[GrapeApe79]

Hi fellow DH'ers--I'm thinking about vacationing in Europe next summer specifically for DH mountain biking. I go to Whistler all the time, which seems to be the mountain bike mecca of the world, but I know there must be some great parks in Europe. I've been researching the Portes du Soleil area (Les Gets), and some sites are saying that its the largest bike park in the world. Does anyone have any other suggestions, or support going to Les Gets? I don't even really care what country, I just want whatever has the best riding. Thanks for your help!

 

[stinky6]

I've know Are, Sweden has a park. I know there is a park or an area with a lot of riding in Austria; I can't remember the name but I pretty sure its where the Adias Slopestyle has been held.
I went to Denmark and Norway last summer and I kept wishing I was good at street riding and had brought my hardtail. So you might want to think about that, not to mention my hardtail seems to be maintence free and my DH bike is not.

 

[sayndesyn]

three cheers for Les Gets. Best place I have ever biked in my life, but I haven't been to Whistler. Les Gets isn't even that crowded in the middle of summer and there is tons of different areas to ride. Watch Earthed2 if you want to concrete the need to go. If you are in Germany Totnau sp? has a really good dh run, as does Bad Wildbad. If freeride type of slopestyle is your gig hit up Winterburg further up Germany.

 

[big-ted]

Les Gets isn't even that crowded in the middle of summer...

You what?!!! Les Gets is a friggin' nightmare these days. It may as well be an English colony, what with all the kids thinking that riding the 6 foot wide motorway trails is where it's at. Though I guess if you get bored you can always start to double up the braking bumps in any turn that takes your fancy....

I exagerate, but imo Les Gets is way overhyped. Try Les Arcs in France if you want some epic technical riding. www.mountainhighs.co.uk will help you out if needs be. There's other resorts near by if you want a day trip out to. Metabief, Val Thorens etc...

Villars in Switzerland is well worth checking out. Neuchatel has some sweet singletrack, but you may need some locals to hook you up. Alpe D'Huez has some great riding, and it'd be a crime not to do the megavalanche whilst you're out there.

I'll second Todtnau, but that's about the limit of my knowledge of Germany. I know there's now German and Swiss rounds of the IXS cup if you're up for racing whilst on your travels.

Enjoy!

 

[Eurotrash]

I'd vote for les 2alpes and alpe d'huez both within an hour of each other, loads of riding!
Loads of high speed lifts, you wont have to wait much at all.

 

[eater]

portes du soleil avoriaz, France champion chip track.
very taff.

 

[[un]]

I rode Les Portes du Soleil AND Whistler this summer... tough comparison! Portes du Soleil has amazing terrain, but the trails are not even comparable to Whistler, there are no fun trails (A-line like) but some tough ones (the Montriond track used for the French cup will offer most of you an impressive challenge). I'd love to ride there again next summer, high altitude trails (Earthed2) on the Nomad and carved autobahns on the Sunday, but damn all those Brits irate2:

 

[firevsh2o]

Since I am from Austria I have to name a few parks from here:
There is the well known one in Leogang - http://www.bikepark-leogang.com/

Then the one in Wagrain (Built by the Whistler people - I wasn't there but will be next year) - http://www.mountainbikeparkwagrain.com/

One smaller one: http://www.bikeparksemmering.at

And the one nearest my home. Just over the boarder to Slovenia in Maribor: http://www.pohorje.org/

(Maybe I get some of my taxes back from our ministry of finance for my AD here....) ;-)

 

[Gelbwurstbrot]

Have a look at this site: http://www.downhill-board.com/bikeparks.php

 

[wysiwyg]

"but damn all those Brits"

must be a bitch gettin overtaken all the time...

 

[Yeti]

I second portes du soleil. Get ur home base in Morzine and from there take the over 30 lifts to all the other tracks. It is true that not all the main tracks are at 100% all the time, but the usual is that if les gets is f'ed up then morzine is ok and vice versa with the other tracks there. It s truly really cool, and there re lots of freeride trails, but then a local would have to hook u up. The prices re some of the best too: 60euros for a 6 days lift pass (30+lifts), and if u rent a chalet for u and ur group it s cheaper. From portes du soleil u can go to the south of switzerland, there is a track called bellwald...it is really really really cool (this video is from bellwald made by my friend chrigi: http://www.frontlinemag.net/preview/news.php?news_id=193 )
this is around 2 hours or so from pds. another option is to go to the south of germany/north of switzerland: wierihorn(IXS cup track & gurten(illegal dh track, but is awsome!) in Bern CH, small bike park near Zürich called filzbach (nothing too special about this one but if u re passing by and have some time it s worth a look) and then south of germany u got Todtnau (really famous track around here, nasty nasty nasty for ur rims, but it s friggin awsome) it s about 1.5h from Zürich or 50min from Freiburg, and then there is bad-wilbad like 40min to the right from Todtnau, awsome fun track too. so there u go...if u re around Zürich drop me a line to hook u up.We re going to pds next summer for a week at least, we might coincide.

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200th post...yeyyyy

 

[sayndesyn]

I was there two years ago and it wasn't bad, there was alot of brits, but that didn't bother me. The main lifts at the bottom had a decent line, but everything else had a 20 second wait at max.

You what?!!! Les Gets is a friggin' nightmare these days. It may as well be an English colony, what with all the kids thinking that riding the 6 foot wide motorway trails is where it's at. Though I guess if you get bored you can always start to double up the braking bumps in any turn that takes your fancy....

I exagerate, but imo Les Gets is way overhyped. Try Les Arcs in France if you want some epic technical riding. www.mountainhighs.co.uk will help you out if needs be. There's other resorts near by if you want a day trip out to. Metabief, Val Thorens etc...

Villars in Switzerland is well worth checking out. Neuchatel has some sweet singletrack, but you may need some locals to hook you up. Alpe D'Huez has some great riding, and it'd be a crime not to do the megavalanche whilst you're out there.

I'll second Todtnau, but that's about the limit of my knowledge of Germany. I know there's now German and Swiss rounds of the IXS cup if you're up for racing whilst on your travels.

Enjoy!

 

[NovatoSCFR]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Andorra yet. Small country in the Pyranese where commencal, gracia, and AC are based. I was able to ride Valnord, the bike park, for a day this past summer and it was one of my most memorable riding days. Some of gracia's nwd 5 segment was filmed there. There aren't a ton of tracks, but the trails are quality, I was there in early august, and I probably met every rider there that day. I know they've got a website somewhere, googling it will probably yeild results. It's sweet.

 

[FCLinder]

portes du soleil avoriaz, France champion chip track.
very taff.

That place looks so fun!!!! Much like our South East riding here in the States.

 

[sirbikealot]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Andorra yet. Small country in the Pyranese where commencal, gracia, and AC are based. I was able to ride Valnord, the bike park, for a day this past summer and it was one of my most memorable riding days. Some of gracia's nwd 5 segment was filmed there. There aren't a ton of tracks, but the trails are quality, I was there in early august, and I probably met every rider there that day. I know they've got a website somewhere, googling it will probably yeild results. It's sweet.

Valnord for sure
Les Deux alpes
Alpe D'Hues
Portes du Soleil

all of these are unbelievable riding experiences, plus the surrounding towns and villages are a treat to visit on your days off

 

[wil_e123]

Clearly, and from what other people have said, the best bet is the Portes Du Soleil domain, which offers hundreds of Kilometers of flowy trails and some more technical sh*t.

+ by going to the Portes, you are very close to other amazing riding areas (drive for about an hour n a 1/2 and you're inswitzerland): Switzerland is much more dh-track orientated, but most of these tracks offer a massive challenge compared to what i have ridden in Fance (pretty much everywhere in France is technically easy to ride, appart from Vars, french champs track, and the afore mentioned in Avoriaz, which is a cheap place to stay). In Switzerland you will get amazingly long and technical descents that would probably challenge the most capable riders!

If you are going to be looking for a nice place to stay in Avoriaz, i have a couple of friends that may be able to hook you up for any time during the summer at a very reasonable price (PM me if you make that decision, we'll discuss it further).

Overall, whichever location you choose, just know that riders in Europe are very open and welcoming, not only for biking itself but for partying as well!!! good luck with your choice mate!

 

[bikenweed]

Skip Andorra, that place pretty much sucks. I spent a week riding Vallnord this summer. There's three DH runs, and one NorthShore style bridgey run. That's it. Anne Caro's run, Cedric's run, and a couple connector trails. Since there are so few trails, they see a lot of traffic. It was waaaay dusty, and there braking bumps were huge. In addition, the trails were mostly side cut straitaways that went into tight switchbacks. This means the trails had very little flow. After 4 days of just being dissapointed by the lack of fun trails, I left. However, the Maxi-avalanche course was a lot of fun, but you have to take three lifts to get to the top, and it's not open during the regular season.

DO GO TO MORZINE! Everyone was raving about the trails about Morzine, as well as Alpe-D-Huez.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Andorra yet. Small country in the Pyranese where commencal, gracia, and AC are based. I was able to ride Valnord, the bike park, for a day this past summer and it was one of my most memorable riding days. Some of gracia's nwd 5 segment was filmed there. There aren't a ton of tracks, but the trails are quality, I was there in early august, and I probably met every rider there that day. I know they've got a website somewhere, googling it will probably yeild results. It's sweet.