Funny how people view things I felt the Swiss national downhill was far steeper than Pleney or a lot of the other reds around Less Gets, Chapel etc. But then I rode it on a 80mm travel XC bike with something like a 100mm stem.

Could some kind soul tell me how to find the start of Monkeys Ass trail please

Mate, I couldn’t find it again myself. It involved a pretty meaty hike-a-bike through a load of bushes, is all I remember.

I felt the Swiss national downhill was far steeper than Pleney

I’d have said they were about the same, but the Swiss National was way more rugged and easier to go fast.

OP mag archive issue 91 – Local Morzine ride inc gpx. This is for out of season so involves a big climb to col du coix but you can ride the arrete berrois into Switzerland via Mossettes lift then round the 4x track past Lapisa farm restaurant (gret view/worth a stop). The ride also has a climb to the col of Portes du Soleil which you can do or not and from memeory it hooks into a nice steep descent to Lac Montriond which can also be accessed via lift missing out the PdS col. You can also ride the big climb from Morzine as a descent as other stw-ers do again using the Mossettes lift

The ride also has a climb to the col of Portes du Soleil which you can do or no

Not if you miss the last lift (which we’ve done twice)…

Swiss national is steeper – I’m not a fan of either really as I hate open fast tracks. I prefer trees

Les Gets – Samoens (not as neat as Stoner’s maps 🙁 OP YGM

View from small restaurant at Mont Caly, well worth a visit. Short detour off @Stoner’s route. OP the Black Dans Le Gas under Mont Chery lift isn’t “DH”

I felt the Swiss national downhill was far steeper than Pleney…

I’d agree with that. It was the exposure at the top of Swiss National that got me. Once into the groove and nearer the bottom I really enjoyed it, but I had to stop a few turns in from the top just to sort my head out.

Just registering an interest here….

This video was from the old thread (4 years ago?) on Les Gets – Samoens ride 🙂

[video]http://youtu.be/haxmytGVpO0[/video]

Strava says the Pleney black is -19% and the Swiss national is -20% so not much in it

Pleney is definitely more technical, Swiss national is smoother and feels faster due to the very long straight sections

They must have done some work on the Swiss National then as last time I was there it was a badly eroded mess and I hated it. Was 5 years ago now though. 😥

They must have done some work on the Swiss National then as last time I was there it was a badly eroded mess and I hated it. Was 5 years ago now though.

That was my experience too, although I didn’t hate it. Probably didn’t help I rode it in the wet as well.

It was a bone dry BMX track last year so they must have done a fair bit of work

Jambalaya,

That video is EXACTLY what I’m after. Looks ace.

Cool, its worh the taxi ride back or organising to leave a car. Stoners loops from Mont Caly and via Col Ecrenanz are good and similar but with less vertical. There is plenty of non bike park dh riding if you are prepared to pedal a bit

Have fun

Grande conche is awesome, we where the lest down before they shut it for maintenance and it was Very rough, we do it on the way to the Col de cou, there are some nice rides on either side of the telepherique that run down to Champery.
we’re off first week in July.

Cool, its worh the taxi ride back or organising to leave a car.

Ride back from Samoens to Les Gets is easy…unless you go via Morzine.

Ride back from Samoens to Les Gets is easy…unless you go via Morzine.

I must say that I’ve never ended up in Samoens and thought “I know what I’ll do, I’ll ride my mtb back on the road to Les Gets/Morzine. It’ll be fun and easy” 😆

Ride back from Samoens to Les Gets is easy…unless you go via Morzine.

Its a 1000m TdF climb back to Joux Plan or 20k round on the road 😯 I’d say taxi every time

My daughter and I are going for a fortnigbt in July. We are taking DH bikes. How can we avoid a huge pedally xc type trail fiasco? Is it obvious which trails are which? Do i need to buy a guide book and or maps?

For downhilling it’s very easy. There’s a few bike parks. Trails are well marked and the free map from the lift station is pretty clear. The secret is not to wander off down a fire road assuming it will pop out where you expect. If in doubt follow someone in pyjamas

@brenin – you can pick up the map in the resort, plenty of marked bike park trails to follow throughout the PdS. You might like to try some of @stoner’s rides over Mont Chery or even Samoans descent plus the lift the other side to give you a flavour of what else there is as you are there 2 weeks. A bit of pedalling but not too much and the cow path at from Lac Joux Plan to Borgeuoise can be walked. Chatel and Morgins worth exploring too, all the red and blue bike trails. So much to do !

jamba – thanks for putting up that Col du Joux Plan to Samoens route. I’d heard much about it, but never seen a route on a map before. It got added to my wall map at the flat when I was out a few weeks ago. I shall be doing it this summer since we will have the van – so Mrs Stoner can drop me at the top, drive down to Samoens to meet me, and then she can unhook her road bike from the van and ride back up it while I have a beer and drive back (daft lass, completely the wrong way of doing things)

That’s a great plan ! A fellow STWer did something similar, rode down on mtb’s put then in car then rode up on the road bikes

Samoens town centre is a cool place for a beer/coffee/ice cream

YGM

That’ll be me then.

@Stoner if Mrs Stoner wishes she can drive direct to Samoens (two ways there one via Les Gets and the other round via “main road” D902/Taninges) that way she can save the Mont Blanc view for the ride back up. You can get to the ride via top of Les Gets bike park lift and then round on the road (don’t bother to ride up to arrete overlooking lake as it’s unridable down as we discovered)

Wow, just read this and it’s given me loads of good info! I’m also a non-downhiller, girl with a van and cool bike looking to take myself way out of my comfort zone and do a solo road trip!

Stoner i’ve heard you’re the man/woman to keep in touch with 😉

feel free to PM me remster – email in profile.
The family and I are out there from 21st July for the TDF until end of summer. I get out riding regularly enough and you’d be welcome to tag along, or even just come to the local bar with maps and a pen and I can show you some routes. There are other forum members out there in summer like IGM who will be based in Les Gets too so post up in here regularly and you will find people to ride with when you’re there.

There’s a great scene in town for single riders, although admittedly its usually more DH orientated, but there’s quite a few XC riders out there during the summer and you’ll find ride buddies really easily if you’re gregarious enough.

EDIT: PS this may be of interest, I put it together for another thread:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rGgLbCyvJvqQO86TKGZkiYHVf3cVG58CVldwoO5HPFY/edit?usp=sharing

I’m there late August- just in time for the braking bumps and rain.

I adore the place, it’s great. All the above advice is spot on. I have a bunch of GPX files if anyone is interested. Also, I tend to ride alone quite a bit so if anyone wants any company out there, give me a shout.

And the descent to Montriond, via the GR5 is just sublime.

great thread… heading out for 1st half of August and will be allowed to play for a few days and riding with kids for a few more (all weather dependent of course) if people are looking to hook up.

15th for the day for me.

Just revisiting this thread to say thanks to all that helped. We had a fantastic week with great weather bar one day. Two days on the bike parks with the lads then I rode all the tracks suggested and from the Excellent book that Stoner recommended. The Col du Cou ride and the descent from Col de la Basse were exception.

STW at its finest. Cheers Chaps.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Jgcirq]IMAG0517[/url] by Dave Lowe, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/HKHZCv]IMAG0536[/url] by Dave Lowe, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Jz55TM]IMAG0566[/url] by Dave Lowe, on Flickr

We love an update and yes STW at its best, most of what I have shared here is based on what others have shared with me. Glad you had good weather, pretty rubbish in Paris all week.

Just for the record so we can link to the thread. Col du Cou, Arrete Berroi, north to Planafrache

+1 Col de Cou

Tonnes of other stuff, but of the only trips there I’ve done so far, that was the best stuff. Even if I was getting frustrated with the ridgeline descent with steep ass steps I struggled with. Views are fantastic.

brilliant. good to hear you had a great time.

did you go from col de la basse all the way down to essert rommand through the woods? It’s a blinder!

@Stoner… I did. I have to say probably the finest trail I;ve ever ridden. Utterly superb.

I have to say probably the finest trail I;ve ever ridden. Utterly superb.

8)

Its a great trail (one Ambrose shared with me waaaay back) But did you do Samoens ? 😉

You should look at a guided holiday, its that sort of trail all day everyday often with a van uplift to a place it would be very hard to get to otherwise,