[Closed] La Thuile

well worth a visit lift accessed steep,techy trails some of the best stuff I've ridden.
The bike park is nothing like your average bike park steep,techy and very natural feeling. Very similar to some stuff in the UK.

La Thuile is properly amazing for a bike park! For trails just pick upone of the free "piste" maps at the lift office and follow that. The EWS tracks from either year are great (and marked) but really you can't go far wrong.
Day trips to Pila and towards Bourg in France are well worth it, as is a lot of the pedal/uplift style riding towards Courmayeur and Aosta itself.
I live less than an hour away if there's no traffic so can't help much on accomodation, only ever slept in vans in the carpark, but airbnb is generally good for Italy, tho make sure you're staying in La Thuile itself as any of the satellite towns are a bit of vertical away.

we nipped over for a day when we were at les arc this year. as above it feels really natural and the runs are huge fun. the red run back to the bottom in particular was amazing. we could have done a few days there. well worth a trip and we are defo doing a day or two next year. there is a swimming pool and cafe right underneath the top of the first lift. it was jammed packed full of probably 20 young attractive italian girls wearing bikinis. and the food was amazing too. the only downside i could see was the toilet was one of those hang on for dear life hole in the ground deals.

La Thuille is nice. La Rosière is just up the hill too but only opens late July? As it's so high up.

We're off to Pila next year, simply as it's awesome. We plan a day at La Thuille at least but not sure I'd want a week there.

For mtb it is fantastic. Pila is awesome as well. We used to live an hour and a half drive away when I lived in Italy. Highly recommended.

La Thuile? In a word, STEEP! The black and double black runs are probably the steepest thing i've ever ridden. In the wet, it's er, interesting..... 😉

PS, if you're there for more than a couple of days you'll want to find some other local riding, as mentioned, Pila just down the road is a must visit

It's like Mega-Innerleithen 😆 Maybe the best place I've ridden? You can tell it's good when even years later you have images burned into your brain from your first visit. Does get very dusty- first time we went was hysterical, the first rider could see and everyone else was just in a cloud, madness.

And Pila just down the road... I didn't really warm to Pila's bike park but the trail down to aosta is just glorious. And if you go over to Les Arcs, you can ride down the la ros trails to get there (and you can ride down to la thuile from the top of the col on the way back)

Thanks for the replies guy.... Much appreciated. We will be heading there for a week so was planning to visit pila amongst others.

For some reason i never seem to "gel" with La Thuile in the morning sessions, but hit my stride in the afternoon and start to enjoy it. Perhaps it's the relentless steepness, or the fact i can't ride for toffee ( 😆 ) but it takes me a while to dial in. I guess if i haven't been killed to death by mid afternoon my brain goes "can't be soo bad" despite what my eyes are telling it and relaxes a bit.........

Pila is a lot less steep, only the double black run gets as steep as La Thuile, so you dial in a bit quicker (or at least i do) The Bike Park bit up top is a little bit riding-by-numbers, but you can carry serious speed and air down it on a modern bike

Sounds awsumz guys.

Is there any trailsy riding too. I have kids that like to ride as well so need areas that cater for all.

Northwind, have you seen Alex's new coaching / guiding site? Looks pretty good!

Not sure if this counts as advertising, but go look here:

[url= https://cairnmtb.com/ ]CAIRN MTB[/url]

😆

ade9933

Is there any trailsy riding too. I have kids that like to ride as well so need areas that cater for all.

Like everything in the Alps, the "trailsy" riding is longer and steeper than most in the UK. But there are plenty of double track and wide single tracks cross both sides of the Valley, and you ca make a great descent down off Col du Petit Saint-Bernard and down into La Thuile itself

it was the highlight of our trip a couple of years ago for me. Only had one day there, but it had been described as a more natural, less groomed trail and it certainly lived up to it. I would definitely go again and would have more than one day there

We are talking bike? I have skied three, very nice, resort a little outdated. Bike I imagine its nice, and steep (as others have said). The Espace San Bernardo is a nice ski area, not sure if its connected to the French side in the summer or not, but that also nice (La Rosier).

Now that we are not the subject, how do you pronounce La Thuile?

Don't save it for the last day of a trip, it's a good workout!

Lat wheel

😉

maxtorque - Member

Northwind, have you seen Alex's new coaching / guiding site? Looks pretty good!

Not sure I'm the target market 😆 But it's cool.

Like everything in the Alps, the "trailsy" riding is longer and steeper than most in the UK. But there are plenty of double track and wide single tracks cross both sides of the Valley, and you ca make a great descent down off Col du Petit Saint-Bernard and down into La Thuile itself

thanks - the kids are fine with the reds over in Les Gets nd Morzine so if it's similar but different / better with uplift then it sounds like a good option.

Will investigate some more.

Can anyone recommend any good sites with info / pics etc?

Ta

For pics of La Thuile riding, just look at any of the EWS footage. If you want some words to go with the pictures, links to trail maps, opening dates etc; check some of the posts from [url= http://www.chamonixbikeblog.com/tag/la-thuile/ ]chamonixbikeblog[/url], there's also stuff on Pila and some other Aosta riding on there.
If your kids are good with Morzine reds then they'll enjoy most of the riding off the top chair at Pila (maybe don't bother with the iXS DH course tho....) and fine with most of the blue/red stuff at La Thuile. I wouldn't say La Thuile is that steep or tech, but I live in Chamonix, so it's all relative. If you like the off piste stuff around Pleney then you'll like any of the black trails at La Thuile.

Awesome - thanks - will take a look.