Anyone done any downhilling or techie trails in Andorra? Is there a good chair lift network? I beleive it is not as good as Les Gets or Morzine for chair lifts?, Can anyone give me any advice? just looking for a change from Morzine.
I'm sure there are trails in Andora as its pretty easy to get to from France and Spain. However, there are lots of options in France and Switzerland outside of MorIze/Les Gets.
I went back in 2000, before mountain biking had taken off over there and it was spectacular.
I believe that there are a number of good guides out there and the local people have jumped on the same bandwagon as the resorts in the Alps
It'll be much less busy than resorts in France, so i'd say it'd be bloody marvelous now!! 😀
It's a LOT cheaper and quieter, Valnord has the world cup dh tracks while Grandvalira has a good mix of lift access trails and XC loops. I rate it.
Just over 2 hrs from Toulouse via Easyjet.
Oh, for the roadies lots of TDF stuff near.
Have a look here: - [url= http://blog.grandvalira.com/bikepark/?cat=6 ]GV Bike Park[/url]
Google Vallnord bike park, should wet your appetite.
Cedric Gracia seems to love Andorra for DH...
I thought Vallnord was good. There's a small-ish woodwork park which looked OK. The CG DH track, the one they used for the worldcups, is great, really beat up and rough which I liked. The main red bermy track, can't remember what it was called was quite braking bumpy when I was there but not an issue on the faster lines. I also enjoyed the maxiavalanche course a lot, again it was quite natural in feeling. There were some really nice bermy blue tracks. I'd say to ride all the marked trails it would take almost a couple of days.
We rode with the Commencal guys and SoSo who runs CG's skills school, I'd very much recommend getting some guiding with her... she's very cool, crazy and rides amazingly. We rode the 'locals only' stuff with her and it was nice. The town itself is nice and there's plenty of cheap places to stay.
One of our club members won a trip there with MBR and loved it
Been to Vallnord and Grandvalira, just a day at each with my gf but I really enjoyed them. As above the Maxiavalanche track at Vallnord is really nice and feels quite natural. The routes right down to the valley are good too, pretty steep and techy in places. There's lots of more freeridey stuff too but I didn't do too much of that.
Grandvalira was probably better for relative DH beginners IMO, there's a nice black run down to the valley though which is just technical ish singletrack through lovely scenery. There was also some silly stunt stuff but a combination of me being a pussy and being with my GF (beginner) meant I didn't really try any of it.
Generally both were fairly covered in braking bumps and quite cut up, Vallnord maybe more so. We were there quite late in the season though.
aye andorra is good....been most years recently, a lot less routes than mozine /les gets and quieter during the week (not that mozine is rammed ) rides can it can be nice and dusty.. vallnord has good lifts but check yr date for opening times...Arinsal is good place to stay..its up the hill from la mansanna but v.cheap to...if you contact the info through the bike park web site they can get you good accommodation and lift pass deal....good bus link (novatel ) from barca / tolouse
Thanks for all this info guys, i will start googling some of these places. Cheers.
I am into sort of really narly steep DH stuff, not really xc trails.
There seems to be a good mix off alsorts out there.
Only been there skiing in 2005. Beautiful country, cheap to stay & not too busy. I stayed in soldeu.
A few of the ski instructors doubled as mtb instructors during summer so you should have plenty to ride.
The lifts linked up with all the surrounding areas.
Gnarly steep DH you say?
And yes, it's worse than it looks in the video. Also, at Vallnord there is a section that's modelled on Vancouver North shore trails with very technical and steep bits of rock and wood etc - that section was too much for me TBH!