La Thuile buying blow

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La Thuile buying blow

Flegere: 8th June — 22nd September open 1 week longer than then 19th October — 3rd November. Different story. Megeve: 22nd June — 8th September. Megeve is really 2 resorts, so the Mont Blanc natural resort bit is staggered between 22nd June and 8th September same periods as and the Jaillet side is…. Or might not. Les Contamines: 29th June — 1st September. Two lifts, more than two trails, rarely more than two other riders. Grand Massif: 31st May — 8th September. Les Carroz is go from the 22nd June to 8th September, Samoens is hosting the Velo Vert festival again over the first weekend of June, so expect opening weekend to be busier than a usual chilled out grand massif day. Flaine is maybe 29th June to 28th August. Pila: 22nd June — 8th September. Still the best bike park in all of the world, or at least Aosta. Portes du Soleil: 24th May — 29th October. Chatel is 9th June to 7th September. Avoriaz, all the days from 15th June to 15th September. Morzine 31st May to 15th September. Bernex 29th June to 1st September. Verbier: 1st June — 27th October. For the limited area of park at least. Les Arcs: 15th June — 8th September. Weekends only at start and end of that, but take what you can. La Clusaz: 3rd July to 1st September, and 3 weekends either side of that too again, which is nice if you have weekends off…. But what even is summer? Bike park season started when it ended. Which is good in some ways and very bad in others. Bourg Saint Maurice: Funicular fun is there up to 28th April. Except Saturdays. Sorry weekend types. Pila: Until 7th April. But you can ride the freeride trail none the less. Or 21b. Les Haberes: May 11thth and 19thth, then June 29thth. Opened their bike park in winter when the snow failed. Finn Illes approved. So a thumbs up all round. Full opening 6th July to 18th Aug. Verbier: Always! Plenty enduro action from the now almost always running Le Chable-Verbier telepherique. Metabief : 1st th May. Flegere: 13th — 20th May. Trail bike tech bliss. Sept Laux. La Saleve: Is open again, all the time. And with more local built trails than before. And several times more expensive. Wednesdays to Sundays just now. Monts Jura : 18th May to summer. A wee bit above Geneva, a wee bit more choice than Saleve, a wee bit of a guess at the dates. Chaumont : 5th April onwards. Gampel : Always open. More Swiss uplift masquerading as public transport. Trail Taxi have already fired up the shuttles for , trips to all the trails you can shake a stick at in Valais and Aosta on their website, give Jarno a shout now! This might be the start of semi more regular content, or it might not. The ultimate Italian shuttle vehicle. What lifts will open? When will they open? How long will you keep reading my tenuously connected intro before scrolling down to the actual info? The big buzz in writing write now is a. So I tried that and it was pretty disappointing. Which possibly sums up your experience of reading the human generated version of this too. No way it could utilise the 5g chips in our blood what, you thought that went away with the vaccines… to project a virtual rider in front of you if you want to follow a line, or whisper left or right in your virtual ear as you approach a junction. If you use an app like EchoSOS to call for help, is it just one step easier for the algorithm to call the helicopter directly to deal with any injuries? Most importantly, could it translate the insults of the likely also automated barista when you order cappuccino after 11am…? Planpraz: 10th June — 17th September open 1 week longer than then 21st October — 5th November. Le Tour: 10th June — 10th September was closed in for a new lift to be installed, still to find out whether bikes will be welcomed in the shiny new telecabines…. Megeve: 24th June — 10th September. Megeve is really 2 resorts, so the Mont Blanc natural resort bit is staggered between 24th June and 10th September same periods as and the Jaillet side is…. Les Contamines : 1st July — 3rd September. Same dates as last year, and same as last year, one of the first to publish dates and easiest website to navigate. Cheers Les Contamines. Grand Massif : 3rd June — 11th September. Flaine is 1st July to 27th August. Pila : 24th June — 10th September. Still the best bike park in all of the world, still not that quick at getting opening dates up online. Whether this opens to bikes, and what it means for the trails I dunno. Portes du Soleil : 26th May — 29th October. Chatel is weekends from the 9th June and all the time from 23rd June to 3rd September. Avoriaz, all the days from 16th June to 17th September. Morzine probably 16th June to 17th September but dates not finalised yet. Verbier : 3rd June — 29th October. Weekends only from 3rd June all the days from 17th June. Le Chable to Verbier is open from 05h15 to 23h50 every. Or of course, the Trail Taxi runs from April through until the snow comes back! Les Arcs : 17th June — 10th September. A way longer season than usual! But with some caveats, so easiest just to look at their website. La Clusaz : 1st July to 3rd September, and 3 weekends either side of that too, which is nice if you have weekends off…. That should be enough to go at for another year, even if lift access season started back in February for most Chamonix locals, hence the photos which are mostly riding Pila from the lifts, and a shot of my shiny no, sparkly… new bike from Meyrieu bikepark. Many, many thanks to SCOR for dragging me into the current with my first ever big wheeled bike. If you remember when the biggest thing we had to worry about was global pandemic and not global war another opportunity to say go fuck yourself Putin and leave the world, in peace the pumptrack bike became the overnight coolest must have you must have. I got one too, cheers Airdrop! Of course, pumptrack bikes aint nothing new, a hardtail playbike has been a staple of riders sheds since I was wee. But the Fade is way better. I can lift it with one hand for a start…. Or at least I did until I had a skiing disagreement with a tree which put things a bit behind schedule. Biggest track in my arbitrarily applied 45 minute radius of Chamonix selection process. Undoubtably the best backdrop of any pumptrack built to date. Still, all better now. The tracks great, a bit tighter and more technical than a lot of riders would like, but I suspect this makes it better for skateboarders. A couple of mini ramps and modules help keep interest away from the blue and red loops of the track, which also has a couple of extra curricular lines to find. Les Contamines. Hidden away at the end of a valley, and conveniently next to the trail outta town, sits the wee Les Contamines pumptrack. A bit different locally in having some copings and park features, but otherwise, a pretty standard pumptrack that runs fast and has lots of gaps slightly too big and intimidating for a usually injured and always feart rider like myself. St Gervais. Behind the swimming pool. Separate green loop for the balance biking weans, interwoven blue and red lines with nice whippy but short jumps, pretty much all with very forgiving landings. All this AND a really nice bowl just behind it, what more could you ask for? Try to find something nice to say about the Servoz track. Not really worth the trip, just go ride the freeride lines in the woods instead. There used to be a wee dirt track next to the skatepark, but it got flattened and replaced with…. And Combloux pumptrack. Very close to Chamonix in a straight line, pushing it to get there in under an hour but. Les Carroz. Rumoured to be pretty good, and with a wee skatepark and bowl next to it. Again, one to be updated. A little off the beaten track, and none the worse for it. And it has a wall ride, which is good to see. The nearest Velosolutions pumptrack to Chamonix? Almost definitely. Runs very very fast too. Loads of fun and loads of opportunity for weird lines. And can be quiet. Fresh in late , the tarmac is still warm. Perhaps the only track to give Combloux a bit of competition in the best backdrop eva stakes, another Bikesolutions green-blue-red-deeper shade of red, with a bit of coping and module action thrown in for luck too. With a fairly big area to work with and a slight amount of gradient, the PdA track is maybe the best in the Arve valley for the less brave and competent of us. Some nicely case-able step ups, a few good transition lines, super deep berms. Yeah, lot of fun. Should stay fairly snow free too being south facing and at about m altitude. Another week, another trip to somewhere new. Or new to me at least. Have you heard of the Dunning Kruger effect? We all suffer from it to a greater or lesser extent. The more considered point which only Serena would have been scoring is that these people most likely had no experience of tennis beyond seeing it on the telly. You ride the trails you ride. A wee dive into the research of the Dunning Kruger reveals some lovely graphs illustrating study participants test scores plotted against their self assessed ability scores. These two lines show that the more competent the individual, the closer their perceived ability is to their assessed ability. And how much potential you have to improve. French rock climbing grades are an open ended numerical system starting at 1 and currently counting up to 9, with a, b and c used to split up each numbered grade. Step up and take a bow please, ladies and gentlemen; the bike park. The trails are graded. You ride a green OK, try the blue. Sh red ded the red, hit the black. Crans Montana then. Perhaps the biggest driver in visiting though was the 3 free days us lucky Chamonix season pass holders get. As ever the finances drive things. Eventually we wandered past the ticket barriers at the gondola up to Arnouva and asked the liftie. Luxurious padded seats, secure bike racks and a protective perspex dome should you need to hide from the elements. Red trail right, Blue and Black trails left. Turns out the blue and black start from a bit lower down the hill. The blue. Mellow left berm into slight roll into mellow left into, oh, doubles. After a few more doubles the trail splits into the black left and the blue right. You can ride the blue wheels on the ground and just roll every feature, or up the speed and play in the air a bit. Very nice. Well, after waiting about for a few minutes for chairs with bike hooks to come round and instead studying the automated mechanism to drop the perspex cover down on empty chairs and keep the seats dry, we were up again. This time we turned right, and had to go all of 20m to find the well marked start of the trail. Much more like it. Fast, open and bigger tables and jumps. We were really starting to get into the flow of things, Lorne leading out, me cruising along a bit behind. Turns out the jumps are a bit bigger on the red. A dirt step down was the feature that gave our first chance to stop, look, and then push back up. We kept on working down through tables, doubles, hips, road gaps and more until pulling up at a ladder pointing to the sky. So Lorne got to guineapig it. Beautifully built big features are well fun. And pretty safe if you do what the trail builders had intended. Back to the lift, back to furthering our knowledge of the lift cover closure system, back to the top, back to the unsignposted traverse to the actual trails, and back to the black. You might be able to ride that blind, but we needed a push back up. And so continued the black. Slightly bigger features, but still really well built, interspaced with much more interesting riding than flow trail. The best section gets saved for near the end. The hardest stuff for us was leaving the ground. Is that a sign of a well aligned awareness of our abilities? Maybe ignorance is bliss. Or in more academic terms, does awareness of ability matter when misplaced optimism can lead people to experience their situation more positively and overconfidence may help them achieve even unrealistic goals? Surely presence in the moment is more important, just enjoy it and not worry about ranking everyone relative to each other, deluded or otherwise. And failing to find an answer to how to know where we sit on that Dunning Kruger curve of confidence v competence. Last lift rolled round and we lined up one final time. By now we were pretty sure where the sensors for the lift lid closing mechanism were and, keen to test our mastery of the system, dodged the sensor and congratulated ourselves as the perspex cover smoothly lowered itself and we accelerated out the lift station. My, what experts we are at this. Yup, just lift the lid. Maybe we need to push it harder? So just use your own scientific arguments. Or imagination. Mostly in the hope a certain someone would be impressed. The Shepard Tone I hear you say? Or at least for the sake of narrative construct I do. Yes, the Shepard tone. Using a song about the Shepard tone to explain the Shepard tone is a little meta, but does the job. Every so often you end up on a ride that has a little bit more creativity. The trail, the landscape, the conditions all combine to fool the head into thinking the infinitely repeatable loop is actually headed one way only. Perfect late autumn alpine weather and the familiar, but not overly so, views of Beaufortain probably helped. As did the occasional patch of snow, ice and frictionless greased rock. Time for a bite of lunch before a short descent. I had sandwiches, Lorne quiche. Lorne definitely won lunch. We make a U-turn and start the descent. Apparently U-turns are all the rage right now. In reverse the Crete des Gittes is even better. From the Col de la Sauce the trail heads back north east. The Shepard tone makes its magic by using overlapping, looped, rising pitch or falling pitch, but usually rising scales which are played louder or quieter out of sync. Like the aural equivalent of a spinning barbers pole, or an M. Escher painting, or the Barrage de la Gittaz. Our ride managed its magic by overlapping a mix of scenery, no stress environment and regular stops to record the magic onto memory card so that whenever we thought we were going uphill, a new distraction came along. Back to the trail and the unavoidable sense of the valley walls narrowing in on you stops you from having any time to spare pondering the intricacies of what happens when cognitive science meets music. I guess we could say a crescendo. One more river crossing, with the foundations for a bridge but no bridge, which feels like it should have been a musical reference but was instead quite literal. After a dismount, quick game of wet-rock-hopscotch and sprachle back up the other side, we drop in to the main act. All good trails have something that sets them apart, it might be a particularly fine sequence of corners, an exemplary natural drop or an exquisitely picturesque ridge. So also a pretty cool bit of trail. Or at least as far as the plateau before the Lac de la Gittaz and a choice to be made. Ascending m over the Col de sur Fretes or m above the barrage? You choose your own adventure, you do you. Like a song, you can start and finish in the same place, or on completely different notes. We could easily pick a note to end on, which in our case was a bar. Musicians have only their imagination as the limit for wherever they end their track, although I suspect quite a few end in a bar too. At some point today, the Artemis 1 rocket should have been launching on the first stepping stone mission to go back to the future moon. The last time a human stood on the moon was the Apollo 17 mission in December , near 50 years ago. Before even that though, there was Apollo 8. In December the 3 astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon. Obviously, this was little to do with doing hard things for hard things sake and mostly because the USSR had kinda jumped ahead by firing man , dog and tortoise into space and he needed a big bold statement to put the U. Which is where Apollo 8 comes in, as they had to shoot for the moon, and miss. By about km or miles as those imperial heathens insisted on using. The entire project is maybe the best example of what humans can do if you put enough clever, motivated people in a room together and throw lots of money at them. The average age in mission control was Just kids. Can someone remind me again which generation seems to be doing the running in dealing with the climate crisis again? Funny that. Not just a little bit not working, the last test flight before it would be used for the manned Apollo 8 mission saw all 3 of the 3 stages that the rocket would use to get into space fail in one way or another. Astronaut Bill Anders was asked by his wife what he thought the chances of success were. The crew of three, Frank F. Borman II , James A. Lovell Jr. Anders , should be as well known as Gagarin or Armstrong, Aldrin and Lightyear and definitely better known than Columbus. Their journey might not have the first man in space, nor first on the moon titles, but the mission was there to prove it could be done. Think of it as the first time a couple visits Ikea. Sure the mission is only to get to the cafe and eat a Daim cake then return home without an argument, but the trip proves it should be possible to buy a full Billy storage system when they return next. Unlike the people, who very much were very good compared to what we have now. To change direction in space you need to invoke Newtons third law; every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and fire a rocket a bit. Imagine a straight road a mile long and trying to line your bike up to go straight without corrections for the entire length of the road. Now try that for a distance two hundred and fifty thousand times greater. Not only that, the only way to make the trip was to use the gravitational forces of both the earth and the moon to slingshot the craft around the moon. Finding out if the numbers right would be if Apollo 8 came back after it went round the dark side of the moon. Being behind a big lump of rock meant there was no signal with earth. Those in mission control would be completely in the dark. And you thought the phone signal blackspot in the Argentiere basin made it feel a bit remote. Imagine sitting in mission control, with no radio contact, no communication at all, just waiting and watching the countdown clock for the estimated point signal would return as they came back round. And still waiting. The numbers were pretty much bang on and Apollo 8 was orbiting km above the surface of the moon. Then, on the way to the fourth orbit, Bill Anders took one of the most famous photos of all time; Earthrise. Listen to the radio recording , the awe in the astronauts voices as the earth comes up into view is palpable, the vision of the brilliant blue spec, this tiny planet, in the vastness of space. How alone it is. Which I guess mibbies shows that the whole Apollo project was just a very expensive way of proving what every Pixar movie since ever has told us. That the answer always lies within…. Or fail spectacularly and go back to rehab. It might not have been seeing the entirety of the earth in a whole new light, but I did get to see the Mont Blanc massif in new way. Specifically, in a very dry way. And this could be a chance to complain and throw hands in the air and say something needs to be done by someone. The answer lies within, have you never seen Toy Story? A friend hooked me up with some moonlight mountain gear lights, the bright light is laughably, ridiculously, bright. Due to chain of events too arcane to enter into here, Luke was in the process of arranging a promotional trip to Macedonia and Albania. A crack crew of MTB journalists , photographers , tourism industry operators , guides , social media influencers and an actor were to head to Skopje for a week of magazine article shooting, promotional video interviewing and development of MTB tourism advising in the aid of promoting the new High Scardus MTB trail. On Monday. Then Wednesday. Then Thursday. Amazingly we all arrived, with bikes, on Friday too. Trundling out the covid secure space of Skopje airport into the evening light and waiting crowd, Dimitri was easy to spot. Enough of the set-up, some riding. Day one trail one came after a long drive and a short pedal to the rounded peak of Skopska Crna Gora high above Skopje. In fact, this often turned out to be not a trail at all, we were on a scouting mission with some locals. There was a lot of an old trail in there, under the bushes and behind the trees. Today though it led to a lot of scratching of any exposed skin. The fire pit was already reaching the embers stage ready for the food to start grilling, salads and veggies were being washed and chopped in the water fountain, beers appeared from the fridge and toasts to the promise of future trails and trail building were made. The second trail came at the end of another shuttle, but now only because covid restrictions kept the telecabine closed. On Vodno hill above Skopje sits the millenium cross , which at 66m high makes it pretty easy to see where you started. One of the many advantages of milking every hour out of a day is that if you arrive by night, the morning views are an unknown. Who knew the High Scardus trail went so far west. And then we rode e-bikes. Which was interesting and a fine example of what e-bikes are great at; covering big distances easily, turning steep fireroads into fun experiences and powering through unlikely river crossings. But will be skipped over in the interests of moving the narrative along after saying a big thanks to Mihail and Metodi of Sharoutdoors for the experience and pointing out you should really, really check out their skiing options , and we fast forward to being back on our own bikes and Stojan leading the charge out of Popova Shapka headed for Tetovo far below. After a cruisy morning of battery powered assistance and scenic gravel roads we were back on singletrack. Which was plenty fun, but we were finding the cultural distractions to be the real interest. Article one, a recently abandoned ski lift which had taken folk from near town up to the ski area. Or had until in about the Taliban decided it was a legitimate target and bombed it. Article two, once down in Tetovo we headed to the colourful mosque of Sarena which was exactly what it said on the tin. Glimpses of women inside pointing out the window and laughing at us whilst the mosque cat ambled about hawking for attention only added to the experience. Back on the road for our next destination. Mountain Hut Caravets. A hidden wee lodge in another of Macedonias hidden wee ski areas. Sat in a wee nook in the house, 12 round a table best for 8, we start eating. And drinking, as these go well together. Raki and aubergine sauces are the highlights. Chat moves between skiing and biking, which shuttle vehicle is best, cherry chocolates or mints, the history of Yugoslavia complex and painful opium and 9 other facts about Macedonia. Throughout we eat. And drink. Macedonia claims to have annual days of sunshine. Today it is raining. Team culture load up with Stojan and head off to enjoy the riding around Mavrovo ski area. Although still in development, by the time this bit gets published it will be home to a fully fledged bike park. Team media meanwhile get dropped in Galichnik and waved off in the direction of a scenic trail to Janche to go make the media magic happen. Fortunately we were doing it on a banger of a trail. Obviously, these things take time. Slightly more time, it turned out, than we had. The sky lit up with lightening. The air thrummed with thunder. We were stood up riding bikes and drowning. Soaked to the bone we floated into town, found the hotel , removed as many clothes as was decent, left them in a sopping wet pile at the front door and squelched into a hotel so vast and ornate it had a FIAT as part of the dining room decoration. We looked slightly out of place. Next day. This was a good call. With locals Stefan and Viktor joining us, Stojan was a very excited lad about to lead the first ride of a trail they had been building. Things started auspiciously enough with leaders of the flowy traverse sending two black bears scampering across the hillside. The trail kept delivering. A pause at a wee village before we hang a right and hit the lower section. Similar vibe but this time in the woods and a little tighter, a little more technical. Stefan getting the fright of the day when he slaps a berm to be presented with Yogi sprinting off down the trail in front of him. He relinquishes leading the train for the rest of the ride. The light was going anyways. If we just wanted to ride sick trails, we could probably have stayed at home. Differences like the dusty corner above the village we were sessioning for the camera that was soundtracked by the call to prayer. Like cruising into the village after this, looking for a bar, high fiving every kid as we rode past before getting into the bottles of Zlaten Dab ,. I guess it was a bit different. Conveniently as we walked through the massive gates we were greeted by an elderly monk with a beard. Outside the shrine another brother walked up clutching a box. Expecting him to be performing some crucial administrative task, he instead wanders over and produces an ice cream from the box. Did we want any? They had too much and it was going out of date. Off to Albania. Which was much easier to write than to achieve. Entering suspiciously is just fine however…. Into Albania we drive, and obviously the first vehicle we see is a Merc. At least it kept average speeds down. We turned off the potholed main road onto a back street. We progressed through increasingly interesting lanes until we bumped off the tarmac and onto the gravel. Forty five minutes after leaving the road we were starting to wonder if there was any truth in the organ harvesting rumours. After a truly heroic piece of trailer reversing by Stojan we were safely in Guest House Sabriu, our home for the next 2 nights. A moment in time. We go off roading. National pride is at stake. Orgest takes an early lead, buoyed by a combination of local knowledge and, perhaps more crucially, a huge rear mount bike rack as opposed to Stojans 10 bike trailer. Things step up when tasked with a shuttle up to the top of Maja Grames at over m. Although that was for sure part of it. Then added in some thunder and lightning for full effect. Orgest having passed control of his Russian jeep to Risti, who was looking forward to something a bit bigger than his usual quad bikes to play with…. Not only that, but it gave Luke, the actual photographer, and Michel, the actual actor, a chance to show the rest of us how content creation should be done. Content captured and random puncture repaired we headed off. Sure enough the trail was exactly as billed. Fast and flowing singletrack traversing round the hill on a fast surface leading into increasingly steep but consistently entertaining fluted terrain of grey dirt. Then white dirt. Then red dirt. Not only that, it kept going. We got lower and lower but the interest remained. Eventually the ribbons of red dirt through the lush bushes gave way to more traditional singletrack. Bears and tortoises. If only David Attenborough rode. And it still kept going. All week Dimitri had been raving about big open fields of grass to freeride across. Can we just have some singletrack please. Riding four abreast, popping off rises and lips, freedom to turn and skip where you want, the landscape stretching out ahead of us…. We all got it. Honestly, just so much fun. Looking back a year at the complexities of cross border travel through peak Covid seems bizarre even this close. The way you could tell the period of communism a building was built in by the bricks, the hidden messages in the street art. And getting to eat in locals cafes, banter in broken English with the obligatory hoards of kids that appear whenever in an urban environment with bikes and cameras. We were all here to see and be somewhere different, Peshkopi delivered. The journey home is never to plan. Traffic problems, too long at breakfast, too long over lunch, too long to pack bags. We never got to do our planned urban ride in Skopje. We checked in and were told to leave our bikes in a corner of the again quiet airport. As we got onto the plan the same guy told us the bikes were on the plane. This project was founded by GIZ from Macedonia and thanks to their financial support we have the opportunity to visit these two countries, their people, traditions and culture. And most importantly of all, Orgest, Rishi, Stojan and Dimitri who showed us experiences of their countries we would never have had without them and put so much effort into making the trip a success, thanks so much guys. I know, complicated innit. Remember ? Halcyon days now that. What next, WW3 , pfft. I guess we should learn not to joke. Go fuck yourself Putin. Or, of course, I could just make up a load of dates. Prarion is open from 1st May to 25th November. Who needs researched and verified information when you can say what people want to hear? If only I could disconnect any website that disagreed with my newly made up dates and then the lie would be true. Support actual, free journalism. Social media is not a substitute. Chamonix, from CdMB, but provisional dependent on evolution of government advice etc. Bellevue: 11th June — 18th September closing 2 weeks later than Flegere: 9th June — 11th September closing 1 week earlier than , opening a couple days earlier as replacement for Montenvers which is closing for works. Planpraz: 11th June — 11th September same opening as then 22nd October — 6th November. Brevent: 11th June — 11th September same opening as Tramway du Mont Blanc: 11th June — 18th September closing 1 week earlier than Le Tour: Closed for Both lifts closed for replacement of the Charamillon telecabine, so only Vallorcine telecabine for uplift in Vallorcine: 11th June — 11th September opening 2 weeks early, closing 2 weeks later…. Grand Montets: 2nd July — 4th September same dates as but crucially, 7 days a week not weekends only. Megeve: 25th June — 11th September. Les Contamines: 2nd July — 4th September. If more folks went there to ride mibbies it would stay open longer? Grand Massif: 3rd June — 11th September. Prove me wrong Samoens! Pila: 25th June — 11th September. The best bike park in all of the world, Whistler has terrible coffee, unlike Pila. Although it has published summer 22 opening dates, again, unlike Pila although now it has, and I guessed right. Go me. Portes du Soleil: 29th May — 24th September. Morzine is first to put up its dates with 17th June to 11th Sept. Les Gets Chavannes side open weekends only from th May and everything open from 17th June, then 4th Sept to 18th September weekends only. Chatel is weekends only from the 10th June, then all the time from 24th June to 4th September, then weekends only again to 25th September. Verbier: 4th June — 30th October. Weekends only from 4th June all the days from 16th June. Les Arcs: 4th July — 29th August. Usually, but not this year. Usually came to an end in late February with my first ever knee injury. This also put an end to what had been a pretty good winter of biking. Lots of pumptrack, some Finale action, good dry trails on slopes in the sun. So I wont. And if you zoom in really close, you can see the martian surveillance ships gathering intelligence for the forthcoming alien invasion. Cast your mind back to when you were wee. No, a bit further back. What job did you want to have when you grew up: Astronaut? Train Driver? I wanted to be a digger driver, possibly due to growing up on a housing estate in the process of construction. Then I went skiing and digger driving got binned in favour of being a ski bum. Since as long ago as I can remember, the first snow of winter has got me well psyched. The first snows of winter fell on Chamonix last week and…. I was happy from an environmental perspective that it can still snow, but really I just wanted to keep biking. Only now it was cold and everything about m was covered in snow. Time to make like a migratory bird and head south. Arriving at the carpark two-ish in the afternoon after a five hour drive south, group enthusiasm was high. Arguably higher than the temperature which was hovering a bit above freezing in the sun and definitely below in the shade. We pedalled up, and then rode down. The up was easy, tarmac and gravel road at an agreeable gradient. The down also started at an agreeable angle, fun singletrack through nicely spaced trees still in full autumn bloom. How else do we know colours? The trail just kept doing this; flatish fast bit, steeper bit with trees, until we hit some jumps and drops to play on. Which obviously we stopped to do because, you know, jumps. Turns out phone torches are of limited use for bike riding, but just about sufficient to stop you getting run over by cars…. Some navigational faff later, we got to our Airbnb. Ok, maybe not for the precision of their directions, but the welcome, the unlimited yogi tea bags, the coffee machine, the comfy beds, the local VTT trail knowledge, the tarte aux pommes and homemade croissants for breakfast all beat that. Day 2. By this point in their migration a Canadian Goose would be km south already. We just drove 6km to get to Evo Bikepark. Then sat in the car for a few minutes. It was warm in the car. It was not warm outside. Wearing pretty much every item of clothing in the boot, we got out and braved the park. A selection of battered vehicles trundling up a logging access road dragging an equally battered trailer behind it. For us used to chairlifts and gondolas, it was a novel experience. With m of height gained each lap you soon get used to it though. Depending on what trail you hit depends on how long it takes, but laps are pretty quick. The park stays in the shade through most of the day, which must be grand in the height of a southern summer, but in an early November cold snap it meant a lot of the corners were still just a touch too icy. All the better excuse for casing. By the afternoon both dirt and riders had warmed up and things were flowing better. The tech trails were all fine for us misplaced Scottish folks, but the black jump trails were a wee bit rich in taste for our case-ability. Red on the other hand, braw. We probably had the most fun on the blue Savage Train though. Mellow, low stress and well built. And just fun to be out in a not particularly savage train with friends as we all tried in our own ways to learn, or re-learn, what to do in the bit between wheels leaving and returning to the ground. Will be back. In the present we had food to find and the multicoloured fountains of Dignes Les Bains to watch. Oh, the cultural highlights we see on bike trips. Day 3. The Great Snipe could potentially have covered km by now. We did about 0. Same story as Friday, lots of tarmac, lots of easy angled logging road etc etc. The descent even started the same way. Albeit a bit better. Fast open trail through wide spaced trees resplendent in autumn orange. It almost felt Canadian, between the trees and the way the trail had been built up subtly with added support to keep the flow on the corners. You know that bit in a Pulp Fiction where the case is opened and eyes widen at the golden contents inside. Well, kinda like that. A playground of dirt lay below. The trail snaked through a labyrinth of ribs and ridges stretching far down into the trees. We could have pedalled up and gone again. Instead, we dropped into the lower trails. These were back to the perfectly worn in singletrack through the trees game. Only this time the dirt had dried to perfection, ridiculous amounts of grip to let you really push into every corner. The low light through the trees made everything look like you were riding in an advertising photo, only you were actually just ripping down a trail in a train with friends. Giddy with the shared stoke that comes with a stunningly good trail like this, psyche was high. There were a few wee climbs and changes in trail from hero dirt in the trees and the weirdly grippy grey shale that makes up most of the photos, but the trail remained consistently amazing. Hitting an open field of blind drops-to-flat on the grey shale where a trail that avoided the worst of them had been marked out and obviously ignored we all got away with some serious miscalculations. So, obviously, instead of learning from this I took it a step further and hit the ground. Well, somebody had to do it. Finishing with a short section of switchbacks before dropping into the final cruise down the road, we were nearly ready for unironic post ride high fives. The ski season will start. The biking will drop away. Oh well, whatever, never mind. Patrick and Fiona need to up their game when it comes to helping get words out onto paper. The year is Having been beaten to the bottom of the world, they now face bad weather, worse food and multiple injuries. Still does if you ask the right tory so going outside is just a good way to clear the head of demons. For some at least. Guiding on some amazing trails with great people, organising hut trips, hitting a prime selection of bike parks with friends, playing out in groups of 1 or 2 or Which confuses my poor wee west coast Scot brain. Why do I want to just play bikes to the detriment of all the other things in my life? Everyone seems to suffer from some sort of mental block. Makes sense, how many folk get through life never getting a stomach bug or injury? How exactly can you be expected to live your 3 score and 10 without the brain needing a lie down and a warm mug of soup occasionally? Being triggered by happiness is probably not that common, or at least I hope not, but variety is the spice of life eh. After 6 weeks of riding with friends and having the time of my life, a ride on my own to look at hills and let my mind go where it wanted was needed. I am into skiing, and La Grave has an almost mythical status for us lot. Singletrack with surprises…. I mean, it all goes, just mibbies not the way you think it should. Which is very similar to the winter La Grave. First off you need to get up the hill, the La Grave lift system is just as idiosyncratic and interesting in summer as winter, but you get up there eventually. Goes something like:. Cote Fine. Favourite trail, almost fast and flowy. Huge fan all the way down, especially in the lower trees. Lots of throwing shapes and hanging off the back buzzing ass on tyre to get it round stuff. King Stone Road. I feel like I earnt that carte prof now. Anyways, the trails are pretty engaging. Which is exactly what I was needing. Somewhere to get lost in the moment and get to yon place where only the now exists and all those things that have been clogging up the head have gone leaving the simple joy of riding a bike as well as you can. I also felt a lot better at the end of the day than I did at the start. With any luck there might be some more content appearing here in less than 5 months. Skip to content. Lift openings Up, and not crying Posted on 3rd April Hey hi! Yeah, I know, I know. Long time indeed. Lets ignore a lost year and start where we left off. When do the lifts open for summer? La Thuile: 22nd June- 8th September A week longer than , just as brutal on the arms. St Gervais: Probably closed. Another of those new lift things. La Clusaz: 3rd July to 1st September, and 3 weekends either side of that too again, which is nice if you have weekends off… But what even is summer? Or if not now, soon. Cheers, merci and thanks to the folk who got in touch with updates to all the above. Posted in Trail conditions , tagged Lift opening. Posted in Chamonix ride , Trail conditions , tagged Lift opening. Pumptracks Posted on 7th December Posted in Chamonix ride , Road trip. Crans Montana Posted on 10th November Posted in Uncategorized. An explanation. My battered RX is on the way out and sometimes takes a few goes to work. Anyone got recommendations for a new camera? A long ride around Mont Blanc Posted on 27th September Once upon a time in the Southern Balkans Posted on 16th June This was not a known trail. This was a pattern to be repeated. Full value was had of our week. Some notes I made after tea; Sat in a wee nook in the house, 12 round a table best for 8, we start eating. The next days dawns a little fuzzily…. And also, still with bears. Like cruising into the village after this, looking for a bar, high fiving every kid as we rode past before getting into the bottles of Zlaten Dab , Like taking a detour on the road to Albania to visit the Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski. Off to Albania Which was much easier to write than to achieve. This project was founded by GIZ from Macedonia and thanks to their financial support we have the opportunity to visit these two countries, their people, traditions and culture — OHRide — The hidden MTB paradise in the heart of the Balkans — Ride the Balkans And most importantly of all, Orgest, Rishi, Stojan and Dimitri who showed us experiences of their countries we would never have had without them and put so much effort into making the trip a success, thanks so much guys. Posted in Road trip , tagged multi day trip. Bellevue: 11th June — 18th September closing 2 weeks later than Flegere: 9th June — 11th September closing 1 week earlier than , opening a couple days earlier as replacement for Montenvers which is closing for works Planpraz: 11th June — 11th September same opening as then 22nd October — 6th November Brevent: 11th June — 11th September same opening as Tramway du Mont Blanc: 11th June — 18th September closing 1 week earlier than Le Tour: Closed for Both lifts closed for replacement of the Charamillon telecabine, so only Vallorcine telecabine for uplift in Vallorcine: 11th June — 11th September opening 2 weeks early, closing 2 weeks later…. Well, kinda nothing. And the light was dead good for photos. Turns out we still had quite a bit of trail to go. Turns out phone torches are of limited use for bike riding, but just about sufficient to stop you getting run over by cars… Some navigational faff later, we got to our Airbnb. Then we came to a halt. Posted in Road trip , tagged multi day trip , Terres Noires. Terribly English. What are the trails like then? Pretty good. Goes something like: Vallons. Scenic , ok. Avag One. Rowdiest trail, a lot of looking for an exit and holding on until you get there. Aye, pretty fun. Has slabs. Bikes are good for all that eh. Posted in Road trip , tagged enduro , la grave , multi day trip.

40 Best Stops Between Calais and La Thuile

La Thuile buying blow

By Emma Gunn for Thisismoney. Updated: BST, 1 December Bankso resort in Bulgaria, La Thuile in Italy and Les Deux Alpes in France have topped the list for the best ski resorts this year for hitting the slopes on a budget. The price of lift passes, equipment hire and ski lessons for six days, plus a selection of food and drink, at the four cheapest European resorts come in at under half the cost of a similar stay on the powder-brushed slopes of Aspen, Colorado. Travel money specialists, No. Comparing the costs of six days of ski and boot hire, a six-day lift pass and ski lessons in addition to the price of a coffee, a bottle of beer, a bottle of wine and a quick lunch for two on the slopes, the Bankso resort came out on top. Thanks to the strong pound, even a winter getaway to more popular destinations are more affordable. Don't forget insurance. Hitting the slopes can be dangerous, therefore whether you spend your time off piste, carving up the black runs or mostly pottering down the gentler slopes, making sure you have sufficient insurance cover should be a top priority. Winter sports insurance could also save you a bundle should your kit get lost or stolen. One in eight holidaymakers have had their ski or snowboard equipment swiped while on holiday according to research by the Ski Club of Great Britain. Frank McCusker, chief executive of the Ski Club of Great Britain comments: 'Our research has shown that unfortunately given the value of snow sports equipment the theft of skis and snowboards is a real problem and leaving it unattended makes it an easy target for thieves. Here are some top tips from the Ski Club of Great Britain to avoid theft when you hit the slopes:. Check out This is Money's complete guide to winter sports insurance to find out more about getting the best cover at the right price. Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. How we can help Contact us. Death of the Isa millionaire? Do Waspi women have to register to get compensation? Think hard before agreeing to be the executor of a will - it could land you in a family feud or even court We were told we had long-forgotten shares Savings experts give their Here's why you're bad with money. HSBC increases rates on cheapest mortgages - but cuts One in five people have fallen victim to a finance scam Number of people killed in road rage incidents hits Why you should think hard before agreeing to be the Comments 4 Share what you think. View all. More top stories. Toggle Search. This is Money podcast. Latest from Holidays How Gen Z revived the all-inclusive holiday… and why many are opting for 'detour destinations' Holiday prices in the weeks either side of school half terms will surge, expert warns I missed my flight due to security delays - can I get compensation? Can you get your money back if a package holiday is cancelled - and what does ATOL protection mean? Hilton launches first-of-a-kind travel rewards debit card with Currensea - is it any good? An affordable ski holiday? It does exist! Euro 1. We have run the numbers and unearthed the tricks to stretching your points further afield. How to avoid the travel insurance traps when you have a pre-existing illness Mention the 'C' word and insurers see pound signs - at least that's how it can feel. Here's our guide to getting cover with a pre-existing illness. The most common reasons your insurance claim could be rejected More than half of consumers believe insurers always try and wriggle out of insurance claims, fuelling their resentment of the industry. The best cards to take abroad and how long it takes to apply Check out our timeline to take advantage of the best cheap travel spending deals. Has your flight got cheaper after you bought it? Clever transfers and careful planning could help you fund your new luxury lifestyle How to get cheap flights Cheap flights can seem a bargain, but there are hidden charges, fare finders and booking fees to navigate first. Home Top Share. Buy Now.

La Thuile buying blow