Loose banks… no rain… drifting conditions – check.

Despite taking a huge chill pill recently and taking time to savour the quieter aspects of the summer, last weekend a car load of us headed over the Crown Range to Dirt Park, or Snow Farm as it is better known, to see what the various trail crews had crafted through the rocky and dusty slopes. Dirt Park sits directly opposite Cardrona Ski Field (a wicked place to spend the winter) on the other side of the valley. It was my first time over there and I wasn’t really sure what was in store for me. Gee and Stevie Smith had hit the place during their brief stay here in NZ and spoke only good words of the place, which got me a little excited anyway. The first thing that surprised me when we rocked up was how long the drive was up to the start of the downhill. Its a long old winding road that takes you up there, so much so I had time to devour my entire lunch and was still left with enough time to let it settle (sorry about the tuna brine down the side of your car Matt…)

Epic views, great riding. Must be NZ.

First impressions were good… very good. And those first impressions echoed throughout the day, as run after run produced smile after smile. There are two main lines to begin with, one fast and flowing, not so technical. And the other quite the opposite – straight into tight, turns and technical rock sections. The first line features a pretty sizeable road gap which looks like it would flow oh-so-nicely as part of a run, however the wind picked up by the time we made it over to it, and so it was not to be. That seemed to be Dirt Park’s only problem, the lack of trees and exposed nature of the place leaves it vulnerable to the wind. But it’s no biggie, certainly not worth dwelling on. On the other hand it provides the place with some beautiful and uninterrupted views of the mountains and further towards the horizon, Wanaka. One thing to be careful of is the bloody speargrass, which wasn’t so pleasant on my gloveless hands when I stoved it into one knuckles first. Don’t leave home without any spare tubes as they can easily puncture a DH tyre (so imagine how my hands fared!). Even to the gentlest touch, they will still draw blood, so you have been warned…

Gina Matete. Representin for tha’ laydeez!

About two thirds of the way down the trail comes out by the fire road, and this is where most people will shuttle from. However it is by no means the end of the run, a sharp left takes you across a stream and later through some sheep fields. As cherries-on-the-cake go, I found this to be a pretty dam sweet one. Beautiful, fast singletrack weaves it’s way in the most fluid manner down the remainder of the hillside, with purpose built ladder bridges over the various fences meaning your run can remain uninterrupted. There’s still the odd technical section thrown in the mix too which keeps you on your toes, but there’s something I find quite special about the singletrack. It’s not steep, it’s not “gnar”. Whenever I ride something I always try and ride it as fast as possible, as does everyone I’m sure. But for some reason every time I rode the bottom section I took great pride in just switching to auto-pilot, not thinking, just being a spectator in my own body, watching this thin weaving line of trail dance across my vision, as an out of focus mountain range poses as the backdrop. Special indeed. From what I understand Dirt Park is a fairly new addition to the list of mountain bike venues in the area, and whilst there isn’t a huge volume of trails, if things grow and progress in the right direction, the place could well see itself as one of the top riding venues in the country. A wicked day’s riding all in all, if you’re headed here, scribble it down on your “must ride” list.

Matt Wragg follows me in.

That’s it for this week, albeit a bit brief. Tomorrow is supposed to be the League of Gentlemen’s King of Skippers race. A pretty self explanatory, balls to the walls run of Skippers Canyon. The weather is supposed to turn terrible and also it would appear the local farmers have let their cattle loose to pin a few practise runs, which means the course is absolutely muntered at the moment. Reigning King Si Smith has even shaved his long locks off just for that extra weight advantage. We’ll see how this one goes… Could be awesome, could be shit. But bein a LoG, there will be beer. So I suppose, regardless, it will be awesome.

Take care and happy riding.

Jimmy

The sun buggered off for a two week holiday and instead got his friend Mr Continuous Downpour to babysit, meaning riding has continued to be really boggy and wet. I’m always the first to defend riding in the rain. I farking love it, but even my enthusiasm has been hammered lately. Then the cherry on the cake was snow! Ok, not quite as bad as Englandshire, but remember it’s supposed to be summer here. I was forced to put on my ski jacket, along with a double layering of socks and woolen boxers. Nice little mental image for ya there.

But then… like a shining beacon of light came the first LoG of 2010. If you read last weeks Midweek Enzed you’ll remember we were blessed with the presence of Red Bull duo Gee Atherton and Stevie Smith, along with Caleb Smith from Spoke Magazine and Darcy Wittenberg of The Collective.

We were all wishin’ and a hopin’ that they’d rock up for the V Line chainless, but alas it was not to be. In fairness if I was here with a professional job to do and very limited time, and it pissed it down everyday for that very limited time, I wouldn’t be too concerned about missing it either.

Numbers were a little down on previous LoG’s, blame Mr Continuous Downpour for that, but none the less it was a wicked evening. V Line was riding a little slower than usual, but considering the mega-tonnes of water that had been dumped from the sky into the Southern Lakes District, it was still riding fast and mostly tacky. The V-Line chainless was also acting as a seeding run for another event coming up… The Meeeegavalanche.
Like the mega, but with more e’s than a London nightclub. The Meeeega will be a mass start race down the steep and technical Ant’s track and then along into Turd and all the ensuing Turd follow ons. It’s gonna be pretty gnarly… The date for that one is yet to be confirmed.

So after everyone forked out the ridiculously enormous entry fee of two dollars, we all set off one by one with only our pumping skills and ability to stay off the brakes carrying us through to the bottom.

With not much sunshine my sun dial wasn’t turning out to be as effective a timing method as I would have liked, so I had to rough it and use a stopwatch. Anyway, I always find it amazing how fast you can still go without a chain, and it sort of makes you ride properly, smoother basically. We didn’t finish right at the bottom of skyline for common sense reasons more than anything else (the last part of V Line shoots you out onto a brief section of firetrack then straight into the road at the bottom, not necessarily ideal for large volumes of mtbers!).

One very serious results board.

Huge thanks to Revolver for hosting us again, post LoG. We all cruised down after and got our drink on and had a watch of Callum Swift’s new film Made. Boombatty got the official LoG results sheet out (big white door and marker pen) and it soon emerged that yours truly took third in 4 mins 19, Blair Christmas took second in 4 mins 17 and Si Smith took the whole thing out on the Protec in 4 mins 15:78 secs (look at that, split seconds included! Yeh boi!) Even after attempting the Huck of Doom towards the finish, and casing big time, he still managed to pump the beast to gentlemanly gold. Nat Munns was fastest sheila of the evening in 5 mins 15 secs, also getting her huck on down the last few doubles before the finish.

A fun evening was had by all, so thanks to everyone who came out and braved the weather. Again massive thanks to Graeme Cooper for all his organising efforts and tape collecting mid-run. That’s what you call efficiency.

Now I’d love to have a report on the Chch national for you, but unfortunatley for me I didn’t end up going. Christmas bled me dry of moolah, that one tiny thing that makes the world go round. Balls. We’ve all seen the results but if anyone’s got a race report send it in to Dirt at billy@dirtmag.co.uk.

So this weekend sees the Wynyard Jump Jam at mini dream take place, and also another National which is out of town. Dammit which one to do?! Either way make sure you tune in next week, whatever happens it will be a blast. Also next Thursday sees the fourth LoG of the season with an old school duel slalom entitled “Snakes in the Grass” down on Frankton beach. Get excited. It will be awesome.

Take care and mind that ‘orrible weather over there. Man it looks cold.

Happy riding

Jimmy

Merry Christmas everybody, I trust everyone did the usual drink too much, eat too much, fart in front of the inlaws type thing?

Christmas is a funny old thing down here. As with many alpine destinations, most who are here arrived  at some point either on their own or with a small group of friends, but mostly without family. Some may have a brother or sister with them, but generally parents/grandparents and the rest are somewhere in the northern hemisphere. Some choose not to celebrate it. A little toast at some point in the day to family maybe, but nothing more. However, the “Orphan Christmas” is generally the norm. Close family get replaced by equally close friends, all united by the absence of loved ones.

En route to Macetown

It makes the day kinda special in a very unusual way, bringing everyone that little bit closer. The presents under the tree tend to have a tag that isn’t so much “Dear Gran, Love Johnny” and generally reads more like “Dear Kev, you’re a slack wee shit and a terrible dirt jumper but have a bladdy good crimbo”.

My christmas involved the owners of my local pub having all ther staff and partners around to their gaff, where a slip’n’slide, paddling pool and a trailer load of booze awaited us. I could sit here and talk until the sun goes down about the sheer hilarity of the day, but I don’t think I could fit it all in one email.

However hats off to the token irishman Ray who was on the scotch from about 9am. 12 hours later the party had moved back to his house, and the lad was still going, sipping at anything with the lid off. You know when you walk in to a party and see the token almost-paraletic slurring their way around the place? That was Ray, except he never passed out. In true Irish form, he held it all night, despite tripping up over the sofa and face planting into the floor. Good, good times.

But enough about Christmas. You wanna hear about bikes ‘n’ shit eh? Alright then. Well it’s been a week of… just riding really. No LoG’s, no jams. Just good old fashioned free riding (not the big hucking version of free riding, you know, just riding). Boxing day – it just pissed it down, all day, fucking stair rods I tell ya. Naturally the best thing to do was go riding. Why not? It’s only water. However a couple of days later we hit up One Mile Loop. The loop actually peels off halfway up the Skyline firetrack and takes you up to the Ben Lomond Saddle, but the climb up is a technical one indeed. It runs up through some native beach forest, which is simply stunning.

A brief pause in some native forest. One Mile Loop, Mike and Dan of Vertigo Bikes.

You’ll have to excuse some tree talk here, but when the European settler arrived 200 years ago, among many things they introduced non native trees like Monterey pine and Douglas fir. What they didn’t realise is these non natives like the conditions here, which has led to one of the biggest environmental problems in the country, as they spread and grow faster than they can be controlled. A while ago some guys thought that if they droppped Douglas fir seeds out of a chopper over the now Skyline hill, they would make the place look more like Switzerland, which to them was a great idea. In doing so they contributed to the wilding pine problem massively, which brings me back to the native beech forest that part of the One Mile Loop climbs up through. It has a lot of character, a lot of charm, whether it be in the form of some of the towering giants or just some of the big pieces of deadwood that lie in the river crossing at the top.

Macetown entrance

Naturally, such trees mean lots of roots, BIG roots. Even on my xc bike it’s a hard climb. Apparently Seb Kemp has made it all the way to the top after sessioning it and making a point of trying to make it all the way. Fair play. When you get to the top, you can either carry on along the loop which takes you down some steep but not overly technical terrain to the Dream track and then down Wynyward express to the bottom of Fernhill, or just turn around and come back down the way you came (through the Beech) - way more fun. You can ride it the other way, but the best way is to just go up the skyline firetrack, peel off left at the midway clearing , head up through the beech, turn around at the top and come back down. When you come out at the midway clearing you can then ride Turd to the bottom, which if you’ve read the last Midweek Enzed, you’ll know how much fun that is.

Here’s a wee headcam of part of the downhill courtesy of Paul Angus.

I also did a little bit of a mission to an old settlement village called Macetown, and “mission” isn’t a bad word to sum it up. It’s 32kms return on mostly 4×4 track, but the interesting part is the 32 river crossings that await you. Some are too deep to ride, up to your thighs kinda thing (oh yeh might be worth mentioning now that you’ll get wet on this one) but most have a decent line that you can pick though it.

This is a tough trail on your gears by the way, the track is very dusty and the crossings very, er, wet, and by the end of the ride mine were barely shifting. For this one you have to make your way out to Arrowtown first, which is only about 20 kms away from Queenstown, and then just head for the river and follow the signs. Macetown lies 16kms away, an old settlement from the gold mining days. We took a couple of gold pans in my hydrapak and had a ferret around the river banks.

River crossing number… erm… 18? Who knows!

There’s tiny flake gold everywhere, but nothing of any value. Flake gold is what we found, our dreams of turning a 3 hour xc ride into a nice little nest egg for the future didn’t quite come true. Big nuggets of the stuff is what you want, but good luck finding it. This is more of a scenery ride than anything else, but still, if you come here and have a bike you can pedal uphill, have a bash. The ride back from Macetown is faster than the ride in, it’s more downhill. But plenty of people have a go at this route whether it be some unfit lycra clad tourist or someone with a bit more know how.

Almost back in A’Town. What’s that smell? Smells like… PIE

A must is a trip to the Arrowtown Bakery when you get back. Either a lamb and mint or a mince bolognese pie is what I would go for. Trust me, you won’t be able to resist.

Summer, gotta love it. Not biking related at all. Having breakfast in the garden whilst tandem paragliders thrill tourists. Queenstown, what a place.

And so we venture into a new year. What a year this one has been. What will 2010 hold? As long as it involves two wheels and a smile, who cares.

Happy new Year

Jimbo

Words:Jimmy Carling.
Photos:Luke Sergent (I think)

“So… Midweek Enzed number 2… And not a massive amount has happened since last week! The first of the summer events starts next week and everyone is simply relishing in the joys of hitting the trails again. It’s been farkin windy of late not to mention somewhat of a wet weekend. And speaking of the weekend… On Friday night a few of us were invited to go camping in Fiordland, which is arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth. Just huge, steep, towering peaks that plummet straight down to the water.

Some light woodwork amusement courtesy of 7 Mile.

We camped in nearby Te Anau on the Friday, with the intention of moving on to Milford Sound the following morning. However a severe raping by unwelcome mosquitos and sand-fly’s meant no sleep and an arse-full of bites. It was so uncomfortable that we just ended up bailing; the thought of a warm bed and riding bikes luring us back to Queenstown by 7:30am on Saturday… “If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. Insect repellant next time methinks…

Matt Wragg

Lately we’ve been hitting up the Remarkables DH Track which, in contrast to the vertical nature of the main face of the mountain, is actually not very steep at all. The run is situated on what would be considered the “run off” of the hillside, but despite it’s lack of major gradient, it is still and extremely intense two and half minutes downhilling, with the numerous rock gardens providing no room for error and no forgiveness to those who falter. It’s bloody brilliant. It’s really the only track there, so there isn’t much scope to session other trails in the vicinity, but once you’ve done a run you tend to find yourself anxious to get back up to the top asap. It is somewhat addictive!

Dan Thwaite. Remarks DH. Session on!

Another venue to feature highly on our shred list at the moment is 7 mile which is all open again after some early season maintenance work by the Queenstown MTB Club. 7 mile is a little trail hub just out of town which is an ideal social riding ground and awesome for a post-work-stress-relieving-thrash.

Blender. Sex wee just out of shot.

Earlier in the year I bought a Charge Blender (courtesy of a nice tax refund from the Australian Government; who said the tax man was bad?!) and she goes like the wind around there. Believe the hype people, I have never had a bike put a smile on my face as much as my Blender. Particularly on “Kachoong” which tends to be a favourite trail among most. I heard a guy the other week say it was like a “tiny tiny A-line”, which I’ll have to take his word for as I’ve yet to frequent Whistler. Point the Charge in it’s direction and I’ll find myself grinning the whole way down, and occasionally having to clear some sex wee off the top tube. There’s so many little hidden lines and alternative lines around 7 mile that it’s impossible not to have a laugh, and the runs out to the car park definitley finish the ride off sweetly. Just mind the sandflies by the lake…”

To quote my favourite band Reuben “Summer bleeds into my skin, and paints me the colour golden”. Luke Sergent. Bikes and sun. Bliss.

Mountainbiking in the Pyrenees has been the poorer cousin to mountainbiking in the Alps for some time. This could be set to change now with the World Cup races in Andorra raising the profile and firmly placing the Vallnord Bikepark on the map. With two other bike parks, La Molina and Grand Valira both within close proximity, there’s a great holiday destination for UK riders in the making starting just a couple of hours drive from Barcelona airport. All three parks have had high profile involvement of varying levels from the likes of the Misser Bros, Gracia and Oscar Saiz, so we went to check them out and see what the Pyrenees could throw up to the casual rider.

Vallnord has been brought to a lot of people’s attention over the last couple of years since they have hosted the World Cup. To be honest if the WC track was my only experience here, I wouldn’t have left the place that impressed, and certainly wouldn’t have been rushing back to come and ride. You see although the World Cup track is pretty good and fun to ride it really doesn’t utilise the big mountains that you are surrounded by, instead it is a short trail ‘on’ a big mountain.

Fortunately I had visited the town and resort a few years ago whilst racing and had a great time here and I knew that Vallnord had plenty of riding, we rode a few of the trails that time, but I was keen to return and see what else was on offer.

It’s really refreshing to see that the people involved in the park and those who work around the town in the bikeshops and bars seem to have a real belief in the new biking season here. They see it as a very real summer alternative to snowboarding and are all keen to make this park work and their energy and enthusiasm is rubbing off, they have some good trails and it looks like it will continue to develop each year.

THE TRAILS
So while many people felt a little disappointed to see such a short World Cup track, I went about hitting some of the other runs around the mountain, from the Woodpark to the two main fun downhills under the gondola. These had changed massively from when I rode them a few years ago, at the time they were gullied out natural descents, down steep paths with tough turns and big holes. Now they had taken a large digger down there and levelled and smoothed them out with the odd jump and plenty of berms thrown in for good measure. As a racer I was a little disappointed when I first rolled down to see these trails, which I had really enjoyed racing a few years earlier had been completely changed and made pretty easy. Though a couple of runs later my mind was changed, the wide corners and the shaly surface mean that when you start pushing yourself down there you can hit some pretty rare lines through the turns and are drifting most of the time. What they have done is the right thing; they have built Bikepark trails that will appeal to all riders rather than just the racer heads amongst us who want it steep and rough. There’s no way you’ll be riding these without a grin on your face – though one Aussie did moan that they were too muddy…I told him he should come and stay in Wales!

For the more skilled rider or those wanting to push themselves there are some steep and technical trails on the hill just away from the
main marked runs. We hooked up with David Vasquez and he led us down one of the trails which was mint, really tight singletrack with some steep switchbacks and some high speed straightaways. Later that day I stumbled onto a hiking trail that drops out in the campsite in Erts right by Commencal HQ. This was a testing bit of trail with one particular off–camber slickrock steep section that would be great in the dry…I hit it blind in the wet and after some serious scrabbling and paddling was pretty thankful to keep it upright and on the path at the other end. I’m sure many of the Commencal bikes have had a few runs down there.

Up in the higher slopes you have the wood trail, which as wooden trails go (usually suck!) is up there as one of the best. It flows and is fun from top to bottom, it’s well built and has some decent size drops, jumps and wallrides. Check it out.

The World Cup trail is known as the ‘Cedric Gracia’ and is a good downhill run with a whole lot of holes, exposed rock and roots. Just don’t do a Sam Hill off the blind crest – insane!

SLEEPING
It’s best to stay where there’s a bit of life, so La Massana is the ideal Location and the Gondola runs from the centre of the town. Hotel Palanques and Hotel Font are just about the cheapest of the bunch. Erst (where the Commencal HQ is) is also a good location and easy to reach the lift, try the Hotel Palarine.

EATING
Nearly all the hotels in town have restaurants that can be enjoyed by all, outside of these I’d try out La Bona Taula or Border D’Lavi, both near the town centre.

DRINKING
Well it would be rude not to give Cedric’s Bar a plug, it’s bang in the centre of Town and they usually have something on at least once a week, and if not they’ll tell you where to head. It’s called the Podium bar.

There is a large gondola linking the town of La Massana to Vallnord, many of the longer and steeper trails run below this long and quick lift. Up in the ski area there are another three chairlifts that work in a triangle layout to access a few trails on the higher slopes including the World Cup trail.

PRICES
One Day Pass: 21.00 euros
Three Day Pass: 49.50 Euros

CLIMATE
The Climate in Andorra is generally hot, sunny and dry through the summer season, but being a big mountain range the Pyrenees can catch rainfall at any time. Fortunately even if it does rain the geology of the area is great and the trails ride really well in the wet.

GETTING THERE
To hit all three parks as we did in a trip, I would recommend flying to Barcelona, easyJet have plenty flights. You will need a hire car or people carrier to move from place to place, La Molina is two hours from the airport, Grand Valira is one hour from La Molina and Vallnord is 30 minutes from Grand Valira. The return drive direct from Vallnord to Barcelona airport is three hours.

USEFUL CONTACTS
WWW.LAMOLINA.COM
WWW.GRANDVALIRA.COM/BIKEPARK/
WWW.VALLNORDBIKEPARK.COM z

I first stopped briefly in Lake Garda a few years ago, I drove along the lake between world cups with the ‘Scottish Contingent’ and scheduled in a couple of hours for an ice cream and swim before trucking on. It was stunning, the sort of place that makes a lasting impression on you. I wanted to head back there at some point and I had no idea at the time that Garda was such a mountain bike Mecca.

Over time I was hearing more and more about the riding here, many bike companies have launched their product ranges here and the massive Garda bike festival sees swarms of bikers buzzing around the northern periphery of the great lake drinking free beer and then riding an 80km enduro. I scheduled in a couple of days to scout out the trails early on in the summer and was soon overwhelmed with how much there was out there to see, so we had to return, this time allowing a week to really get to grips with the area and try to give you a better overview of what to expect if you head to the beautiful Lake Garda.

More recently the myriad of old trading and wartime tracks, tunnels and bunkers up in the mountains have seen a new group of tourists flock to Garda, the mountain bikers. There are thousands of them, never mind Morzine, or even Whistler, there are more riders here than both put together, though most are Lycra clad Germans who climb to the top of the mountains only to roll back down the road!

Only a very small percentage of the crowds of bikers actually ride the technical trails here, I found it funny to think that Garda is one of the few places where you could probably run a successful down–lift shuttle bus!

THE TRIP
So the fly–by visit in early May turned into two trips in order to have some time to get to grips with this vast riding area. First time around we had Ralph Jones, Ben Reid, his mechanic Ali and Italian resident Ian Thomas in tow, with photographer Victor Lucas behind the helm and me floating about in there somewhere. We had mixed success on the trails, we were hooked up with a guide for a morning called Carlo, who took us to a pretty fun trail to ride, but I’d say Victor wasn’t too chuffed with it, all that beautiful picture postcard scenery and we were tucked away in the woods rattling down our first Garda rocky trail.

On the plus side the local knowledge paid off in the shape of the No. 1 ice cream parlour of the summer, and trust me we tried a few… this was awesome. The next day we were up early and caught the somewhat pricey cable car to the top of Monte Baldo, we had planned to climb Altissimo from here and access a really long descent from near 2000m down to the lake side at 69m, so nearly 2km vertical height drop, but we were easily distracted from the 45 minute
climb by a trail heading off back towards the lake between the peaks of Mnt Baldo and
Mnt Altissimo.

This was a somewhat scary number with massive drops and exposure as we teetered along the edge of the cliff top, grabbing onto ‘via ferrata’ wires where necessary. I was glad when we had finished traversing and came out onto open ground again where the trail rocketed back down towards Navenne. There were some great sections of trail on the lower slopes of the hill, but what you had to endure to get to it was a little full–on really.

This first trip showed me that local knowledge is essential here not only to find the best trails in this vast area, but also to avoid ending up in some compromising and dangerous positions. There are many cliffs and exposed edges around the lake and the trails need to be treated with more than a modicum of respect.

We returned in September and this time we hooked up with Tarja and Nail from the All Mountain Experience, they had been guiding all summer and knew their way around some of the best trails. We weren’t on such a tight schedule either this time as we had the best part of a week to soak it all up. Ben and Ali returned for some more riding as we had all enjoyed ripping about on the short travel bikes.

We were based up in the village of Ronzo Cheinis, which had a whole different feel to the hustle and bustle of the resorts down on the lake’s edge, arriving in the sleepy traditional village late at nightthe hotel owner had waited up for us and was quick to pour us a welcome drink, first impressions were good! The next morning, in daylight, we could see our surroundings and we were nestled into the pretty Ronzo valley, a traditional area all but forgotten by tourists, but one that thanks to Tarja and Nial is gaining popularity with mountain bikers. Nial is a world cup XC racer but had previously competed in a few downhill world cups (something that very few people can lay claim to). Tarja is a former Olympian and was a very successful XC and endurance racer, so this set up can certainly keep up with any groups both physically and technically.

The week spent exploring the hills around the lake was a pleasure and despite the overwhelming German presence in the resorts, the region has maintained what Italy does
best: great food, ice cream and wine. In fact Ralph has Garda down as his No.1 pizza stop of the summer, another high accolade indeed when you consider Pizza Time in Cardiff has held that title for some time!

THE TRAILS
When you head to a ski resort everything is laid out for you, often with a number of trails running off the one lift, letting you blast the runs out. Riding here in Garda is very different; it is a massive area with multiple hills and valleys to explore. Most rides require a little climbing, whether they are lift assisted by cable car or shuttles or out and out XC loops.

A guide pays dividends here as they can take a lot of the guess work out of the area, plus just knowing what is coming up and that you’re not going to overcook a corner off a cliff has a comforting effect. Our local guide Carlo, and then Tarja and Nial, did a great job showing us around some of the best trails. They are still learning new trails themselves as this is such a vast area. Up in the Ronzo valley the riding is a little mellower, there are some fun descents linked by short climbs, you’re not so reliant on the uplifts riding in this part of the valley and the descents aren’t as full–on.

The tracks around the hills vary from cart width to singletrack, and most seem to have vertical drops somewhere along their edges. If I were to try to paint a picture of the riding here it would have to be – rocky. Sorry I mean damn rocky, relentless, loose, sketchy, fast, steep and most importantly fun! I haven’t ridden anywhere else like it. Some of the trails are a little straight and fast (old trading tracks and wartime trails), but then it’s unique; I really don’t think you’ll be able to get a feel for just how rocky these trails are from pictures alone.

Let me try to help you visualise. Riding down two of these trails, Slabmus on Monte Stivo and the 601 down from Monte Altissimo, your eyes were out on stalks, you were focusing so hard on what was coming up. I’m used to really technical sections in tracks and trails, but I’ve never ridden a 30 minute section! I’d say the 601 trail was pretty near the limit of what is possible on a short travel bike and we were pretty pleased to clean it, but I would advise you to try this one with caution as it is a very technical run. At the bottom of one of the descents on the Limone side of the lake I remember thinking this is perhaps the first time I’ve wanted a kidney belt on a push bike. Probably partly down to the fact that we were riding short travel bikes and going full–bore everywhere.

You can of course back it off and pick your way through these trails, but what the hell’s the point in that, these trails are perfect for letting the brakes off and rattling on down full tilt, it makes you feel alive. If you’ve never ridden loose rock then it takes a little getting used to, it ranges depending on the trail from gravelly stone, much like around Monaco and Nice, to fist and football sized rocks you simply have to hop skip and jump on the fly. Sorry, does this sound uninviting? It shouldn’t, I really enjoyed the challenging trails and riding around the lake the vistas are stunning. There are of course some mellower trails too up around the Ronzo valley where the gradients are gentler and it is a little earthier, but the general vibe when you’re descending around Garda is that of…it’s shake rattle and roll time!

SLEEPING
If you want to be down in the thick of it I’d suggest you stay in Riva Del Garda or Torbole, right at the northern tip of the Lake these are the liveliest places and also where many shuttles and rides start from. Hotel Santoni in Torbole is your best bet as they are totally set up for bikes with a secure bike lock up, workstand, bikewash, trail maps and Fabio the owner there is knowledgeable and helpful. Away from the resort then up in the peaceful village of Ronzo Cheinis, where there is some great riding, Hotel Martinelli will look after you, with bike storage, free wi-fi and excellent food, and most of the All Mountain Experiences rides are based from here.

EATING
One thing that’s a safe bet in Italy is the food; Pastas, pizzas and ice cream are all fantastic here. If you like your coffee then you’ll be in your element, just be prepared to rattle for a while when you come back to ‘normal’ strength coffee back home! Ronzo is an agricultural valley known for its plentiful vegetable harvest and you will get some lovely dishes made from the local produce. The ice cream stalls around the square in Arco are heavenly, the food in Hotel Martinelli is great and for that one–off meal take a short drive down the lake towards the south to the Al Commercio in Bardolino, the best pasta dishes ever, go for the wild boar.

DRINKING
This all depends on where you’re staying, if you want to be out every night then perhaps you’d be better based down at the Lake but even then it’s not really the full on party vibe up at the north end. Weekends are a little livelier and you can head to Winds bar in Torbole to sink a few drinks. If you’ve got your disco shoes and a whole lot of cash in your pocket then you could try heading to the glitzy Sesto Senso Club, in Desenzano right at the southern foot of the lake, this is where the beautiful people go and party through the night. To be honest though, we were always too shattered after a long day and were more than happy to have a couple of beers up in the village before collapsing.

BIKE SHOP
There are plenty of shops in the area and most hire bikes too if you’d rather not fly with your bike. Carpentari, situated on the main road through Torbole, is one of the biggest or Mecki’s bike and Coffee in Riva is where many riders meet up and chill out with a coffee between rides.

TRAIL MAP
For once, getting hold of maps isn’t a big problem, the area is massive and there are three main maps that cover the riding area and these maps can be bought in most bike shops and tourist info points. Problem solved? Well not exactly, although the maps mark cycle routes and grade them they are very hit and miss, follow one and it may well be one of the great Garda singletracks, take the next and you’re pushing up steep sections, walking or bored senseless following a gravel road. This is a place that takes a large amount of exploring to get to grips with the trails and know which trails on the maps are the good ones. Speak to local riders and guides and tell them what you want and they will point out the better trails.

UPLIFT
Uplift around Garda is far from cheap, with the Monte Baldo cable car that departs from Malcesine costing 15 Euros per run, to be using this as your main shuttle you would have to be of the ‘money is no object’ school of thought. Shuttles can be arranged from the two bike shops mentioned previously and come in at a similar price per shuttle, although it is worth noting that you are only likely to do two or max three runs per day here due to their longer all–mountain nature.www. AllMountainExperience.com offers various
shuttles during their week’s package, which is probably the best value way of uplifting and hitting the right trails.

PRICES
Garda is not a cheap place to come and ride, if you go the DIY route then by the time you’ve totalled up your shuttles it can be pretty expensive. The best bet is to try and do a package deal of accommodation, guiding and shuttles.

CLIMATE
The climate is mild, with summer enjoying pleasant average temperatures of 23 centigrade, there are episodes of dry heat, but much of the time the atmosphere retains a lot
of moisture making it quite hazy looking out over the lake. The water is beautifully warm and can reach a surface temperature of 25 degrees in the summer, and with temperatures
outside often around 30 degrees on warmer days it’s hard to drag yourself away from the beach.

GETTING THERE
The nearest airports to Lake Garda are Bergamo and Verona. RyanAir service both airports with flights to Bergamo available from Luton, Stanstead, Bristol and Manchester, flights to Verona currently run just from Stanstead. Lake Garda is a 12.5 hour drive from Calais.z

USEFUL INFORMATION
HOTEL MARTINELLI:
WWW.VALDIGRESTA.COM
HOTEL SANTONI:
WWW.HOTELSANTONI.COM
ALL MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE:
WWW.ALLMOUNTAINEXPERIENCE.COM

Access to Livigno from our direction of travel was through the Livigno tunnel, which closes from 8pm to 8am, hence our arrival on
the Monday and not the Sunday night. The weather had turned a little and it was pretty cold up in the remote Valtellina valley, with temperatures in the day around 5º and snow high up on the mountains. The riding that Andrew showed us was pretty exceptional singletrack and definitely of the ‘epic’ category. We enjoyed some long days, big rides and descents, some starting up in the snow, which always adds an element of fun, and finishing up in valleys often miles away from Livigno in Italy or Switzerland. They had the operation dialled though and would soon be there with their vehicles to shuttle you back to base. The shuttles were pretty deluxe too with their Landrover being in for some basic repairs, Andrew was using his 3.5l Mercedes to move the bikes around; there were no complaints from us. A highlight has to be the hot springs where we finished one of our days rides with a couple of tinnies in the natural hot pool on the side of a mountain river. A peculiar setting with some old industrial workings all around, the rushing icy cold river and this gorgeous hot pool, we went the full hog with a few dunks in the freezing river before melting back into the hot pool. I’m not sure if the 4* hotel will be happy or not with us taking their bathrobes and slippers!

THE RESORT
Livigno is an old alpine mountain village that has changed to meet the times, and this once traditional farming community now gets the majority of its income from tourists, though its roots are still very evident, with farms spread along the valley floor. It is set amongst the spectacular mountains of the Stelvio National Park in the Italian Alps. Livigno is cut off on all sides with two mountain passes and a tunnel being the only way out of the Valtellina Valley. It is an independent province of Italy and has enjoyed the privilege of being a tax free state since the times of Napoleon. So you can expect cheap fuel, alcohol, perfumes, electrical goods, cameras, designer clothes and sugar?!? Yes, for some reason sugar is one of the main things the Italians come and bulk buy from Livigno. The town runs in a linear fashion along the valley bottom with the main shopping street spread out over a good kilometre.

Unfortunately there is quite a divide between the two lift companies, the Mottolino on the one side of the valley and the Carosello on the other. This goes a long way to explaining the lack of publicity and promotion following the World Champs, and it’s a little sad to see these people pulling in different directions instead of working together for the
common cause. That’s politics for you though, and on the flip side in their attempts to out do each other it may actually prove a good thing for riders in the long run, but somewhere along the line the information isn’t getting out to their market. Fortunately Italian Safaris are far from reliant on the lift companies of Livigno or ‘little Tibet’ as it is affectionately named by the local residents. They have thought big and explored a huge area, one that you could never cover in a weeks stay, it really is a vast region; some 10,000 square km’s that they operate within.

THE TRAILS
So I came to see what Italian Safaris had uncovered in this area, but I was secretly harbouring my own agenda – to spend some time shredding in the Bikepark. Well in all honesty the bike park turned out to be a big disappointment. It’s not that it was really bad, I mean you could have some fun on a few of the trails, but most of the jumps were super sketch and a lot of the runs didn’t flow, the biggest let down is that it could be so good. We hooked up with Jerry and Alberto, two of the guides and coaches from the park who were a funny pair, they have a good outlook on life, boarding through the winter and riding all summer, in their own words they will never be rich, but were living a fun life. They showed us some nice lines in the woods and a few good sections, but there is little to keep you entertained for more than a day or two.

Fortunately what the Livigno valley and the surrounding area, known as the Alta Reiza, has to offer, more than makes up for any short falls in the bike park and out and out downhill. We are talking awesome singletrack on a grand scale; real big mountain riding. I was thoroughly impressed with the depth and variety of singletrack here, from fast, silky smooth and buff trails that flow and cling to the contours of the valleys, to much steeper, technical rocky footpaths.

Just around the Livigno valley itself there are a number of singletrack descents that feed down off the 60km Upper Panoramica bike trail which are great fun to ride, they are smooth with loads of tight switchbacks, I could happily of spent a few days riding these, but time was of the essence and our guides had so much to show us.

The next few days we headed out of Livigno, being shuttled up to the top of some of the surrounding mountain passes and took in some of their favourite big rides, many of the rides take all day to complete and are in epic mountain scenery. Dropping down the Swiss side towards Engadin and the Italian side to Poschiavo from the Bernina pass and following the Benina mountain train were both highlights here.

We did make one glorious error in testing out a new route we had been advised to try by an old Italian gent. Picking up the top of this trail it looked promising, super steep and tech, kinda like Champery at the top, then it started to get silly! We ended up shouldering the bikes for a third of the descent as this was not ride–able and the cliff drop, if you got anything wrong, was enough to bring us back down to earth. All part of the adventure though and funnily enough it dropped us onto a mint lower piece of trail.

The next day we took the Carousello gondola on the opposite side of the valley to the bikepark up to 3000m and dropped down a trail which led down the back side of the mountain into a parallel valley. The trail seemed freshly cut and the loose mix of mud and gravel was so much fun to ride, smooth but lively, you could easily drift through the turns under control. About half way down we bumped into some good old boys with hand tools working away on the trail. We stopped and chatted to them, they were the trail crew who had re–cut the entire top half of the trail by hand, and they’d done an awesome job. They were happy to see people out riding on their work and to know that we thought it was rad. Great to see the area investing in these guys who are doing a great job and will bring in more riders with trails like these!

Before we left we had to try and tackle the first descent of the alien like mountain Andrew had shown us, Gareth tamed it in the end and we featured it in a previous issue of Dirt.

SLEEPING
As with any Ski resort in the summer there is plenty of accommodation about. We stayed in the Hotel Bivio, a lovely modern hotel with a rustic feel and somewhere safe to keep our bikes. This hotel has a deal going with Italian Safari’s and at the rate you can stay in this 4* hotel half board, it would be hard to turn it down. They do have some apartments you can rent if you want to save a few pennies though.

EATING
The food in the Bivio is amazing; the breakfast and evening buffets are huge. I love my food, but I couldn’t even make a dent in this spread; highly recommended. When you’re out on rides there are mountain refuges all over the place where you can stop for lunch and snacks. In the evening as an alternative to the Bivio try out the Bait dal Ghet in the centre of town, it’s relatively cheap and popular amongst the locals.

DRINKING
The Kuhstall is found in the basement of the Bivio and is conveniently the place to go in winter and summer, though it is only busy on weekends and Italian holidays through the summer. If you spend a day or two in the Bikepark then you’re likely to end up in the Tea del Vidal bar at the bottom of the runs.

BIKE <strong>SHOPS
There are a few bike shops in town where you can pick up the basic requirements, anything specialist should be brought with you as we couldn’t find any brake pads for Hayes here. Try out Deefox or Arcobaleno all around the main street in town.

TRAIL MAP
There are no trail maps for the Bikepark, but you don’t need one there as the three main runs (blue, red, black) are all marked out. But you really need a guide to get anything near the best out of this area.

UPLIFT
There are two lifts open to bikes in Livigno itself, the Mottolino gondola which services the Bikepark and the Carousello gondola on the opposite side of the valley which takes you right up to 3000m. The rest of the rides we did involved being shuttled to the start and back from finish points by vehicle. You can also use the Benina train (labelled the freeride express by the locals) to shuttle some of the singletracks in that valley from the Benina pass.

PRICES
Prices for this tour with Italian Safaris (www. italiansafaris.com) range from £365 for the week to around £600 depending on various options. Lift passes are 21 Euros for 1 day and 60 Euros for 5 days.

CLIMATE
This is big mountain terrain and the weather can change when you’re out on a long ride, so it is important to be prepared with appropriate clothing. We were there very late in the season and the temperature had dropped right off, but generally their summer is very pleasant in the 20s.

GETTING THERE
Reaching Livigno is not quite as straight forward as some other resorts. The nearest airports are the two Milan airports, Bergamoand Malpensa, and Zurich, all have a transfer time of around 3 to 3 ½ hrs. It is important to take into consideration that both the tunnel and the Forcola Pass into Switzerland close at night when booking your flights.z

Grand Valira is actually the brand name of the whole ski area (Europe’s biggest) that includes: Soldeu, El Tarter, En Camp, Pas de la Casa, Porte des Neiges, Grau Roig and Canillo. In the summer time the Bikepark is opened in the Soldeu sector, but runs under the brand name of Grand Valira. What else can I tell you about Grand Valira? Well you wouldn’t have
known it at the time, but it featured in Earthed 3 – Europa, the section with the MSC team. The Bikepark is managed by Oscar Saiz, who knows a thing or two about downhilling, having competed on the World Cup circuit for the past 16 years!

THE TRAILS
Oscar is a pinner and a really nice guy, he is wise enough to know that to build a successful bike park you need to have lots of trails that are fun to ride and simple enough to be ridden by both novice and intermediate riders, whilst naturally still throwing a few cheeky black trails into the mix that would test a rider of his calibre. They have built up a great park which caters for beginners through to experts; their main emphasis has been on making the trails
fun for newcomers to the sport, and it is these mellow trails that are some of the best; flowing and fast with sweeping berms. Obviously with Oscar’s years of experience from the World Cup series he knows how to build a more technical downhill too, and although L’avet the main black run trail was basically unrideable when we were there due to the deep snow, we gave it a good go and several trips over the bars later and a lot of sliding on my arse, it’s safe to say that it is pretty damn steep and would be awesome to ride now in the summer season.

The red runs are wider machine–built trails through the forest with mellow corners that are loamy and real fun to ride off the brakes. New for ‘09 will be the 4X and Bikepark/slopestyle area, which will have a number of jumps and drops all designed under the experienced eye of Oscar.

From the fun and accessible–to–everyone Parabolica (berms) trails 1 and 2 that featured in Earthed 3, to the more all–mountain descent ‘Nou Obac’ and then the fun jump trail ‘Roller Coaster’, and finally the steep and challenging L’avet run, there is a great mix. I think any rider of any ability could come here and have a really fun few days shredding the park.

SLEEPING
We stopped in the El Tarter sector of Grand Valira which is about 2km down the road, but to truly ride in/ride out, stay in the Soldeu sector, there are heaps of hotels there, expect to pay around 60 euros minimum per person.

EATING
Although not a gourmet’s paradise, there are several restaurants in and around Soldeu, mostly offering good value, a mix of international flavours, including French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and of course Andorran. For pizza, the Fontanella is particularly popular and the Xalet Sol I Neu is well known for quality and value.

DRINKING
Soldeu is famous for its winter nightlife though through the summer, in truth, it is pretty dead; your best bets are Fat Alberts, The Pussycat or Aspen’s.

UPLIFT
There are two lifts serving the Bikepark, the Soldeu Gondola and the Solana Chairlift.

PRICES
One Days Lift Pass: 20.00 Euros
Three Days Lift Pass: 48.00 Euros

THE TRIP
La Molina is the closet resort to Barcelona, just two hours drive from the airport. The landscape changes rapidly as you move from the red soils and warm, drier climate around the city up into the foothills of the Pyrenees and then into the mountains proper where it is cooler and much greener. At one point you drive through a long tunnel and when you pop out the other side it’s as if you have somehow warped to Switzerland, with lots of little chalets and everything so neat and well kept
– it doesn’t feel like Spain at all. Unfortunately our pre–season visits were plagued by bad weather and I took more than one tumble over the bars into waist deep snow, something you won’t see too much of during the main season months of July and August, that’s for sure! It’s hot sun and blue skies all summer, as Pau Misser told us, the last season he worked there they had one day of rain, all summer.

Driving from La Molina in Spain onwards and into Andorra takes just one hour, but in that time the feel of the mountains change again, everything seems to scale up a level. Andorra has a definite vibe about it, the sheer slopes of the mountains dictate that the towns are nestled into the tight valley floors with steep mountain slopes and cliffs looming all around, it can make you quite claustrophobic.

It also means this tiny country, with a small population, feels a whole lot busier and larger than it actually is, as all the buildings and people are concentrated together. The resorts run in linear fashion along the valley bottoms and every last inch of space is utilised. This is clearly evident in the capital Andorra La Vela where the valley floor briefly opens where a few valleys converge; the city is bustling, exciting and the backdrop stunning. If you want to go shopping then this is the place to head. In fact the whole country feels like it is designed for economic success; there are no poor people in Andorra! Most of the towns are modern and built to accommodate their booming snow season, now they’re keen to throw bikers into the mix.

La Molina is located in the ‘La Cerdanya Valley’ in the Spanish Pyrenees, the resort, whilst hosting the Bikepark and ‘a bowling alley, does not offer a whole lot more than that to the travelling biker, you can grab some food, get great coffee or some beers in the bar, but it just doesn’t have the vibe of a good resort. This is largely due to the fact that many people from the city have their second homes here, which are only frequented during the summer holidays and ski season. At these times the resort is a little livelier and if you just want to ride as much as you can for a few days here, then the resort is fine. If you want to experience something a little more cultured, then I’d recommend that you stay down in the town of Puigcerda, a real taste of local town life and much more engrossing than being
hidden away up in the resort. There are plenty of restaurants and bars and a cinema to keep you entertained.

THE TRAILS
The trails in the bike park range from a few easier blues, through to the red and black runs. The black run from the top of the hill is very steep and in places not too imaginative, with some straight chutes, it is fun enough but my favourite trail was the red run which had been hand built a few years before by the Misser brothers. It is sweeping not so steep and flows well, with some tighter sections in the trees. It had become quite eroded with the use over the years, but to be honest, in most places rode better for it. The small wood park has wooden drops, little banked wooden berms and wallrides scattered all over a reasonable area. Parks are quite cool, but ultimately there’s not a whole lot to get excited about there, you’re far better off putting your time into the trails on the hill using the lift. It is also possible to do some all–mountain runs down from La
Molina to the next resort of Alp, you’ll need a van shuttle back, we rode a couple of trails heading down to the valley floor with the friendly locals and after the rain the area had received it had left it soft and loamy = great fun to ride! These runs were below the main lift accessed Bikepark, but were definitely worth a few shots and they are looking at expanding to allow some sort of return bus to collect riders from these lower areas. Back in the bike park, the blue trails were fun and quite well laid out, meaning you could blast down them carrying good speed or build up your confidence before tackling the red runs.

SLEEPING
With the whole resort being quiet and somewhat lifeless in the summer you’ve plenty of choice where to stay. Hotel SuperMolina in the resort is a good bet, it’s recently been refurbished and they have a secure ski room for your bikes. You can catch the train from Barcelona up to the resort and for long weekends this is a good plan. Anything longer and we’d recommend hiring a car and staying in the village of Puigcerda at the bottom of the valley (15 minutes away), it is a lovely little town with a true Spanish feel, and much more lively than the resort. Stay at the Campus Cerdanya, a sports complex with bike storage.

EATING
In the resort try out the El Bosc restaurant, which served good local cuisine. In the evening the best food is found back down in Puigcerda, try El Petit Cafe, or Espirit De Vi for great tapas. If you fancy pizza there is a decent pizzeria opposite the town cinema which is popular among the locals.

DRINKING
For mid–week drinks down in Puigcerda head to the central bar in the town square, there is something going on in there every day. On the weekends try L’Aigua which is livelier and a good starting and/or finishing point.

BIKE SHOP
There is a bike shop in the main ski building by the gondola called Esports Success, they can supply you with pretty much everything you need, from hire bikes to servicing and spares. This shop is in partnership with Top Bikes in Puigcerda where they have more stock of spares.

UPLIFT
The gondola serving the main bike park is modern and efficient. There is a mid station which takes you high enough for most of the runs and a top station with some more technical trails. Vehicular uplift from Alp can also be arranged at the resort office.

PRICES
Days Lift pass: 20.50 euros
3 day Pass: 52.50 euros

THE RESORT
This is a large purpose built resort in the Oisans region of the Southern French Alps. The ‘two Alps’ in the name does not refer to the two mountains that the resort encompasses, but rather the two villages of Venosc and Mont De Lans that sit at either end of the north–south plateau on which the resort was built. Access to the resort is by road from the north via a mean stack of switchbacks from the lower valley floor, 19 in total if I remember correctly. The town lacks the rustic alpine charm of many resorts in the Alps, though what it lacks in architectural interest it makes up for with its magnificent setting. On a clear day the views out over either end of the plateau and to the valleys below are superb, and when you take the Jandri Express right up to 3200m the views are stunning, with 360 degree mountain panoramas stretching to the horizon in every direction.

Deux Alpes provides summer skiing and boarding up on the glacier, so down in the town it is often 30 degrees, hot and sunny and you’ll be sat watching people walking past in their pyjama outfits with snowboards in hand. It’s funny to see, but pretty cool as in comparison to the usual summer biking ghost towns, Deux Alpes is positively buzzing, both in the cafes during the day and the bars in the evening. This means you can make so much more of your holiday, get up early and catch the first lift at 7.30am up to the glacier with your board to get the best snow conditions, then at lunch time when it starts to get slushy, head back down the mountain and grab your bike and ride till 8pm! The resorts relative close proximity to Alp d’Huez also opens up the options to combine your holiday between these two big mountain resorts.

THE TRIP
The draw to this resort was the Enduro des Nations event hosted by the resort, they run these races in a number of resorts around France, but with the promise of one of the final races starting up on the glacier this had to be the one. We rocked up into town in the heaviest rain I’d seen for a while, so sacked the bikes off for the day and set about sampling the local cuisine, all in the name of research I assure you. The next morning brought much better weather and the remainder of our time here was pretty hot with blue skies, so feeling motivated by the warm sun we set about hitting the trails.

THE TRAILS
The riding in Deux Alpes is big, open and fast. There are no trees whatsoever up on the main hills, the only trails where you will come across some trees are when you drop down below the resort to Mont De Lans. This gives all of the trails here a very similar feel, they are not particularly technical, all machine built, sweeping and very fast. If you think of a
bobsleigh run you are along the right lines.

They have pretty much covered the full spectrum of abilities with trails graded from green to black. To be honest some of the green trails are almost more fun than the reds and blacks, as they aren’t so steep so you can stay off the brakes and just carve the turns, the Les Cretes trail is a great example of this.

This is the No. 1 resort amongst the French and also very popular amongst the Italians, we bumped into a large group of Italian pinners in the resort for the weekend and they loved the new blue Le Diable run, a super fast trail of whoops, crests and berms. We hit a few runs on this with them before trying out what is perhaps Deux Alpes best known trail, the Venosc red run which starts in Les 2 Alpes at 1650m and finishes down in the village of Venosc below at 960m. This particular gondola runs till 8pm so you can hit this run till late in the day if you have the energy. I could see why people talk about it, as it is a long sweeping trail with endless bermed switchbacks, but I was on a shorter travel bike and after the rain damage this was rough!

Which brings me nicely onto my next point, the lack of trail maintenance. Early season the trails are smooth, frighteningly fast with tons of fun crests, rises and berms, near the end of the season the runs have suffered from the washboard effect as the amount of traffic and any bad weather takes its toll and the trails bake hard with high frequency ripple bumps. A good downhill bike takes the sting out of all but the biggest of these bumps, but grading the trails every few weeks would ensure they’re perfect throughout the season. In fairness it had been quite wet the week before we arrived and the trails had baked hard after they were cut up in the wet, and it was certainly nowhere near as bad as I have seen the Pleney run in Morzine.

Taking the lift right up to 3,200m enables you to pick up the very bottom slope of the glacier on your bikes; we did this every run we had up there as it was so much fun! A lot mellower than the start of the Mega and a lot firmer too early in the day, you could put the bike into huge drifts and hold them, cutting in and out of the skiers and boarders. Just below this you are in the baron moonscape of the upper mountain, with loads of exposed slabs and scree slopes; there are some good freeride opportunities up here with such open terrain you can scope out your lines from the lift before trying them out on the way down.

With 19 downhill trails or sections to try there is plenty to take in here, from the rock and scree at the top, to the earthy bobsleigh runs from 2400 metres down. I enjoyed the easy berms and jumps on the Ayton trail and the more racy feel of L’Integrale black trail, but the best trail for me was the newly hand cut singletrack they opened while we were there, just loads and loads of perfect corners. On the other side of the valley on the Pied Moutet hill the World Cup trail is no longer marked, though the blue trail does pick up a few sections of it, they have re–cut the run to be easier and mellower for everyone.

There are loads of permanent pistes in Deux Alpes, which is great that they have built so much bike specific trail, but unfortunately
the flip side of this is that all footpaths are out of bounds to bikes and there are a couple of beauties in the area which I was itching to ride, but the penalties are harsh here so don’t think about it. To get your fill of more technical singletrack then catch the free bus to Alp d’Huez where there is plenty. These two resorts have been working together and they really complement each other with the flat out, man made trails here and the more technical singletracks in Alp d’Huez.

SLEEPING
Depending on the size of your group you may consider hiring a chalet, as there are some good deals through the summer. It is worth contacting the resort’s booking office with your requirements as they can offer some good deals for accommodation and lift passes together.
See www.2alpes-vtt.com/hebergement.htm

EATING
The pasta dishes and set menus at La Spaghetteria (+33 476 790 577) are excellent value, and it has a great buffet salad bar. Also try Thai Alloi (+33 618 583 924), Smokey Joe’s (+33 476 792 897) does good value pub food (till 11pm) and a cracking English breakfast. Ditto The Red Frog (+33 476 792 897).

DRINKING
Smokey Joe’s is the main hangout right next to the main lift area, also check out The Red Frog at the Venosc end of town, and Smithy’s in Venosc. For late nights it’s the Avalanche and Bresilien all the way.

BIKE SHOPS
Really well equipped bike shops are still a little thin on the ground when you consider the size of the resort and the number of trails. Almost all of the ski shops now hire bikes and carry basic spares and run workshops for repairs though. Probably the best of the bunch is the Intersport on the way to the red eggs lift in the resort; the guys are helpful there and have a good workshop.

TRAIL MAPS
You can pick up trail maps at the ticket office, the lift stations or the main tourist office. This is one area where it is well worth keeping the map on you, as although the routes are all marked it is such a vast area it helps to keep your bearings and find trails you haven’t yet ridden. There is no need for a guide here.

UPLIFT
In total there are now eight lifts open to bikes through the summer. The Jandri express 1 and 2 are the main lifts taking you right up to 3,200m. The red eggs or the Diable lift which takes you to 2,400m, the Venosc gondola, the remaining lifts are all chairlifts and some of them are painfully slow, but do allow you some time to recover and enjoy your surroundings. Amazingly you can ride here for up to 13 hours a day! The Jandri express opens at 7am and the Venosc gondola closes at 8pm.

PRICES
1 day lift Pass: 19 Euros
1 week lift Pass: 95 Euros
Season pass: 265 Euros

CLIMATE
You are high up here so if the temperature drops it is normal for there to be some snow up top, the trails are quite slick when wet, similar to around the Portes de Soleil. The average temperature through the summer season is 21 degrees.

GETTING THERE
The nearest airport to the resort is Grenoble, which you can fly to from Stanstead and Bristol with Ryanair or easyJet. Slightly
further away, but with a much greater choice, is Geneva.

Useful Contact Info :
www.2alpes-vtt.com
www.les2alpes.com z
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