

There’s a fair bit to keep you going in Samoens, you can link easily into the rest of the Grand Massif area (assuming the lifts are open on that day, pay attention!)

Here’s some hints and tips that might help:
http://www.chamonixbikeblog.com/2012/aye-grand-massif/
http://www.chamonixbikeblog.com/2013/proper-planning-prevents-long-climbs-grand-massif/

If you’ve got a car though, the world (err, north western alps) is your oyster. Within 45min to an hour depending on how happy you are driving in alpine roads you can ride La Saleve, Combloux, Megeve, Les Contamines, La Clusaz and Chamonix as well as the Les Gets/Morzine/PdS area. Most of the above would only keep you occupied for a day, but passes are 12-20 euros a day so it’s not breaking the bank.

The Enduro World Series is in Samoens next summer, if that helps you get an idea of the quality of the trails. The Coupe du France enduro series has been going there for years (in the rain generally) and doesn’t use the official marked trails much. Generally if you see a trail off the main Samoens lift then it’ll be twisty singletrack through trees with no unrollable features until to get back to the main road for another lap.

Have fun!

Ridden several times there. Enjoyed it. May I recommend Jamie of http://www.ridethealps.com. He lives at Morillon, knows the place like the back of his hand. ( and very well qualified he is too as a guide).

Great blog posts, just what i needed before a day out at Cwmcarn tomorrow (come say hello if you see me, I’m one of the pair rolling around on white capras).

I’m starting to feel like I know what to expect now particularly in terms of miles covered.

Definitely going to try and get across to PDS with the return down the bourgoise trail.

Has anyone tackled the black down from Le Grande Platiers? Is it full body armour territory? What’s the ride back from Sixt like? is it uphill all the way?

Back Tom Sixt is ok. Great loop is up on Chairlift from Samoens over to La caroz. Few DH runs there then wind your way up to Flaine lift assisted. and back down to Samoens.