Yep, lift opening dates vary a lot. Chamonix opens early, presumably because of the amount of walkers.
Sauze D’Olx is described a “flowy” and an intermediate venue in that MTB Europe book I think. I find it hard to categorise trails as “full on DH”, “Freeride” etc. I’m certainly not good at DH, eg in terms of being able to ride a course like Fort William in under 5 minutes and I dont do jumps particularly or ride a 8″ travel bike, but I could ride it and clear it all on my LT2. But, there’s plenty of what you might call XC stuff around Chamonix that I wouldnt clear and would challenge anyone to ride at speed!
Anyway, Sauze had lots of riding in the trees, a bit like a more extreme version of the Welsh trail centre descents. Some of the new trails were new and not really bedded in. There are plenty of “black” obstacles, though all avoidable. I liked it, different to the french resorts with cheaper lifts.
What made me smile was the way ALL of the local riders clocked off at lunchtime for huge BBQs and beers, the lifts stop for an hour. There definitely isnt a rush for the first lift after lunch either unless you’re a UK rider! Also, most local riders are male, the WAGS spend the day sunbathing underneath the lifts.
Dont know how far it is from the other resorts, but it was only an hour from Briancon and near Bardonecchia (sp!) (but a difficult trip if your Bongo is spurting coolant all over the road…..)
