Help plan my holiday. Alps. 6 weeks. Bikes and M'bike

Briancon / Serre Che

Col de granon

Infernet from Montgenevre

Les Arcs! Endless techy, sketchy singletrack and a lot of it can be accessed by lift/minor hike a bike. Pretty close to La Thuile, which I've not been to but hear is excellent. Same with Beaufort, just up the opposing valley.

Samoens from the top of the first lift down back through the trees is great for a couple of days or so and the campsite is 2 mins from the lift station

Alpes Dhuez and La Grave. Alpes Dhuez from the village down in the trees is all tech, above the village is more bike park. The lake at the bottom is great for a post ride dip. They built a new cable car from Allemond up a couple of years ago so you dont have to work around the bus timetable. Again great little campsite right near the lift station in Allemond

I would second Les Arcs especially the lower stuff in the woods that is accessed of the funicular or from the long fire road trail back round from Arc 2000

It will be interesting to hear where you end up as we are hoping to do something similar in a couple of years time 

I haven't been in many years, but if you're going to Verbier, maybe go to Crans Montana first.

Kevins accident has made us rethink and so we are stepping back from work and have three big trips planned for this year covering the 90 days in 180

We do Verbier most years and even after Kevin's accident went back last year to face his demons.

We will be starting our summer trip from their this year. There's an abundance of all kinds of riding on both sides of the valley and guiding is available if you want to get further afield.

The bottom lift station had camping for vans and the advantage is a discounted lift pass. The main lifts from the bottom run from early till late

From their its up the Sion valley, sampling some old and new stuff. One of my favourite all dayers is from up above Crans Montana back to the valley floor.

Aletsch Arena is our next stop. Not been and have heard mixed reviews about it but still looking forward to it

In Italy our first stop is Val Di Sole before moving on back to Torbole at the top of Lake Garda. Loved it last time we were there

Been recommended Montagnette, between Lake Maggiore and Lake DOrta so going to spend a few days exploring before moving to the Briancon area for some more exploring 

We have found that a mixture of Trailforks, Komoot and the French map apps is sufficient to plan where we stop off and having the van gives us the added flexibility 

Great stuff everyone, thank you. 

Stayed at Verbier loft station last time so plan to do that again. 

A lot of these suggestions sound perfect. Exciting times !

Posted by: Tracey

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One of my favourite all dayers is from up above Crans Montana back to the valley floor.

Spanish Inquisition? A great ride see also the Emosson dam ride.

Two of my favourite rides ever.

Spanish Inquisition and the Brazilian from the top on the other side of the valley

I found emosson in trailforks....no sign of this Spanish inquisition ......any pointers where I can find it?

I'll see if I can find it on my Garmin Connect.

I'll send you a PM when I find it.

I've done it several times with BV (same as Tracey) and dought very much it'll be marked as a full route on TrailForks.

It also involves a loop round in the middle of the ride where you climb back to the same place then carry on with the route.

If you're heading to Davos you'll likely be heading past La semoy and Tournavaux. Both in France, close to the Belgian border. Pedal up, approx 250M per lap from memory?!?  Ace techy trails just outside a quiet little village. Only a few hours from Lille so it works well as half day after/before train or ferry.

Freiburg im Breisgau,  similar to above but more altitude. Not far from Lac Blanc and La Bresse. Lac Blanc is a lot of fun, but more bikepark/flow trail style. La Bresse has some techy stuff and some blown out bike parkpark style trails. 

Near to Freiburg is Todtnau, one lift and 2 or 3 trails they're all quite techy, especially the Black. There's also a luge run there that looked quite fun but the queues were massive. 

Lenzerheide has some ace high altitude tech, and Serfaus Fiss Ladis is well worth a visit if you're going to be in Nauders. Don't miss the Bünker trail in Nauders!

Watching with interest for my own trip planning. 

Any photos of your motorbike / bike set up?

For excellent motorbike routes then the Massif Central. There's MTB parks at Super Lioran and Super Besse. Might be a good stopover for a day or 2 on your way down to the Alps

There are some cracking trails around Aosta, if you venture away from the bike park at the top of the chairlift.

And it's Italy, so great food & wine.

I think Bike Verbier called it Spanish - if you mean the trail down to the valley floor from above Crans.  Ends up in the vineyards following the bis.  Even more 'epic' is Plaine Morte from the top lift.  By August most of the snow should have cleared from the hike a bike to the col. 

Have you tried Lenzeheide?  Fairly quite outside of the park.  But the park itself does have a lot of bmx style blues and the World Cup DH which is pretty tech.  There's a couple of nice footpaths off the lift though, probably marked as enduro on the maps.  The other side of the valley is good.  And some nice stuff across in Arosa.  Personally I didnt like the campsite though and would get an apartment (not expensive in the summer).

For Italy, I prefer Paganella to Val di Sole.  Molveno has a great campsite by a lake.  Maybe you could try both?  Italy gets busy in August peak time though.

Sticking with Italy / Switzerland - there's also Livigno which has good camping options in the town.  If you can find a guide, or use your motorbike option, there's some great trails you can use alongside the Bernina railway (using the train to get back to the Livigno pass where you could leave your motorbike).  

If you wanted to treat yourselves, then what about Zermatt?  CHF200 for a 3 day pass, but worth it I reckon.  Admittedly Davos passes are a lot cheaper though!

Some more great info, thank you. Need to sit down and start mapping it all out. 

Only had the towbar fitted to the van last week so no photos of the full adventure mode yet! 

Aosta.....spent a day in Pila a few years ago just repeatedly riding the super long singletrack under the chair, sadly it still appears to be closed but I will have a look at the other options. Weather always seems glorious down there too which is a bonus! 

Nice to see the bunker trail get a mention, it's on our list of rides to go back to, really enjoyed it. 

I used to think Emosson dam was one of my favourite rides until I reminded myself by riding it again last year.  We saved some effort by taking the train from Chamonix to Finhaut then the funicular up which only leaves about 100m climbing to the reservoir.  So then took the high traverse towards the forest singletrack.  It's so nadgery now, not enough gradient for me to get through the rock gardens so very stop / start, especially after rain.  I think I'd climb the fire road next time and start a little lower down to miss that top section.

The descent through the woods is still pretty good and so are the sections around Tretien (if you like switchbacks) and that takes you to the bottom of the gorge.  Then there's a steep carry to a horrendous hike a bike along the side of the valley before you drop back down to a fire road climb.  The last mule track descent is a real sting in the tail and not as rideable for me as I remembered.  Maybe I'm getting old!

Aosta - "21b" is the trail you need to know! https://www.trailforks.com/video/179795/

Second 21b trail. You can extend it by going further up the hill on the chair lift and then Top Flow, Middle Flow, T26, Fantasy Land and then a short traverse to 21b

Adds another 7km and 700m descent 

Aosta.....spent a day in Pila a few years ago just repeatedly riding the super long singletrack under the chair, sadly it still appears to be closed

You can get off at the mid-station and still ride most of it. Trail is just as good as ever.

I'd also recommend exploring some of the trails that are marked on Trailforks to the right of the bike park.

If you could ping me a link to that too please, I’d appreciate it!

This pesky forum, ffs.

My post above was directed at @singlespeedstu ref the Garmin Connect link.

Found a couple of times we did the Spanish Inquisition.

Both with different start points.

One with another descent and van ride before Spanish showing.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/839135091

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1238493745

Absolute legend Stu. Thank you 

Col de Mille is always a good ride

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-ludo-may-jerome-caroli-ride-the-best-trail-in-switzerland.html