Morning All,

What with all this serious business lately I thought you might like a few snaps from a weeks camping and Riding in the Swiss Alps my mate I did last week.

We were based in Sussten (near Sierre) and either rode out, or took a short drive to get to most of the riding.

First day of proper riding we rode out from the campsite and rode up to Crans Montana…that was about 1800-1900M’s of climbing and it was hot….We decided that was a bit too much for middle aged farts as ourselves. So the rest of the time we either used the car to get up off the valley floor or cable car, but still managed to get in around 900-1000M’s of climbing, quite a bit of hikey bike as there was still quite a bit of snow above 2000M’s but the descents were epic. No major off’s and a few beers in the evening so nice week away from the wives and kids.

Pics and Videos

Nice.

Why did you choose Sierre ? An usual choice ?
Is that Grimentz (old wooden chalets) if so where did you ride, if not where ?
Any gems you found ?
How did you do route research ?

Climing to Crans chapeau but thats what the post bus is for 😉

Might I suggest you put some photos on a hosting site so you can post here and/or video on YouTube or Vimeo so you can do the same

Nice photos, jealous!

We were actually in Sussten, Monument Campsite, nice campsite. Swiss Campsites can sometimes pack you in and are a bit regulated, this one was nice and quiet and we had our little end to ourselves. I think the french speaking areas are better. It was close to most of the riding as also rode near the Altesch Glacier.

Worked out pretty well. Has a Co-op in Sussten and Sierre and when you don’t make the silly 18:30 closing time, you have the Co-op Pronto in Sierre….which stocks plenty of cold beers!!

Grimentz, yep, actually rest day so we just had a stroll, the only day of miserable weather so we were happy to just wander.

Dave, of Swiss Alpine Adventure has kindly posted some great details on the site, plus Single Trail Maps are very handy.

When they give a route a thumbs up, they aren’t kidding.

Plus I purchased one of the Swiss mountain bike mags for some route ideas.

We did a few bike carries, but when you have all day it’s not a problem. Both of us like to have a bit of graft, makes you appreciate the downs more!

I’ll chuck em up on photobucket when I have a moment.

Thanks for all of that. Which magazine ?

I recognised the glacier ( 🙂 ) what was that like as a ride ?

I’ll be in Verbier once or twice (hopefully) and always keen on new adventures – have to decide whether to walk or ride the Altesch

Ride I think.

We couldn’t do the first bit as it was still snowed in. But the rest of it was pretty epic actually.

I have a few more videos, I’ll try and upload them so you can see the trail.

Actually the more I think about it, it was bloody mint.

Okay, uploaded some Videos to youtube

Sorry no editing or music…just raw video. But you’ll get an idea of the various routes.

Thanks, for the ultra lazy like me ….(edit: so did your mate ever turn up 😉 )

[video]https://youtu.be/DBjGgF0zuOc[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/InNc8acfork[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/pSmr_5N1plM[/video]

I’m a bit more used to the terrain having lived places with Mountains for the past 14 years…If you are coming direct from the bad lands of South East England it takes a few days to find your feet on the steep rocky stuff 🙂