Best alpine destination for XC-style descents

Right, I fancy some chairlift-assisted descending in the alps. I’ve been to a few places with my DH bike, but this year I’m considering a trip with my girlfriend who gets a bit intimidated by big steep rocky descents and bigger boys on DH bikes. She’s competent and will ride peak district descents without difficulty, so I fancy some XC/trail-style descents on our 4-5 inch travel bikes (Her Trance, my ASR-5).

I’m sure there must be places that are not quite your average ‘bike park’ like Morzine / Les Gets etc but have uplift-accessible XC trails? Doesn’t necessarily have to be alpine but we’d probably drive so distance is a factor. Where would you look at?

Cof! Cof! 😳

Not Alpine but Liguria?

St Foy.

Stevomdc…where’s that?

Its the sort of Alpine riding i am also after.

ahsat – I plead the 5th. See coolhandluke’s reply or my profile!

Funny cough you’ve got there. 🙂

Do I get a discount if I post this?

http://www.whiteroomchalet.com/

Ah right. Sorry. Long day and a bit slow.

Lol Stevo – I did the detective work from the URL. I take it you run the chalet then?

Yeah, it’s my business – drop me a line if you need any more info.

Trail addiction in les arcsrun fantastic holidays, worth every penny and the trails are to die for.

+1 Les arcs

White room and Riviera both great for this IMO, prob better at former, even tho stevo doesn’t use his pics of me any more 🙁

Does this mean that xc Stevomcd can’t do gnar?! 😯

Stevomcd. Something i have always worried about guided holidays is that everyone who goes are hardcore and will get annoyed by ‘red route’ riders. Do you have to be comfortably riding UK black? And do people get annoyed?

Stevomcd, See you on the 14th and can we pre-book the sun now for that week?

les arcs good and also town is accessible/pretty/nice swimming pool! if girlf gets bored of riding (experience talking)..

and on those days you can go and ride something more interesting. black8 springs to mind. ahhh what a way to get down a hill.

Whitroom site says they will split up the group so you are doing what you like. Not really in their interet to freak you out with hardcore riding unless you ask for it.

Allos, alpes de haute verdon. Awesome scenery, good/friendly/not busy bike park, good weather. The southern alps are really good for what you are looking for, there is also Pra loup, Orcieres, Montgenevre and vars not far away if you want to change venue.

Would second (or third) st foy! Amazing… less demanding on bikes then les arcs and super smooth and flowy!

Also la thuile in italy. Two chairlifts giving loads of natural feeling trails blasting through the forests. Plus nice icecream at the bottom!

Stevomcd. Something i have always worried about guided holidays is that everyone who goes are hardcore and will get annoyed by ‘red route’ riders. Do you have to be comfortably riding UK black? And do people get annoyed?

I spent three days with steveo and we were a mixed group from nervousish red riders to total riding god black runners. It was never an issue and stevo and Iona work really well together to make sure everyone gets the best of every day. Trust me it ain’t an issue.

I spent three days with steveo and we were a mixed group from nervousish red riders to total riding god black runners. It was never an issue and stevo and Iona work really well together to make sure everyone gets the best of every day. Trust me it ain’t an issue.

Thanks for that DavidB. Big help.

And superficial – sorry, somewhat thread hijacked!

White room top trails rides to suite great trails and setup

One of our more XC days

Want yellow handlebars!
mikewsmith: that looks fun 😀

i’ve been to the alps twice.

withroomchalet & bikevillage.

both based in les arcs. both were awesome. great people, great guiding, great food. wish i could afford it again.

HTH

More Yellow bar Alps Goodness!

Think that’s exactly what trailaddiction do/did.

Have a look at Meribel/Trois Vallees

I love it there. Lift assisted XC in the main rather than full bore “Downhill”

(although it’s mainly downhill if you know what I mean.)

We will be there soon (again) and I can’t bloody wait.

plus 1 for Meribel ,loved it there last year stayed with alpine ethos, very few storm troopers and great trails ,with hot tub at the end of the day ,spot on
http://www.alpineethos.co.uk/summer.htm

Cheers Anthony!

http://www.bikeverbier.com defo worth a look. Superb holidays with incredible and varied riding, much of it backcountry, and they split the group up according to skills/preferences. I’d drop Phil or Lucy a line for more info. Loads of very satisfied and regular guests on this forum.

ahsat – we have 3 guides available for max of 8 riders, so not an issue to make sure people ride at a level they’re happy with.

peasant – Member
plus 1 for Meribel ,loved it there last year stayed with alpine ethos, very few storm troopers and great trails ,with hot tub at the end of the day ,spot on
http://www.alpineethos.co.uk/summer.htm

Alpine Ethos are great.

We rented one of the Apartments upstairs for a week and loved it.

Fantastic accommodation and very cheap. Great people too !

Meribel does look like a good option.

Do alpine ethos provide a guide? and uplifts if needed?

Much of the lift system open? Ie can you get over to St martin or Courchvel?

Is the good riding in Meribel easy enough to find without a guide? That does look a good deal, especially for self-catering if you had 4 of you.

edit: snap, nearly 🙂

It says on their site the lift pass is 49 euros for a week, not sure about other uplifts.

Looks like 3 lifts open. I reckon you would need a van for valley pickups below the resorts. Brides Les bains gondala not open which woul be perfect as that starts at 700m.

http://mountain-summer.meribel.net/lifts.html/

Freeridenick send an email to Andy/Heather at alpine ethos they will tell what lifts are open in meribel ,you will not be disappointed ,I am gutted I can,t go this year

I have been to BikeVillage three times and they’re lovely for XC singletrack. From what I gather BikeVillage rides involve more climbing than what’s required at TrailAddiction and the White Room (I gather it’s close to none for them), but I haven’t been to either of them so I don’t know for sure. I will be visiting the White Room in August though. 🙂

Lots of options, then. Will have to present the options to my girlfriend when the time is right. Keep the suggestions coming.

The lifts in Meribel and Courchevel are open tomorrow and are open 6 days a week (closed Saturday). La Tania and St Martin are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Guiding is available in resort from the local MCF guys and there are loads of none vtt marked routes to keep you going, so long as you don’t mind a bit of pedalling (the best singletrack in the valley needs a bit of work to get to but is well worth it).

New this summer is a free bus service back up from Brides Les Bains which is in the bottom of the valley which means you have the option of a circa 2000m descent.

Hope that helps.