Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
  • La Thuile recommendations
  • feckinlovebbq
    Free Member

    Group of 3-4 of us thinking about Italy for a weeks biking next year probably Aosta Valley in/around La Thuile. All experienced riders who will happily ride everything.
    Looking for recommendations of
    Airport transfers from Geneva or should we rent a car.
    Accommodation
    How to split time riding in which areas
    Anything not to miss
    Also anything not to bother with.

    Any experiences / successes / failures/ general advice greatly appreciated

    Blackflag
    Free Member

    I just wrote a long response to this then erased it all when i realised you were biking and not snowboarding. Doh!

    Marko
    Full Member

    I’ve been twice. Once years ago and La Thuile was fantastic. Went in 2018 and it was all a bit worn out. Still good, but I’d not plan a week there.

    You’ll be better off in staying in Bourg St Maurice, but you’ll need transport to hit Tignes, La Thuille and Pila, not forgetting Les Arcs of course.

    Alternatively if you stay in Aosta just ride Pila for 3 or 4 days and ride La Thuile for a day. There was also a company doing uplifts from Aosta to a few places, but they were fully booked up when we chatted to them.

    Hth

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    chrismac
    Full Member

    If you goto pila then the marked trail to aosta is great. Rocky Bilboa on trail forks is excellent but tricky uo find as you literally ride down someone’s drive and back garden to access it. The owners are really friendly

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    I know most will disagree, but you did ask…

    My recommendation is to go elsewhere. I totally thought la thuile was vastly overrated. Couldn’t see the attraction at all.

    Fair enough we made some bad calls on the day but I was so glad we didn’t buy a two day pass.

    We’re not gnarly riders on gnarly bikes, just a family trip, so that might make s difference.

    We loved Finale, Les Arcs, Méribel,Tignes ,Val d’ Isère, La Plagne.
    Didn’t rate la Thuile

    superfli
    Free Member

    Had a week in Aosta last summer. We stayed in Aosta in an AirB&B. I’d been to Pila+La Thuile before, so had ridden a few of the trails. Trailforks is fantastic for finding some great trails. Pila bike park is good for maybe a day, but you really need to use trailforks and find the trails like Rocky Bilboa as mentioned above, and 21b. The ridgeline is a must too.
    La Thuile is very technical. Steep roots in the trees. Caution in the wet! Loved it, but I’ve only had a couple of days there.
    Also visit Cervinia up the valley for some Glacier riding and quiet trails with epic views of the Matterhorn.

    maxtorque
    Full Member

    “We’re not gnarly riders on gnarly bikes, just a family trip, so that might make s difference”

    ah. Given that La Thuile is a genuine test of a master map makers steady hand to draw so many contour lines so close together, it’s not somewhere i’d particularly recommend for family riding, unless your family name is “Atherton”….

    How is it described on here, something like “Super Innerleithen” 🙂

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Could be me, I usually call it Mega-Innerleithen…

    Pila and La Thuile are imo absolutely fantastic but, I’m not sure how many days of riding I’d get out of them in a single trip, I suspect 2 days at la thuile and 1 at pila and I’d be pretty much sated. That’d be 3 bloody amazing days but after that you’d be replaying a lot. (Pila’s all about the trail down from the top gondola station imo, the bikepark stuff above that isn’t awful but as soon as I’d done the big one down to Aosta once, there was no way you’d get me to do anything else) It’s all quality not quantity.

    But Les Arcs is an easy drive- I think probably many of us that have been to these places, would have commuted over from there. And what’s nice is you can ride down either side- the col’s quite flat on top but there’s a really nice route down from the border into la thuile, and I’m pretty sure you can get up onto the ridge to the east easily too and ride down from there… And on the french side La Rosiere has some really nice trails leading down to Seez near Les Arcs, and it’s a roll down the hill from there. I think realistically someone has to drive but some people can ride. (Les arcs isn’t as good as either La Thuile or Pila imo, but there’s more of it)

    I know there’s a ton of other riding in the aosta valley but outside of the waymarked/obvious lifted trails- but I wouldn’t know where to start.

    alpin
    Free Member

    Was in La Thuile back in 2017.

    Was awesome. The GF loves steep trails where you’ve no choice but drop in, hang on and ride. Not your typical bike park. All hands cut trails.

    Italian friend of mine has a mountain hut in Pila. Need to borrow the key in the coming year…

    TroutWrestler
    Free Member

    IMO EWS caused significant damage to La Thuile. I was saddened by the obvious damage to some ancient trails. It’s not about bikers, it’s about unsustainable volumes in a short time.

    If you are keen and motivated, and have decent navigation skills on the bike, I’d base yourselves in Bourg St Maurice. There is stacks of riding on the doorstep, with Tignes, La Thuile and Pile all within day trip distance.

    bgascoyne
    Free Member

    Having spent time around that area for the last two summers I would tend to agree with some of the others that it might be better to have base camp in Bourg St Maurice. This year I spent two weeks out there – 7 days on my own and 7 on a guided trip. I spent 3 days over in Aosta valley and 4 in Bourg while on my own. The year before was just a week based in Bourg.

    I didnt ride Pila but did research it and decided against it however from speaking to others I met most say it’s good for about a day and that’s about it. But that’s purely going on what I have been told.

    La Thuile, in my opinion, is freaking awesome. Gnarly, steep, rooty, hard riding. If you like that type of riding then you will love it. If you are not so keen on the gnar then it might not be your thing. In the wet it would be “interesting” shall we say. I did two hard, long days in a row and was pretty tired, although they were my 4th and 5th day of riding. No way I could ride a week there, plus boredom would kick in.

    There is a lot of good riding at Les Arcs (I rode there for 6 days this year). Bike park is average – it’s the off piste that is great. Most of it is easy enough to find on Trail forks and or with a map. The town has all you need and might be cheaper than Italy.

    You could fly to Geneva, drive to Bourg, do 3 or 4 days over there (Les Arcs and Tignes) and then drive over to Italy. It’s only and hour drive to La Thuile. Or maybe fly to Lyon – hire cars might a cheaper in France?

    A good combo for the week would be Les Arcs, Tignes, La Thuile and Pila 🙂 Having a car would make life much easier – although you might need a van if there are 3 or 4 of you.

    Have fun!

    steveh
    Full Member

    Transfers will be expensive as it’s not a common route, check auto europe for good rental deals. It may well work Accommodation is easy to find, Aosta is hot in summer, Pila is much cooler and more comfortable. I’d suggest a day with Aosta Freeride out of the bikepark if you can, great trails and nice and quiet.

    La Thuile has some good bits and some less good bits, could definitely do a couple of days there, 3 in Pila (use trailforks to find some good bits around but not in the park), one with Aosta freeride would give you a week. Or as others have said you could pop over the hill to Bourg/Les arcs too.

    Tracey
    Full Member

    Been to both La Thuile and Pila quite a few times and usually combine the both for a week which has included a few days in Verbier on the way down as its only just over the pass from Aosta. We have the use of the camper so it makes getting around a bit easier.

    We had a good day out with Aosta Freeride over the other side from Pila around the Swiss/Italian side of Aosta. However as said on here before when we turned up for our booking there were only the three of us and ended up having to pay for the full van for the day. Im sure most people would have walked away but we wanted to see what they had to offer so took it on the chin. It was a very hot day and even after the van uplifts we had a couple of hours climbing.

    You can also buy a multi day pass to use in both areas however make sure before you buy as we had to climb in la Thuile every day as the lifts were shut to bikes unless you had a EWS race plate.

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