Finale Ligure – Who's been/recommendations

So thinking about Finale later on this year. Plan would be to fly across, get somewhere to stay and have probably 6 days riding.
-Maybe three/four guided with shuttle
-One or two just shuttling the trails we’ve been shown/exploring
-Maybe one doing the EWS circuit or such.

So questions are, if you’ve been. How was it? Where’d you stay? Who did you get guided/shuttled by?

Are there options for shuttling without guiding? A sort of book one day at a time deal as opposed to booking a full week with accommodation. Looking around there are loads of apartments to rent so could probably get one of them cheaper and do our own thing. If that’s possible.

Had a look at finale freeride who seem to do shuttle with guide for 40 euros a day. But they specify full face as a requirement and while some of us will probably have them we’re definitely more of the enduro/allmountain type.

Any tips appreciated.
Cheers

Sounds like a sweet trip. I’ve also been contemplating a trip to Finale Ligure – I’d be keen to see what anyone has to say.

Had a look at finale freeride who seem to do shuttle with guide for 40 euros a day. But they specify full face as a requirement and while some of us will probably have them we’re definitely more of the enduro/allmountain type.

Dare I say it…. switchblade/parachute 😆

Yup – been twice (SuperEnduro final 2012 and EWS final 2013).

I can recommend the log cabins at Campng Tahiti, just 5 mins ride out of town – they sleep up to 4 and are only €480ish for a week:

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I’ve got GPS data of the 2012 SuperEnduro (55k) route if you want it.

Re: full face helmets – yes I would definitely recommend it. It’s only in the UK we seem to have this mental block to full face for Enduro. Believe me, the runs out there are nasty, really nasty. Natural, steep, loose, ridiculously tight switchbacks which often have drops in them mid turn, rocks, roots, the whole lot. And often the runs have a bit of everything so you really are on edge all the way down.

One run of particular note is the awesome Dolmen Trail (PS1 every year) – it’s a mainstay of the SuperEnduro calendar and is both brilliant but awful at the same time. It scalps a lot of people (got me badly in 2012, prolapsed a mate’s disc in 2013) as it has all manner of hidden compressions and hazards.

Also, 2012’s PS2 is immense, super fast and flowy. Check Manuel Ducci chasing Nico Vouilloz in practice on it here:

You’ll have an absolute ball of a time out there – it’s my favourite place on the planet to ride!!

🙂

I did guided uplifts and it was possibly the best riding I’ve ever done. I’d wear a full face and pads – like andyrm says, it’s rough and you will be hitting the trails fast especially if you are in a group with people already familiar with the trails.

Great vid that AndyM – looks like there’s some very fast and rocky stuff there. I’d be full face all the way with that stuff.