Best place I have been is here:
[/url] 054[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url] 051[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Even the bike park trails feel natural, and the weather is much nicer than further north. Loads of other options near by as well, the FFC centre in Barcollenette (20k North) has some really ace riding as have the hills around the Verdon Gorge. Pra Loup and Chabaanon are also nearby for further park action.

my guess is GR5 in the vanoise national park

Is the vanoise not off limits to bikes?

That sort of riding might have its place, but it is just plain dumb when the trails are so wet. If guiding companies want to keep being able to make money from mountain bikes around les arcs, it is in their interest to stop s..t like that. The commune won’t be very amused if that vid pops up when the mayor is surfing YouTube.

I would say go with the flat, its amazing the difference a small mortgage makes to you quality of life. With a big one you will always be scared of losing your job, you will have no/a lot less disposable income (council tax, bills and possible rate increase)and you will have all your money in property (fairly inaccessible if you need to use some in the future). Also, gardens are a pain if you are not into that sort of thing.

Free bivouac on the way up to the ski area from ax les therme, mont Louis municipal camping at la lagonne. La griole targasonne. Pyranees orientale.
Les pommiers near Allos in the alpes maritime.
Municipal site at Tignes.
Municipal site on the way to Montgenevre from Briancon.
All really cool, not mega expensive. The mont Louis site has a river and there are lakes close by, also hot water pools within 20mins.

Don’t book next years holiday to Germany or we are all up s..t creek.

Couple of points:
If you are in tigne, the best way to get to sauze d’oulx is: col d’iserain then down the valley on the other side to pick up the motorway through the frejus tunnel. Nice drive, shorter but the tunnel is quite expensive (the 5 day return is the same price as a single though if you intend to go back the same way)

Lac blanc is not open all week, even during the summer ( Sat-tues I think). It also gets very busy, I have never seen queues like it and that includes the pds week at les gets. Pretty good though and as said, pretty techy.

Les 2 alpes to Bourg: red down to Venosc and then the xc trail along the river. Also thallas (red) down to the road and along the road to the Venosc junction and pick up the xc route.

Crankworks will mean more people but the only trail that gets used for the event is the new black, Satan. The rest of the action is near the town, around the slopestyle area.

Sauze D’Oulx sounds great.

You can probably add another half day (each way) driving to your trip though.

As toons said, most runs at places like deux alpes are not super difficult. Jumps can be rolled and any gaps can be ridden around.

I see there’s a Bike Park in Belgium on that web site. Belgium?????

It actually looks pretty cool from their website. 10 euros for 15 uplifts, 3 hrs from calais, 4 x 600m tracks and a 4x. Not much vertical though (100m)

http://www.26in.fr/bike-parks/
http://www.bigbike-magazine.com/station-vtt (pretty complete list)

There is plenty as long as you don’t want to ride xc. Other parks closer to Grenoble are les7 laux, chamrousse and Villard de lans. The last place looked pretty good for xc, there are marked trails and the terrain is less ” big mountain”.

and this one:

I reckon its Donna Summer I Feel Love but for tracks that rocked the best club ever (the orbit in its hayday), here is a few more:

I wouldnt say the vengeance coil are as good as the rc3 ti 55s. They are good value and better than air revs but marzocchis feel burlier and nicer to ride.

Or ask the tour operator if you can borrow a spare one. If it’s switchbacks or similar, I’m sure they have a few old ones knocking around.

man with the red face,not sure who made it

Laurent Garnier

Joe smooth not Joe Cool!

Donna summer, I feel love
Joe cool, promised land
Jeff mills, steps to enchantment

Full face is compulsory as seemed to be pads for the induction. They have loads of both if you dont.

The place is awesome, but prepare to get an ass kicking from some super quick pre teens.

Bouldering…hmmm: It’s like when your missus is away for the week and you have to “go solo”….
It ticks some of the boxes, but lacks a certain Je Ne Sais Quoi.. [/quote]

Congratulations on your almost perfect use of UKclimbing cliche 🙄 . Whatever:

For a 4 day trip you could fly to Paris cdg, rent a car and visit both Disney and parc asterix.

4 days in Windsor would be way too long. The park is only one days worth at best and crap at that.

The same one who was at the Yorkshire Open shortly before at Leeds Uni when Leach won?

I never even knew there was a comp at Leeds Uni, what year was that?

Legoland in windsor is a tired, uninspiring clip joint. Even my son, who is really into his Lego, reckoned it was a bit crap.

Bouldering used to be about fun and practise after a day on the crags. I get that its become a pursuit in its own right but I’m sorry to see it seems to be replacing the sense of adventure that was the original pioneering spirit in climbing

So what are your views on trail centres and bike parks? :?:.

ianv – I am guessing that you are the ianv who I saw competing in the Leeds World Cup comp back in the day when Simon Nadin won?

yep
Jerry won, Simon was second.
Cheers for that

I think he speaks B0110cks,

I dont, I just think he introduced it as an issue a bit early.

Dont know what this business actually does, but I was suprised to see the logo plastered all over the track at moto gp race a few years ago.

Longer fingers will definitely make the use of small holds harder but I don’t think this will become an issue in the short to med term. If you intend to take climbing seriously though, working on finger strength will be very beneficial. Second joint hangs should not be too dangerous and will be a good place to start.

I have got back into climbing quite recently and despite having good technique, having pretty good upper body strength and being fairly light, the limiting factor is the ability to hang small holds on overhanging boards. At the wall over the weekend I was trying a problem and despite every bit of foot trickery known to man, I was being shut down by my inability to hang a small crimp.

Don’t be discouraged, just take the advice as pointing out you area for some extra effort in terms of training. Everyone has an area of weakness they need to concentrate on.

http://Www.lakesbloc.com

There is page for Walls but most seem a bit of a haul from Whitehaven. Good outside bouldering in that part of the world though.

Really wanted to take my lad to that, but didnt work out logistically 🙁 . It must be MAD!!

Russian dash-cam videos. Sit back, watch and thank the good lord for the interwebs

and that you don’t have to drive in Russia

13 mins but funny as…

I find it interesting that there is so much snobbery on here about trail centres lacking adventure, route finding, the sense of adventure etc YET every thread about a trip abroad features a request for the best guiding company.

For bouldering and communicating with people who know what they are on about ( rather than the s..heads that ukc seems to attract) the best site is ukbouldering.com

Loads of good climbers post there and it’s a really cool ( if a bit Sheffield centric) forum. Its not just bouldering despite the web address so any climbing related enquiry will get a knowledgeable reply.

Andorra isn’t the most charming place in the world though

Each to his own I suppose, I love the place.

Plenty of sun loungers on the terrace at Valnord and the mid station at soldeau. Food on site at both and loads of activities at Valnord. Hotels and campsites have pools. Some nice walking around as well. But, neither soldeau or la massana have much in the way of shopping. Andorra la viella (sp) looked pretty good for shopping though.

Better weather than the alps. Well worth a trip, the bike parks are good, the locals are friendly and its not far to La Molina/Ax les Thermes/Les Angles for a bit of road tripping.

My favourite european biking destination.

I have no idea of weight/or riding comparisons with the sx trail but, I use my enduro evo as my do it all bike. Its not fast up hill but you will get up.
Last year I used it for riding big days of 1500+m of climbing in the alps, the full 96km PdS and for general XC so its capable of that sort of thing. In fact it was much nicer to ride XC on than the scott spark I traded in for it. Yet, its a really fun bike for bike parks and can take a fair amount of abuse if needed. Its not as stable as a proper downhill bike but its pretty good.

http://athertonracing.co.uk/2012/10/09/four-by-three-dans-film/

7.33 onward

There is also Sestriere and Bardonecchia very close. Not ridden there but feedback is good, sort of less sculpted/busy than many of the French parks. Think the lift network is quite expensive though and the lifts open on a rota. Definately worth a few days I reckon, if the lift logistics work.

Find a bmx track, they are great for manual practice.