[Closed] PASS'PORTES DU SOLEIL

Never done it. But signed up this year. I think it is one day only for the lift pass etc. You can choose which day to do it when registering… but are there any places left? And you can start from numerous points along the route, again decided in advance when registering.

Do the ride one day, spend the rest of the time (5 days, a fortnight? Whatever you can) enjoying the oodles of lift-accessed fun around the area. Morzine is the obvious start but you can get around lots of places easily.

It runs for a few days, but your entry only allows one, however there’s nothing stopping you riding the course anytime.

TBH, I don’t want to put you off, but here’s my negative 2p to balance out all the riders who love it. This is based on doing it once and they do change the route a bit I think so results my vary.

If you’ve been to PDS before you’ve probably ridden all the good bits already.

Once you leave the usuall Morzine/Les Gets/Avoriaz/Chatel bits it’s boring and hard work in equal measure - when we did it was a lot of climbing on tarmac and fire road followed by looooong desents on fire roads (Alpine fire roads are super steep and rock covered not the sort of gravel paths we get here) saw a few people go down and hurt themselves hitting a rock or washing out a mega speed on them - it’s not fun, just wrecks your hands and bike.

There’s a surprising amount of climbing, it’s not as lift fed as they make out.

The feed station were disgusting, piles of melted chocolate being enjoyed by flies and sun warmed potato and mayo ‘salad’. We used a lovely local cafe instead.

But...

There’s a great vibe to the event, the evening in the square in Morzine was great fun, the scenery was stunning even by Alpine standards.

My advice, enjoy it whilst you enjoy it, if you get bored / tired just head back, it’s not a race and check yo self before you wreck yo self on some of the optional DH sections, you see a lot of Power Rangers and Passportes heros mixing with tired riders a bit out of their depth and sometimes it ends in tears, broken bones and helicopters - they were buzzing around like flies.

I've done it a few times - its great.

As well as your pass for your "event" day, you used to also get a complementary pass in your welcome pack for another day. Not sure if they still do that.

Last time we drove down on Thursday, event Friday, used the free pass Saturday, then drove home Sunday. Worked well.

I only really noticed one short uphill section on the road each time we've done it.... probably about a km, up near one of the lakes. I would think they do vary the route slightly each year - but the maps are all online so you can see for yourself.

I would agree that there are some fast fire-road descents that give you the option of either going 60mph over loose, cobble-stone sized rocks, or cooking your brakes.

I've seen a few crashes - but don't really recognise p-Jay's description of carnage above. It is busy, and with a wide variety of abilities...... but as long as you keep your wits about you its fine.

I did it for the first time last year. I've been out in the Alps a lot over the years, but with an other half who had done limited serious gravity based riding, it was something we could both do for her to get a bit more of a feel for things.

It was actually a really good day out. We decided we wanted to do the whole loop, which was actually a fair old effort. It was way more than the 100km they advertised, I think we topped out at 132km by the end - it was a big day out.

Granted the riding wasn't the most interesting, riding down fire roads past trails I knew was a little depressing, but catering for all abilities is key. That said, some of the fire roads are savagely steep and rough, so controlling your speed due to other meandering riders was a bit of a challenge without cooking your brakes 🙂

Food stops were actually all really good, well stocked & plenty of choice. We resisted the opportunity to get on the beers until we had made it back to Linderettes, even that was probably a mistake, as we had the whole Les Gets loop to go still at that point.

That said, I enjoyed it. Probably wouldn't bother with it again, but as an experience to do something different it's worth it IMO.

I enjoyed it but as above don't feel compelled to repeat. You need a decent amount of fitness for some lengthy uphills and as bouncing your way down rocky descents all day is knackering too. Especially so if you're on a long travel talent compensator full sus with no lock out and a FF helmet!

It's a good sense of travelling around the area compared to just concentrating on the Les Gets or Chatel bike park areas.

I've not ridden the area before, so I hope this might be a good introduction to get my bearings.
There are still places to ride on Friday and Sunday from most start points. You still get a second day of lift access:
"Warning, please keep your Pass'Portes lift Pass after the event! It includes:
a Portes du Soleil day MTB pass valid for summer 2019 (valid from 1st July 2019)
OR
a Portes du Soleil day ski pass for winter 2019-2020
Exchange this Pass'Portes pass at any Portes du Soleil lift company. It is a numbered personal lift pass. It cannot be transferred, modified or refunded."

There'e free wine and beer at the stops- I did it in 2006 and managed a few drinks at each of the feed stations. Resulted in a bad crash as very apptly described above.

Highly recommend it as a good day out though. I did it on an Orange 222, was a slog as has already been stated there is a fair bit of climbing. I'd imagine with a modern 150mm trail bike it would be a superb loop!

Done it a few times, but last was about 4 yrs ago.
If Bar Robinson is still going stop there for a beer or two afterwards in Moraine
The day itself is long, the higher you go on the lifts the colder its gets (last time we went it was lovely and warm in the valleys but still snow on the top sections)
So worth packing something to keep you toasty on the uplifts.
The stops are good, and give you time to fuel and grab extras to take along in your pack.
The worst bits (IMO) are the fireroads with the water bars, saw many an nasty off with folk getting them wrong. A mate did a YouTube video of one of our trips I'll see if I can find it...

Did the other year, was great fun.

I thought the food stations were good considering they were basically free - serve yourself salad, chocolate, potato salad, cheese, cold cuts, bread and water and beer.

If you get fed up you can bail and just have fun round Morzine / Les Gets. They also gave us free passes to use on any day after the event so you can do it on Sat, relax sun, then ride the best bits again on the Mon after.

You pick a start point on booking - all the good ones like Morzine will be booked out now.

Like above, the only time I nearly wiped out bad was getting complacement while chatting and looking behind me on a harmless looking fire road. Had picked up a lot more speed than I realised, hit a rut and ended up in a drainage gully on the side. Managed to stay holding on like crazy for 100m or so with feet off the pedals until I stopped, could have easily been quite bad.. if you are prepared for it and know how to modulate your brakes / avoid arm pump you should be fine.

If you are new to the area it's a great introduction. There's plenty to occupy a five day trip, do a little homework on some of the more off piste stuff if that's your thing before you go (or get a guide).
Prepare for bad weather, it can be bloody cold if it's raining (snowing/sleeting/hailing)on your allotted day. And yes ,watch the corners on the gravel roads