Right, 31 July to 7 August we will be camping in le Chable all being well. Looking for recommendations of awesome routes, swims ( if the weather continues) and food that won’t break the bank.

We like jumpy blues
We loved the Tignes itineries, especially the one down to Les Brev
We liked Finale.
We didn’t like most of la Thuile, but TBH we were gubbed by then.
We loved the wooded stuff off the Cretes ridge in Meribel.
We hated the push up to the Cretes ridge in Meribel 🙂
We loved Heartbreak Ridge, but hated the ride up.
Me and the wean loved most of black 8 at Les Arcs, though we did push a bit of it ☺. We didn’t like the sun baked stuff at the top of Les Arcs as much.

The wee one likes jumps, lots and lots of jumps.
I [ think I] randomly discovered how to do an endo turn yesterday ( only in one direction so far 😉 ) so want something with lots of sharp right hand switchbacks.

We like eating lots lots. ( breakfast cost me £17.90 in Wilfs the other day in Staveley so God knows how we’ll survive in Switzerland.

Missus has mellowed a fair bit so won’t be keen on too much gnarr. Any nice travelling route recommendations appreciated.

I’ll try to scope out some of the stuff before dragging the family down it, but any advice on the must dos or must not dos is welcome.

Cheers.

Will download Trailfirx Switz before we go….

Oh, and ditto Serfaus in the unlikely event any of y’all have been there much.

The Reds off the middle lift are great and the blue off the lift at the other end of the balcony the road are good. Best way back to the valley floor is up to the very top of the bike park and then go out of the back and follow the enduro trail down and round the head of the valley

Got back from a week starting Verbier on sat. Tbh we only rode in the bike park 1.5 days. Lots of jumps, and drops from ramps to be had, even on the blues. There always a chicken line though. There’s a lot of enduro/natural single-track riding to be had, which is what we did. Some without push-up, but also we did a few with lots of push-up. A couple with 700m climbing, which was shattering! Col De mille (700m climb), and vertigo (no climb) being the best. You should have the other side of le chable valley open when you go, and it looked like lots more riding over there (bruson lift). It was closed when we were there, so got a shuttle with trail taxi.Ch who was very good and offers guiding or routes.
It’s expensive in Verbier! £25/cheeseburger! So cook in lol! Although you can get happy hour for drinks (gunpowder bar, £4/pint). Mont fort was good for a night out.
If you want gpx of col De mille, the ultimate, or fenetre de Ferret (grand Bernard), pm me
Enjoy!

@chrismac

EN05 I think thats called. Start at bottom of La Chaux lift as if you are doing vertigo, but turn down the hill where vertigo leaves the fireroad. That was a good trail and well worth doing.
Be aware, some of the maps dont have a number of the trails marked for some odd reason? This one is marked trail 11 I think on map, but not got bikepark signs – follow the footpath.

Download Fatmap, which is a lot better than TF in Verbier.

I don’t know if this is an option if you are camping in Le Chable

https://www.verbier.ch/summer/inside/vip-pass/

Worth mentioning the cable car from the le chable to verbier now runs from 5-6am through till midnight.

There are two blues, one from runettes into verbier, it mixes in with the various other runs and a second off the back into La Tzoumaz that starts from Savolyeres, and involves hundreds or berms, literally hundreds! There is also a new green down into La Chaux,

I know people have swum in lac de vaux, it’s a long walk/ride, either over col de mines or from Les Runnettes/La Chaux express.

It’s not gnarr at all, but can do what they call the Tour du mont Fort, start in Verbier and either ride or use the lifts and ride round the mountain, La Tzoumaz, Nendaz, Though you have to use the lift to get onto the Glacier on the return. ( I suppose you could walk!!!!!)

It’s Switzerland, it is horrifically expensive! and with the pound tanking even more so.

Sorry to be a doofus, but what does one do with a GPX in Switz?
I have OSApp and assume that it does GPXs, but never felt the need. But I’m guessing that has no maps in Switz, could you tell me what app I load it into?

Trailfirx I guess…

The German language guide seems to say that Vertigo is Fahrtechnik 5, and my experience of the German guidebook for Finale would put that firmly in the ” nails” category, and possibly even in the “long annoying walk downhill category”.
Would you care to elaborate any on the difficulty, and indeed the danger factor?
( I appreciate this is a silly question for me to ask someone I have never ridden with. I’m not asking you to make any decisions etc, just trying to get a view where it sits on the Heartbreak Ridge, Mastermind, Dollywaggon, Birkside, Ullock Pike spectrum:-)

🥵
Jesus. Just looked at a few videos. The answer to my question is clearly ” a fair bit to the right of the aforementioned routes.”

Alot of the walking / natural trails are very steep some of those with plenty of exposure.

As scruff said.
A lot of the trails outside of the bike park aren’t exactly family friendly.

Really good trails but often steep and exposed.

The ultimate, Toboggan, nuthouse, vertio, speedway – some great memories!

I have OSApp and assume that it does GPXs, but never felt the need. But I’m guessing that has no maps in Switz, could you tell me what app I load it into?

Personally I’d be loading into a Wahoo, but i’m guessing you don’t have a bike computer. They’re easier to read that way as you’re riding without having a phone on your bars/in and out of your pocket.

But you can load a gpx into any gps app. OSMand is free and works well on both IOS and Android for this kind of thing.

The ultimate

I believe scruff up there particularly enjoyed the hike a bike at the start.😏

I didn’t hate the portage, but didnt enjoy it, think I did it 3 or 4 times. Once got that other lift to the sameish height and traversed across most of it, which was nice.
However, @walleater here really really hated it

thegeneralist

Where are you looking to camp? We might head that way after being in Italy if we can find somewhere.

I have OSApp and assume that it does GPXs, but never felt the need. But I’m guessing that has no maps in Switz, could you tell me what app I load it into?

The os app will give you basic maps of Switzerland which are probably good enough to follow a gpx. The version I have at least won’t let me import a gpx in the app but you can import a gpx on the website and it should then appear in the app.

For mapping you can use two apps. Schweizmobil or SwissTopo. Both should default to English. I use Schweizmobile all the time, and I pay to create and store routes. They have a free website if you have a laptop with you..:
Schweizmobile

If you fancy a day off the bikes there’s a standing wave surf park not too far away. I’ve no idea if it’s booked up to next year but it could be worth a look. I suspect that won’t be cheap either..:-)
Alaia Bay

There’s a VTT guide produced by Verbier with all the routes, I’m pretty sure they have easier marked trails from Verbier down to the valley with an easy return to Le Châble.

I can’t help with cheap restaurants but if you’re buying food there’s a cartel set up here so you have two-ish choices: Coop and Migros and their prices are pretty much the same. Migros don’t sell booze, they have a sister company Denner that does that. It’s cheaper than the other two but has less of a selection of food. Coop are more likely to have an ex-pat aisle selling PG Tips and Robinsons marmalade etc… You’ll have to go to Martigny for a LIDL..

Where are you looking to camp?  

https://www.verbier.ch/summer/offers/camping-de-champsec-champsec-en-summer-2801269/
It’s all been a bit vague TBH. I phoned him a couple of times and he wouldn’t take reservations. My French is a bit scheisse so my missus got one of her Belgian colleagues to phone him.

They confirmed my understanding. The site is never full, no need to book.

Fingers crossed.

That was the campsite we were looking to use. Will be interested to hear how you get on.

@scruff, you try carrying a filing cabinet half way up Mt Everest!

There’s a VTT guide produced by Verbier with all the routes, I’m pretty sure they have easier marked trails from Verbier down to the valley with an easy return to Le Châble.

Do you mean a book, or a paper map or something else?

Cheers

@Rivett

That was the campsite we were looking to use. Will be interested to hear how you get on.

+
It’s scenic. Like everywhere round there.
The meltwater in the river keeps one side of the site cooler in the evening.
It’s a gentle 4.2km bimble down to the lift in the morning.
The high valley sides keep the sun off till 08:40
There are a few trees for shade

–
It’s a nasty slog back from La Chable in the evening. ( though this can be avoided by dropping down 5 as above if you are up there)
The Nuernberger running it is batty.
There is no hot water for washing up.
You can fill your basin in the shower, but only till about 7pm then the shower water is cold too.
There is only one shower.
It’s pretty expensive ( £45 for family of 4)
No bakery or shops nearby.

I was undecided what I thought of it, till we got to Champery with its pristine clear showers and toilets with huge amounts of hot water, spotlessly clean etc.
Made me realise what a tip Champsec was. I’m sure it’s lovely in a proper self contained motorhome, but if you want warm water to wash yourself and the dishes then you’ll be disappointed.

I would recommend avoiding wild camping not because there is a problem with it but if you don’t get the voucher from a campsite when you check in then the lift pass is twice the price. At least it was when we were there pre pandemic

Fair play for the up to date info thegeneralist.  We’re going to check out Crans-Montana instead of Verbier I think.

@Rivett
Apologies for hailing you but thought it might be relevant…

We’re going to check out Crans-Montana instead of Verbier I think.

There was a group of three at Champsec who went off to Crans afterwards. I emailed to thank them for a GPX, and he replied and mentioned that they’d abandoned the Crans option as the lift pass was 65 per day.

( can’t exactly recall if that was Euros, chuffs or GBP but worth a check if you’re not loaded.

Don’t be daft @thegeneralist, really appreciate you taking the time to post. Lift prices in Zermatt are the same, stupid money.