Forum menu
Hi,
Looking at booking a riding hoiday this summer with a few friends for some alpine singletrack action. Have narrowed it down to these two companies as seem to offer what we want/need.
If anyone has used or heard things about either could you please say what you think.
Thanks in advance.
I've been with Trailaddiction before. They are great guys.
Going back again this year 'nuff said. 8)
You can't go wrong with trailaddiction
Can't go wrong with WhiteRoom - not used anyone else though.
+1 for trail addiction.
+1 for White Room. Went with them last September and returning this year as well.
Heard good things about Trail Addiction too but went with the White Room as they seemed more appealing, cheaper and we preferred the sound of their Backcountry weeks. Stevo and Iona are possbily the nicest people we've ever met and were so easy to get along with.
We're not really interested in going in the height of the summer.
+1 for the white room. great chalet and amazing food.
TrailAddiction are great, the trails are pretty quiet in comparison to say Morzine and don't expect the bars full of heavy drinking british downhillers (quite a bonus to me).
i really want to go back 🙁
White Room every time.
Plus Steve is the only properly qualified guide...
You also get a discount code from them to use with us when you book a holiday.
Great wee business they have there. Super nice people.
Did trail addiction on 2008 had a fantastic holiday
Trails were amazing so much variation could spend week there and not ride same trail twice. Saying that some of the trails have to be riden more than once
Food was great, accomidation top notch. hospitality great.
want to go back this year but new arrival to family, hopefully next year.
Been to trail addiction twice. Fantastic company and amazing riding, can't recommend highly enough.
Done TA twice, going back for a 3rd time this year.
TA all the way. They've been in the area much longer than the white room guys and were the first company in the area doing mainly lift assisted holidays. The chalet is fantastic, food to die for and the trails are great. I've been a couple of times before and will go again.
Another recommendation for trailAddiction here.Been there twice,stayed in 'The Goat Shed' & as said above,the food is fantastic.
Gordy & Sophie are top hosts!
The village,Peisey Nancroix is very quiet to say the least,but it suited our group fine,as after a great days riding,plus a fantastic meal every night,the last thing we wanted to do was go out on the lash!
There's a last night lash up with TA that I can't remember much about! 😉
Ah well...the last nights different as you're not up & out riding the following day....
😀
Been with The White Room and going again this year. As above, great trails, chalet, food and cake. Don't think you could really go wrong with either for riding to be honest.
I've been with the White Room and can say they are ace. And all the booze is in the price, no, really it is!
The other guides in the area phone Steve for route advice, i think he knows all the best stuff out of the way...
And Rick is right, we tried hard to get through the booze, we really did but we didn't hit target.
From what I've heard steve went on a TA holiday and GPS'd all the trails he was shown before he set up the white room...
*remembers red wine fueled scrabble giggles*
If you cannot make your mind up with who to go for my apartment in Ste Foy is vacant. Trails in both Ste Foy and Les Arcs are great Tines and Val d'Isere are also only 20 minutes from Ste Foy.
Booked with TrailAddiction in July following a number of recomendations, can't wait...
been with TA a few years ago. Had a fantastic time. Everything and everyone was superb!
I'm booked with TA for end of June/July for their "Backcountry" week. Can't wait!
fogliettaz - I take it you know your chalet www page is borked ?
some beautiful trails out there have been ripped to shreds through big groups of FRers on big bikes with big brakes.
🙁
So what if TA were there first 🙄
Why would Stevo need to GPS the routes! Most are clearly marked on maps.
Thats some strange comments you've made there Steveh.
all the pies, The site is being moved to a new server today and should be up and running tomorrow.
Also consider Bike Village. Based in the foot of the valley below where TA work out of, the Sam, Lyndsey, Tom and co have a thirst for epic singletrack, amazing food and cherry tree hammock lazing in the evenings. They've been doing it ten years so know just about every inch of singletrack within about fifty square miles and in some cases, beyond. Being in the foot of the valley also has it's perks: always down hill all the way home! There's even a piece of singletrack that ends at the end of the garden and you pass through a gate made of a Cove and a GT to get back in!
Worth a look, anyway
bikevillage.co.uk
Nickegg - yep, trails are marked on maps, people still GPS them so they can find them again easily and in the best combination? Why bother going guided at all if its that easy?
Some of the back country routes don't have too distinct start points and aren't that well marked from what I remember. Paths covered with layers of pine needles they're that untouched.
Been with TA and would go again - as per all the other comments, good food, comfortable accomodation and superb riding. They'll tailor it to suit all abilities. Excellent!
You're gonna have a good time whichever company you go with, they're both in the Tarentaise Valley afterall... best valley for biking in the Alps that I know of.
I think that tA are somewhat better placed that WR. Being in Peisey (on the picturesque side of Les Arcs lift system) gives tA a choice of whether to ride uphill from the door, ride down from the door, use lifts only (FROM THE DOOR), use a combination of lifts and pedalling, etc, etc, you get the idea... it's lift-accessed stuff, but on the edge of the backcountry, resulting in basically endless possibilities as to what a riding day could entail, and catering for all possible tastes.
Sainte Foy where White Room are is lovely, and the riding is all good but there's no lift-accessed stuff at all because of the fact that the lifts don't operate there in Summer... bit of a mission in the van to get to the nearest lift which runs.... pedalling is of course great, but a mixture of pedalling and lifts is the best IMHO 🙂
Another vote for White Room, amazing riding, great cakes and v friendly hosts.
Sainte Foy where White Room are is lovely, and the riding is all good but there's no lift-accessed stuff at all because of the fact that the lifts don't operate there in Summer... bit of a mission in the van to get to the nearest lift which runs.... pedalling is of course great, but a mixture of pedalling and lifts is the best IMHO
Rubbish! The lifts run in Sainte Foy in summer too. Granted there may not be as many.
Rubbish! The lifts run in Sainte Foy in summer too.
Really? straight from the Sainte Foy website, mountain biking page:
[i]No chairlifts, instead 2 8-place shuttles using 4x4 vehicles and bike trailers to link 5 key points in the area...[/i]
Went with TA last year, everything was incredible. One of the trails finishes in the chalets garden where there is a fridge packed with ice cold beers. 😀
Well...the fact is there are 3 great companies to choose from and more than enough riding for all.
I can also confirm that Ste. Foy most certainly do not run any chairlifts during the summer. I recall Stevo telling me that it takes a team of 6-8 to run a chairlift due to the having enough people to evacuate in case of an emergency!
BTW You can ride singletrack from the White Room door too 😀
Another vote for the White Room here. The location is more chilled in my opinion plus as someone said there are trails from the Chalet door. Don't think you can go wrong with either company really.
But Stevo and Iona get the nod from me.
I think all the holiday companies out there offer pretty good packages, lets be honest if they didn't then they would go out of business.
My vote is like most for TrailAddiction. I have been out there since they began and been going every year since. Phenomenal holiday hosts, great chalets and great food as already said.
I think the big difference is that the TA guys have spent years researching the area and finding all the trails that no one else knows about. I think there was a comment above about all the trails being clearly marked on the maps - well thats fine if you want to ride with everyone else but the best trails are those that aren't marked on the maps!
I will be going with TrailAddiction again this year as they NEVER fail to disappoint, also have trails directly from the door and a great bar on the way back to the chalet for chilled afternoon beers on the balcony. Bliss.
I've just looked on the White Room website and it does look [u][b]remarkably[/b][/u] similar to TrailAddictions!!!
Don't know about the White Room, but a group of use went with TA in 2008 - top crowd, really enjoyed it, but a hard weeks riding.
Having ridden extensively in the Valais in Switzerland (a guide for BikeVerbier) I can say that the Tarantaise is a truly amazing place to ride one's VTT. Totally different riding, varied and stunning views.
Having skied in St Foy I reckon it could be fanatstic and TA's Heidi trail comes through it but no lift access (not an issue if you like riding up but sucks if you don't like being in a car)
Both Sam from BikeVillage and Ash from TA are 2 of the nicest, honest guys I've ever met and the level of guiding, knowledge and hosting is of the scale.
La Varda is definately one of my highlights and I remember a post on here where StevomcD asked 'Where's that trail?' so not knocking the White Room but for location, access and knowledge I'd go for the orignators i.e TA (and Gordy's AWESOME food)or BikeVillage
@ thebike chain
Im sure Stevo does know his way around Les Arcs fairly well by now, but
I don't know which guides 'are calling Stevo for trail tips' as you say. I can tell you that it certainly wasn't anyone from trailAddiction. I'd doubt it was any of the bikevillage guys either, Sam and Co have been locals there since, basically, forever! I know because I was guiding out there myself last summer.
Anyway, I had a little chuckle to myself when I read your post because it was actually a bit of a running joke between the guides 'in the know' in Les Arcs two years ago that there was some random scottish guy on an Orange, apparently over from Ste Foye, who kept on following their groups around and waiting at lifts / near obvious trailheads to try and find the secret/best trails. (Yes, its true that they are nearly all marked on a IGN (Ordnance Survey-style) map, but so are hundreds of other poor/unrideable trails too and there's no 'key' to tell you which ones are passable, and which ones aren't! those who have been on STW for a few years will also recall posts on this very forum from Stevo himself asking previous guests of bikevillage/trailAddiction about how to access some of the 'signature' trails out there....eg "La Varda" (Discovered and first ridden a long time before whiteroom was operating). I thinkt that is what SteveH might have been referring to in his earlier post although as far as I know Stevo did not go as far as booking a trailAddiction holiday and GPS-ing everthying!
Anyway, fair play to Stevo, if Im honest its probably that's what I'd do if I were looking for a quick headstart to get a leg up to know my way around an area with a view to starting my own business. I'm sure that now he offers a top quality service over in Ste Foy and it looks like many people on STW have nothing but praise for him and his operation. I certainly would not want to suggest anything to the contrary!
I just don't think its fair to make those claims, on the other guides who actually did the many years of legwork in the first place a LONG time ago to first 'discover' the area to bikes - the same guys who it took an entire season of riding with them every day to try and show me even half of the full extent of their local trail knowledge. I'd place a bet that Stevo still has some way to go to fully catch up too. Its just such a vast, intricate area....not "knowable" in just one ort two seasons.
Noting that Whiteroom is not actually in Les Arcs, but based about a 30-40 minute drive away depending on which part you go to...its hardly Stevo's local area. I think someone might have been telling a few porkie pies, perhaps?! 😉
On the second point about Stevo being the only fully qualified guide over there, that is completely untrue (Im hoping that he has been misinformed somewhere along the way, otherwise it wouldnt also be plastered on the whiteroom website).
All of the above is probably completely irrelivant to most people reading this. I just couldnt let that one go uncommented. Think I've had too much coffee today or something. 😉
In regards to 'fully qualified', i was under the impression that the french authorities do not acknowledge SMBLA as sufficient qualification to guide.
Stevo is an International Mountain Leader and Iona an 'aspirant' leader AFAIK. Could be wrong though.
I find it amusing that people will become so possesive when it comes to trails and who discovered them etc etc. The fact is in our week with Stevo last year we only rode Les Arc trails a few times. Apart from one particularly great trail that shall remain nameless :wink:, i didn't actually think they were all that. Partly because they were knackered! I know there are far more that aren't though.
My point is that Stevo operates well away from Les Arc (and La Varda isn't one they usually do anyway) and thats the appeal to those that go there.
Perhaps when it comes to Ste Foy trails maybe the white room are the experts......they live there after all.