As it says, going on a 3-4 day trip out to a place near Champery (directions from our accomm to champery: HERE) to visit a friend who’s working out there. Taking my 4″ giant trance and a friend on a gt avalanche.
Are there plenty of trails to ride over there at this time of year without the lifts? any recommended trails?
Is it possible to get over to morzine without the lifts or driving round the mountains?

any help appreciated. got accomm etc sorted just want to know about trails.

The drive from Champery to Morzine is a pain in the a**e; we had to do it (twice – we had a bit of an epic that day as I broke my chainset right at the start of the ride and i ended up borrowing one off a customer’s bike that was booked into a service centre! We got back late and the shop had already closed up so we had to drive to Morzine, then drive back again the next day to return the borrowed crank.) a few years back when a mate and I did the PPDS and it took about 90 minutes each time.
I’ve no idea if there are trails that will take you over from Champery to Morzine, but even if there were it would be a monster ride. You need three lifts to get from Champery to Morzine – have a look at the PPDS website as it shows the route very well on their website: http://www.passportedusoleil.com
The lift out of Champery might be open as it’s a huge tram car type lift rather than the more usual chair lift. If that is the case then I am sure there is plenty you could do around the Champery valley.

Doubt the lifts would be open until June, and there’s still snow higher up as well;

<http://www.snoweye.com/?resort=ch_champery&gt;

col de cou ride is alway a good one…

Lifts don’t open till June so looks like we could be a bit stuck…
There must be some crazy riding people know of that doesn’t need lifts?

There’s loads of good riding around Champerry,tons of really nice singletrack,you’ll just need to explore a little,the cablecar will probably be running at weekends so if you’re there then you can always do the world cup track, should be fun on an avalanche.

cheers chilli my faith has been restored for our visit.
yeah about that avalanche ha. he nails any uk trail centre so he’ll be alright, saving up for a pitch pro style bike. wish he’s hurry with it!

Champery lift won’t be open…. and there’s too much snow up at 1600m + anyways… and don’t even think that nailing a UK trail centre will stand you in good stead for the Champery World Cup course – it’s so far and away harder than anything I’ve ever tried to ride it’s stupid – (muchos respect for the world class riders)

What you want to do is either pedal about the Champery valley, or take the train down to Monthey – ride over to Bex and then use their train up to Greydon and Villars. The slopes are south west facing – clear of snow. You can get a good deal of height off the trains.

Other than that there’s Dorenaz – down the valley a bit – there’s a lift that runs all year. Or Montreux for the Rochers de Naye train – you just might have to get off before the very top – but some epic descents to be done off that down to the Lake.

I know a few guys who live in Champery who’ll show you about for a bit of a guiding fee if you like. email me – guy at flowmtb.com

ah – just saw you’re staying in Gryon – don’t bother with Champery. just ride there – use the train to get back up from the valley… plenty of riding around.

As mentioned, Champèry is probably out as there’s still too much snow. You’re not going to be too far from Chateau d’Oex or Gruyère and there will be some good riding around there. This route is quite close:
Aigle – St.Maurice

If you’re out this weekend, there’s a big cycling event in Lausanne on Saturday with a 30km MTB course round the local circuit here called Chalet-à-Gobet. That might be worth a visit anyway if you’re really stuck, simply becase it has waymarked trails. There is a 10km route with two 5km diversions to make an optional 20km. It’s about 800m of height variation with some fireroad climbs and some good descending..

Journée Lausannois du Velo

Finally, if you don’t mind a bit of a drive, you could go to Metabief in France, the snow has mostly cleared off the Jura now and there are some good trails there but I would imagine the chairlift is closed…

Thanks beanum – will look into those.

Cheers flowmtbguy (btw I’m staying with you in august – Can’t fricking wait!)
The plan does seem to be get that train back up and session the tracks near by.
Was planning on taking my trance but looks like i’ll now be taking my marin quake instead!

i’m intrigued by the world champ course. done the world cup course at fort bill easily on my marin quake… might try and borrow an xc bike and give it a go if I can.

no probs.

the WC course is definitely something you should see to believe. however it’s certainly a waste of a big climb to see it if the lifts are closed.. it’s not like there’s a few tricky bits, it’s just one massive super tricky bit.

That DH course is unbelievable . You can only just stand up leaning into the ground so riding it takes much more skill than I’d ever have . The drops, roots gradient are like no other .
This should have MASSIVE warnings as people going over from the likes of LES GETS etc think it’ll be another ‘easy’ one and it isn’t !
I might just poke my head over this time to show my mates but once on it you can’t get off it 😉

my GOSH, you don’t half get some random suggestions on this forum…

Ride over to MORZINE ?????

Drive to METABIEF ?????

Where you are staying, you’re on the edge of the Swiss Valais, one of the best areas in the world to ride (far better than the above two places starting with M)

For a start, there’s loads of riding between Gryon and Bex… (use the train or pedal power or both to get up the hill)

…and if you want a bit of a drive, consider heading further into the Valais. There is enough riding in that canton to last a lifetime (ask BikeVerbier). The Lötschberg Südrampe above Brig would be my top tip for a great XC ride, but that is a bit far and there’s soooo much stuff closer to you.

Buy the right maps from any newsagents (not expensive), and follow the thin dashed black lines (singletrack).

If you fancy a day of guided stuff, give Lucy & Phil of BikeVerbier a shout, maybe they’ll be free….they don’t just do Verbier, but all sorts of stuff around Martigny, etc (i.e. in the valley)

Agreed. Do what that guy says up there 🙂