mtb in chatel france

[g1957g]

does anyone have any experience of xc mtb in chatel would 6 50 year olds normally used to clattering around th peak district manage ok ? thanks

[silverscoob]

Went over in 2009 to do this with some of the members of my Mountain Bikeclub (St.Helens Woollybacks)
http://www.passportesdusoleil.com/index.jsp?SDP_CHANGE_USERLANG=en

Stayed near Morzine/Les Gets. Bunch in one chalet, the event above is highly recomended, includes free lift passes and covers around 50 miles of cracking riding through the French and Swiss Alps (in Chatel). Body Armour would be worth while

After that, we had a week of superb riding, some chose to don full body armour and blast as many red/black runs as possible. A few of us also followed an XC route (about 37 miles) which was great, hardly met anyone on the ride as majority over there were going down all the "gnarley" stuff and getting "stoked" (really)..

All the runs are colour coded, as trail centres over here but a black run here is say a red over there.

We had a brilliant time and just need to talk the missus into letting me go over again.

[Brucey]

I've been there ski-ing and I've been round there on the road cycling in the summer. The thing to remember is that many of the MTB routes are likely based on ski-trails. To make the ski-ing user-friendly and to allow vehicle access there are very many 'green' ski trail options that are basically fire roads with ~10% gradient or less. When ski-ing there are a few places where you must do a challenging route or go back the way you came but these are not common; normally there is a 'bail-out' green trail option. I believe the same applies to the MTB route layout, so a little forethought is required but normally you can get around without having to take on anything too challenging if you don't want to.

The other little potential problemette with this area is the 'stuck in Switzerland' outcome. Whether ski-ing or biking you can get stuck on the wrong side of the hills in the evening; if it is getting dark and/or the lifts have stopped running this can mean a long trip round on the road (many tens of miles and the local taxi-firms know how to charge for it...) a long climb late in the day, or a night in another country...

cheers

[silverscoob]

The other little potential problemette with this area is the 'stuck in Switzerland' outcome. Whether ski-ing or biking you can get stuck on the wrong side of the hills in the evening; if it is getting dark and/or the lifts have stopped running this can mean a long trip round on the road (many tens of miles and the local taxi-firms know how to charge for it...) a long climb late in the day, or a night in another country...

cheers

That reminded me, happened to a couple in our group, ended up staying overnight in Switzerland, as all cable cars had shut down.

[g1957g]

thanks think we,ll be or8

[g1957g]

thanks think we,ll be or8

[konaboy2275]

I've had a week there riding downhill but there are plenty of other options using the VTT routes. You could also use the lifts to get some altitude as I would imagine the climbs to be very long

I think the passes were much cheaper for the biking than what I normally pay when skiing and they would allow you to ride further and explore more of the area. We went with someone who knew the area and showed us some of the quieter less DH routes heading over to Champery which was probably the best day we had riding.