I would say something long travel and alloy if you are doing uplift or slinging it onto trailers. I would just be wary of carbon. None of my own bikes are made of the stuff.

Airdrop get the nod from my mate Graham who is a guide and lives in Chamonix. He recently sold one and replaced it with another Airdrop after over 750,000 metres of descent. I know what he rides and how he rides. If they did a 29er, I would be seriously tempted by one.

For me a gravel bike.
Pre Covid we were planning a summer trip to French Alps and I was going to take gravel bike. Was hoping to do a gravel ascent of Alpe d’huez and generally explore. Perfect for linking the trails, road climbs and descents.
Maybe next year.

I have an Orange Stage 6 for guiding and a Stage 4 for out of season riding / epic days. If I could only have one bike, it’d be the Stage 6, but I’d pay more attention to keeping it light.

The Stage 4 is awesome though. For corona reasons, I hadn’t replaced my guiding bike until a few days ago, so I’ve been riding the Stage 4 for everything since deconfinement. It’s a really, really capable bike that also climbs like a rocket.

Cheers for the advice Stevo. I hope to pay you another visit in France (or Finale) once I’ve settled into my new home a bit more.

Where in Switzerland are you moving to?

I live in Switzerland near Zurich, and find a Norco Optic (shorter travel, aggressive geo 29er) is perfect as a one-bike quiver. Not all of Switzerland is high alps, and to go down we have to pedal up in many cases. A bike like this is perfect for all steep & techie trail riding, and is better than lugging some massive enduro bike up the hills. It can handle all alpine riding too.

If I lived literally at a place like Lenzerheide and was riding lift-accessed terrain in the high alps for 90% of my riding, I’d probably have an enduro bike too like the Norco Sight / SC Megatower etc (eg. 150-170mm front and back).

Thanks for the tips gnarlych. I’m based in Zug, so probably not far from you.

Nino puts the EWS crowd to shame

please explain …

Nino puts the EWS crowd to shame

please explain …

Link 1

Link 2

Nino puts the EWS crowd to shame

please explain …

Link 1

Link 2

Uhh you do know Claudio is not an EWS racer right?

Schurter did an EWS in Finale a few years ago and came an impressive 167th. Hardly putting them to shame.

One bike you say? Long travel e-bike obvs… Whyte e180 or Radon Render.

Schurter did an EWS in Finale a few years ago and came an impressive 167th. Hardly putting them to shame

Not quite the full story. He had a mechanical on one stage, which then cost him a 6 minute time penalty and shoved him down the overall, but of the 5 stages he was

15th
55th
19th
9th
94th

If it wasn’t for the time penalty, he would’ve been 40th instead of 167th

Looking after your bike is part and parcel of EWS. That’s what I like about the format – it’s so much more than just hammering downhill.

Not knocking Nino by the way – I think he’s great – he’s the only male XC rider I’ve heard of!

“Not quite the full story. He had a mechanical on one stage, which then cost him a 6 minute time penalty and shoved him down the overall, but of the 5 stages he was

15th
55th
19th
9th
94th

If it wasn’t for the time penalty, he would’ve been 40th instead of 167th“

He was also running a dropper post

Uhh you do know Claudio is not an EWS racer right?

He’s a former Swiss national DH champ though, so hardly a slouch…