[wysiwyg]

Starting to think about next summer already. Cant decide where to go in what order, gonna try to see as many of the WCs as possible, but not gonna make it to Champery (gotta be back 5th Sept).

So where would you go in what order and how long would you stay?

Starting in UK end of July, back at work sept 5th.

 

[SupaTone]

Dude, have a look round this and plan your route... http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/

 

[slyfink]

what kind of bike are you bringing? either way, the "Portes du Soleil" area is dripping with quality riding. can't go wrong there.

 

[wysiwyg]

Thanks for the link, very useful.

Done Morzine, Les Gets and Chatel many times, so will be revisiting for sure.

 

[norbar]

Les Deux Alpes is good if you like flowy tracks with berms. Though visit early - very little trail maitanance and the trails get bumpy. If you like enduro try Alpe D Huez. Apparently there is a new Park in Tignes, I've heard good things about Andorra and Livigno. Maribor is expanding so it's worth the visit and the WC track is awesome.

 

[- seb]

Les Deux Alpes is balls, because all it has is flowy tracks with berms

Jamie, I think you've probably already been to most places people will mention. We went off the beaten track a bit this year, and I can highly recommend St Pierre de Chartreuse, Todtnau, Bad Wildbad, Crans Montana & Lac Blanc. You wouldn't want to spend more than 2 days at any of them (1-4 trails each), but they're each DEFINITELY worth a visit.

 

[sethimus]

i would start with alpe d'huez/deux alpes (several days) to montgenevre (day only) to sauze d'oulx (several days) to bardonecchia (day only) to tignes (several days) to pila (several days) to verbier (several days) to crans montana (day only) to zermatt (expensive,decide) to bellwald (day only) to laax (minimum 1 day) to chur (day) to lenzerheide/arosa (decide) to klosters (new track opens july 2011, like aline check youtube) to livigno (min 1 day) to scuol (day) to innsbruck (1 day, very hard, steep, not for everyone) to saalbach/leogang (several days) to wagrain (several days) to schladming (min 1 day) then you can decide to hit the east to ride at zauberberg(semmering) and maribor but its a long drive or you can drive into germany and hit bischofsmais (day) to bad wildbad (day) to lac blanc (min 1 day) to todtnau (day) to portes du soleil and then home to the uk. don't go to winterberg/willingen, not worth it...

bring the big bike and the trail bike and you'll be sorted for everything these locations offer.

hope this gives you some input

 

[norbar]

Naah - Winterberg is funn if you have a smaller bike. Imho more than Leogang.

 

[frango]

i would start with alpe d'huez/deux alpes (several days) to montgenevre ...

Such trip would be super cool, if you had 6 weeks of holidays! :O
You'll travel in a camper or something similar, right? Otherwise, packing and unpacking may be a killer :|
I am not sure spending one day in a location is worth the effort... unless, there's only one track on the spot.

 

[- seb]

I am not sure spending one day in a location is worth the effort... unless, there's only one track on the spot.

I disagree. We did two 4-day breaks in europe this year, and hit up a different spot every day, driving on to the next place each evening. Living out of a van makes this sort of thing easy

 

[- seb]

sauze d'oulx's nice jamie. Not hardcore, but fun and relaxed and a nice place to be. If you're feeling flush seek out a restaurant by the name of Del Falco in town.

Bardonecchia was, I thought, a bit pap. It's tempting as it's so close to Sauze, but it's not worth it I don't think.

Oh, and I forgot to say; Todtnau's expensive, 31euros for a day pass. Bad Wildbad wasn't much cheaper.

 

[norbar]

sauze d'oulx's nice jamie. Not hardcore, but fun and relaxed and a nice place to be. If you're feeling flush seek out a restaurant by the name of Del Falco in town.

Bardonecchia was, I thought, a bit pap. It's tempting as it's so close to Sauze, but it's not worth it I don't think.

Oh, and I forgot to say; Todtnau's expensive, 31euros for a day pass. Bad Wildbad wasn't much cheaper.

I think leo is also 31euro.

 

[michar]

Oh, and I forgot to say; Todtnau's expensive, 31euros for a day pass. Bad Wildbad wasn't much cheaper.

next year the uplift in bad wildbad get fixed and is closed! they shuttel by van! wildbad is one of my favourite tracks in germany..quite technical but with a good line so much fun! price is 18 euros for the day when you only ride the dh tracks! so it isn't soo expensive..
when its possible visit wildbad and todtnau....the best tracks in germany...

 

[DhUrbaner]

Is Bad Wild Bad open through the winter months? Definetly hit up lake blanc, It is a nice little mountain. nice white wine in the region too!

 

[wysiwyg]

Sethimus> Damn didnt know about some of them, ill check out the route, thanks for the input.

Ill have both my DH bike and my Commie Mini DH with me (as long as I can get it off the missus). Gonna buy a van I think, not crossed that bridge yet.

But looking at 2500 miles easy I reckon

 

[norbar]

Sethimus> Damn didnt know about some of them, ill check out the route, thanks for the input.

Ill have both my DH bike and my Commie Mini DH with me (as long as I can get it off the missus). Gonna buy a van I think, not crossed that bridge yet.

But looking at 2500 miles easy I reckon

If you want an extensive list of euro places dirt made a list of 50 best spots in Europe. I think it was 10-20 issues ago. Look it up on itunes as it goes only for .79EUR so it won't really kill your budget

 

[- seb]

They'd probably only been to half of them though.....

 

[scottishmark]

Thanks for the link, very useful.

Done Morzine, Les Gets and Chatel many times, so will be revisiting for sure.

Been to Morgins? Ben's built some nnnniiiiiiiiicccccccceeeeeeeeeeee tracks on that little bit of the PDS!

 

[norbar]

They'd probably only been to half of them though.....

I only thought their reviews were a bit off reality. I remember Victor Lucas at one race here (with the 4mts zumbi team) speaking he makes some euro trip for dirt or sth. Locals got all hyped on coverage for their spot (didn't really happen If I remember right) but maybe that was it. It was early 09 though.

 

[sethimus]

Sethimus> Damn didnt know about some of them, ill check out the route, thanks for the input.

Ill have both my DH bike and my Commie Mini DH with me (as long as I can get it off the missus). Gonna buy a van I think, not crossed that bridge yet.

But looking at 2500 miles easy I reckon

there are so much more parks and places to ride, bummer most people only know about portes du soleil etc...

this is only a small selection for a good round trip where you also see alot of different countries, france alone has at least 15-20 places with lift support...

 

[sethimus]

Naah - Winterberg is funn if you have a smaller bike. Imho more than Leogang.

winterberg is for people who haven't seen real mountains in their life. come on, 175m height difference is NOT worth it if you plan a 6 week trip trough europe. if you're down in south germany, and can decide between going south again before heading home to the uk, you DON'T drive up to winterberg.

 

[sethimus]

But looking at 2500 miles easy I reckon

more like 2800 miles from calais back to calais:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=62100+Calais,+France&daddr=Alpe+d'Huez,+Huez,+France+to:Les+Deux-Alpes,+Vénosc,+France+to:Sauze+d'Oulx+Turin,+Italy+to:Bardonecchia,+Italy+to:Tignes,+France+to:45.7042,6.91073+to:Pila,+Gressan,+Aostatal,+Italie+to:45.92834,7.20391+to:Verbier,+Switzerland+to:Crans-Montana,+Switzerland+to:Bellwald,+Switzerland+to:Chur,+Switzerland+to:Klosters,+Switzerland+to:Livigno,+Italy+to:Saalbach-Hinterglemm,+Austria+to:Wagrain,+Austria+to:Schladming,+Austria+to:Bischofsmais,+Germany+to:Bad+Wildbad,+Germany+to:Lac+Blanc,+Orbey,+France+to:Todtnau,+Germany+to:Morzine,+France+to:Calais,+France&hl=en&geocode=Fc2OCQMd_UMcAClj4_HXdT_cRzH0edKM4Nm-rA;FcXqrwIdBdNcACkhVBqMDGuKRzFhKb53lGxTtA;FcHCrgIdSWldACm7brKBwRKKRzEJfLIHYoSpMw;FZIQrwIdaKtoACnLjFeUb8GJRzHM_Jxrt8TxJQ;Fe_YrwIdn0xmAClbLXHPWuuJRzFAhTxHfeYFBA;FR7RtQId9WZpACm7fn0oYwyJRzGwqLrkKqsIBA;FQhkuQIdCnNpACnROQ2s30GJRzFAPcQ6feYFEw;FbwbuQIdVYlvAClnr1sTEiCJRzER44ZXfuYFJg;FZTPvAIdRuxtACnbDzWbii2JRzFk8a41ZMPTAA;FQxfvwIdkiduACnbHDk5ys-ORzGbdnkdFdyFfg;FSSZwgIdLgpyACmFUYddEh6PRzEt70NxRX6nyg;FTWExAId8Ft8ACllDy71hnuPRzFdzB_-1hCeDw;FZ_iygIdSXGRAClVW_eKdseERzEwHwHXpnhPKw;FcYgywIdTNWWACnn3tZkC1iDRzHDPJ2d1vbdaQ;FcI4xgIdnb6aACkPDspl922DRzH_J9b6o5cUhQ;FSwc0wId2tzAACnPAaOx0P92RzHXHIz5_S3BlQ;FWhA0gIdhOLKACntJymvb9Z2RzHm0UcXi4PRrA;Feor0wIdotfQACnTdnd2EyVxRzHqhKpYcvV1SQ;FbZu6gIddZzHACkd-MTfjhd1RzGQxDcJpCUdBA;FfDa5wIdWnmCACn19do34T-XRzGgVAmNPP0fBA;FXBY3gIdIDBsACkDbn5QJNyTRzGwboEFul8KKg;FcfR2QIdoER5ACl_XrFBCv-QRzEtDeQpZ1h6uQ;FemiwAIdO19mACnLpG6qXR2MRzEo-3A6__DelA;Fc2OCQMd_UMcAClj4_HXdT_cRzH0edKM4Nm-rA&mra=ls&via=6,8&sll=47.929695,8.093315&sspn=8.878214,22.565918&ie=UTF8&z=6

 

[norbar]

winterberg is for people who haven't seen real mountains in their life. come on, 175m height difference is NOT worth it if you plan a 6 week trip trough europe. if you're down in south germany, and can decide between going south again before heading home to the uk, you DON'T drive up to winterberg.

It's not the heigth differance it's the trails. I'm pretty sure after visiting Schladming, Maribor, Leo, Les 2 Alpes, Alpe D huez and some other spots I've seen mountains and I can see how people on smaller bikes may like it. The trails may be only 1-1.5km long but they are of much better quality than many others in europe. Its only not a real dh'ers park. If you are on a small (ss or something like 100-120mm) bike it will be fun. It's all personal preferance though(many people I know where not so impressed with Bischofsmais and it adds a ****load of extra road from the pov of your trip map) I'd be very curious what would happen if the locals had a bigger hill to play.

 

[sethimus]

you know that bischofmais and winterberg are operated by the same people?

 

[Kevin]

It's not the heigth differance it's the trails. I'm pretty sure after visiting Schladming, Maribor, Leo, Les 2 Alpes, Alpe D huez and some other spots I've seen mountains and I can see how people on smaller bikes may like it. The trails may be only 1-1.5km long but they are of much better quality than many others in europe. Its only not a real dh'ers park. If you are on a small (ss or something like 100-120mm) bike it will be fun. It's all personal preferance though(many people I know where not so impressed with Bischofsmais and it adds a ****load of extra road from the pov of your trip map) I'd be very curious what would happen if the locals had a bigger hill to play.

Winterberg is a nice little park but IMO not worth if youre not allready gonna be in the area.
But the fact that its only 2 hours from Willingen would make it interesting for anyone IMO.
The Willingen track had a bad rep from the first WC but now its a pretty cool track to ride with massive jumps and some really scary sections if you ride them the way theyre meant to be ridden.

I could easily amuse myself for 3 to 4 days in Winterberg/Willingen and Ive been all over Germany and a great deal of Europe.

Winterberg has a fun little downhill track, its changed a bit since we made this lil movie but it youll get the id.

 

[norbar]

you know that bischofmais and winterberg are operated by the same people?

And built? I've had no idea. I've had some friends who were with me in winter and leo that went later to bischofmais and I've heard mixed reviews from them. Some liked it, some not so much. Good to know. I was tempted to try as once a while I visit my family in Munich but now when they moved permanently to Poland it's not on the way.

And I don't really want to force Winter if its not on the way. I'm just claiming it's not as **** as you make it. I was a bit bored after 3 days but my friends who are more into 4x,dj, etc loved it. Though I understand you may be fed up with people talking about it like we are here fed up with some of our local stuff


Kevin when was that? It mush have been either very long ago or after I was there as it sure looks different (was there 2 or 3 years ago). The vid is great though. Flat out and bottoming on the jumps

 

[Kevin]

Kevin when was that? It mush have been either very long ago or after I was there as it sure looks different (was there 2 or 3 years ago). The vid is great though. Flat out and bottoming on the jumps

Vid is 4 years old I think... Track has improved a lot since but the hill didnt get any higher then it was in the vid.
Bottoming on the jumps is the v10 being set up for tracks like Todtnau or Bad Wildbad
Winterberg was more like a trainingground cause its so close to Holland...

 

[buckoW]

Been to Morgins? Ben's built some nnnniiiiiiiiicccccccceeeeeeeeeeee tracks on that little bit of the PDS!

Thanks Mark!

I have been having lots of fun riding in Italy lately. San Remo and Molini di Triori (sp?) have some rowdy-fast DH trails and Manuel from Rivera Freeride is a totally pinned guide. A trip with him is always fun.


I recently rebuilt the trails in Les Crosets as well and might build a new red trail in Morgins next spring if the Swiss government lets me. If all goes to plan there will be new trails on the Swiss side of the PDS.

I got the OK to build the 4X for World Champs and keep it to make dirt jump/FR lines with a pumptrack at the bottom as well. It will be in the forest right next to where the last one was for 2007 and the plan is for a new bikepark, 4x and DJ spot. The local government is on board and the future is looking good.

There are lots of other spots around here that we ride in the off season. Feel free to get in touch if you want some tips on the underground spots and don't mind trains for the uplift.

 

[frango]

Hi Ben,
it seems you've been working hard on trails in PDS all year long
Can you tell what has been changed and what will change/be built till next summer?
Have anyone (you?) worked on French side of PDS, latelly? Morzine? Les Gets? Lindarets?

 

[?????]

sauze d'oulx's nice jamie. Not hardcore, but fun and relaxed and a nice place to be. If you're feeling flush seek out a restaurant by the name of Del Falco in town.

Bardonecchia was, I thought, a bit pap. It's tempting as it's so close to Sauze, but it's not worth it I don't think.

Oh, and I forgot to say; Todtnau's expensive, 31euros for a day pass. Bad Wildbad wasn't much cheaper.

How was the riding at Bad Wildbad?

 

[scottishmark]

Thanks Mark!

Anytime matey! Definitely the most fun I had on my bike last summer

Maybe next time I'll manage to say hello instead of clashing with Champery!

 

[Gelbwurstbrot]

i would start with alpe d'huez/deux alpes (several days) to montgenevre (day only) to sauze d'oulx (several days) to bardonecchia (day only) to tignes (several days) to pila (several days) to verbier (several days) to crans montana (day only) to zermatt (expensive,decide) to bellwald (day only) to laax (minimum 1 day) to chur (day) to lenzerheide/arosa (decide) to klosters (new track opens july 2011, like aline check youtube) to livigno (min 1 day) to scuol (day) to innsbruck (1 day, very hard, steep, not for everyone) to saalbach/leogang (several days) to wagrain (several days) to schladming (min 1 day) then you can decide to hit the east to ride at zauberberg(semmering) and maribor but its a long drive or you can drive into germany and hit bischofsmais (day) to bad wildbad (day) to lac blanc (min 1 day) to todtnau (day) to portes du soleil and then home to the uk. don't go to winterberg/willingen, not worth it...

bring the big bike and the trail bike and you'll be sorted for everything these locations offer.

hope this gives you some input

Wagrain is boring. I would rather spend 2 days in Winterberg.
It isn't the most difficult bike park but a lot of fun.

Wagrain has not got a DH or 4X track just a "Freeride" and a singletrail.
It was even boring for my wife.

Go to Winterberg or stay longer in Schladming or Leogang.

 

[norbar]

Wagrain is boring. I would rather spend 2 days in Winterberg.
It isn't the most difficult bike park but a lot of fun.

Wagrain has not got a DH or 4X track just a "Freeride" and a singletrail.
It was even boring for my wife.

Go to Winterberg or stay longer in Schladming or Leogang.

Or instead go to Maribor for longer. Just dont be there on monday (only day when lift works once/hour). They are expanding quickly. The local guys are great. They have 3 legal trails. Its finally easy to reach the WC, there is a very nice fr track and one mellower if you have a girl with you. Also tons of hidden tracks. Though I may be repeating myself.