Wheel fun in the mountains
The Portes Du Soleil is a ski resort spread across 12 villages in the Haute Savoie, at the edge of the Alps on the Swiss/French border, just south of Lake Geneva. They have decided to diversify into Mountain Biking to support the local economy during the summer months. The Pass Portes event kicks off the summer opening of the chairlift system.
The idea is that you start in one particular village, chair lift up to the top, then ride down to the bottom of the next lift. The full circuit is 75km, the intermediate 45km and the discovery 30km. After a few phone calls debating the various merits of each option we finally signed up for the 45km route, this would give us 4000m of descent and only 300m ascent (the full-monty was 6500/500m). Unfortunately for us Ant gets a better offer of doing Kili 3 weeks before the trip, so it’s down to Andy, Aaron and myself for the main event. (Ant was successful in summiting Kili)
Accommodation was arranged in the village of Chatel, which turned out to be very picturesque, and a little quieter than the two main resorts of Morzine and Les Gets. Jo and I decided to take our main holiday straddling the event; the others were to join us for a long weekend of riding. After a overnight stop outside of Reims, our arrival at Lake Geneva gave us temperatures of 34C – a tad warmer than the 20C we left in the UK.
The Haute Savoie is a lovely area, somewhat lower than the main Alps, much quieter and really rather beautiful. The whole area is great for walking, cycling (on and off road), via ferrata, climbing, and white water rafting. Our pick of the natural wonders was Fer A Cheval, an amazing cirque of limestone cliffs about 5km long.
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Our first day out proved a bit of an adventure, the temperature and closed chairlifts raising body temperatures some what. This, combined with closed tracks and tree felling, gave us a fun but frustrating first day. After taking some advice from a local we head into Champery for our next trip. This time the cable car was working and was rated for 125 people. So out with the leg and elbow armour, and we were really riding in the Alps – big mountains and blue skies – bliss. The chosen route was part of the PDS, the tracks were wide, being used to service the cable cars and some of the alpine farms and huts. This is not to say they didn’t hold their own challenges, loose dusty gravel and deep drainage channels certainly keep you on your toes.
The route down from the cable car was steep, and fun. A new trail obstacle then appeared; low bridges over electric fences, but with a structures similar to cattle grids, interesting. Soon we arrived at a small refuge and sampled the local cakes and drinks – why does simple food in the hills always taste so good? We then diverted off the main track for a short, moderately technical, single track descent. After that, what followed was a amazingly fast descent on farm tracks and finally minor roads back into Champery. This proved a real learning curve, water bars that cross at 45 degrees in one direction and then out of the blue change direction, and more downhill than you would get in a weekends riding in the Lakes. And yes, the brakes do get hot – dripping water from the Camelbak evaporates instantly!
The Friday before the event sees Andy and Aaron join us and the first of the chair lifts open. Our warm up ride is from Chatel itself and proves great fun. Fast forest tracks, rocky technical single track with some very scary drop offs and of course great mountain and ice cream huts. The day finished with the compulsory bike fettling, ready for the main event the next day.
The following morning saw an early start, with Jo kindly ferrying us up to the first lift of the day – the Super Chatel. This is a two man / two bike enclosed lift that takes us high above Chatel close to the Swiss border. Cautiously we don the body armour and launch down the hill side. This starts what is to become the usual sight of Andy off in the distance followed by Aaron and me as tail-end Charlie. Eventually we’re spat out on the road between Chatel and Morgins. We tackle the short road section, passing road side Via Ferrata and catch our breath at the Lac La Cassiere. A short section of unmade road takes us into Morgins, where a fast road section takes us to the bottom of the Telesiege (TS) de la Foilleuse. This was to be a more airy adventure, bikes hooked to the end of the chairs and us looking on with trepidation as our pride and joys disappear into the distance. The Morgins Down Hill course passes beneath our feet and we are happy that it’s not on route!
After quickly retrieving the bikes we are blown away with the view including the Dent du Midi and the Dent Blanche. Absolutely amazing, and we’re on bikes!!! J
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Off down the hillside for a short but enjoyable descent to Champoussin, a small hamlet above Val D‘Illiez. As we joined the queue for the TS Aiguille des Champery, we bumped into a couple of Brits doing “the full course today and tomorrow”. We refilled with bottles water before being whisked to an airy ridge.
The following section was really good fun – narrow, technical and exposed (not so different to climbing after all!). As we finish this section a young guy comes running up to us with a video camera, “Are you Brits?” Must have been our total lack of style! He was a freelance shooting an article on the event, so Andy obliged with an interview (Autographs later?). We headed off down the track and found a spot for some Tea (Andy’s ever ready Jetboil to the rescue as usual). We then picked up part of the track that Jo and I had ridden earlier in the week. Aaron and I got the water fizzing on the brakes – Andy’s had no effect at all. No wonder he’s always first down! Aaron clocks us at 41mph heading into Champery, despite the melting tar on the roads.
Champery is total assault on the senses – Parascenders, jump bikes, professional cross country racers, trade stalls and most importantly food and drink. Great local cheese raclettes, local sausages, fresh bread, squash energy bars, chocolate – a veritable feast – and all included in the €38 entry fee. After soaking up the atmosphere we headed to Telepherique (TP) Champery – Planachaux. This time the TP was full to bursting, loosing count at 35 riders and bikes. After taking in the views above Champery we retraced part of the first down hill section Jo and I had tackled earlier. All was going great until we headed off to the bottom of TS des Mossettes. Andy had followed a small section of single track parallel to the main track; the first thing I see is Andy and the bike flying through the air. Aaron and I arrive on the scene to find Andy with a cut eye, grazed wrist and bruises. Fortunately the body armour had done it’s job but the seriousness of the event hit home.
The next summit is a very airy perch and the track down to Lac Verte is twisting far below us.
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Andy is off at full tilt again, but I’m more shaken by his flying demonstration. The next section is very loose, so loose that when I try to walk I can’t keep upright. The only solution is to put the seat right down and play that back brake. Once down to the lake the track could be a piece of Thetford single track, well until we hit the large section of snow 😉
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As we push on the next section is technical singletrack, rock steps, loose shale – great fun. As we are whooping away down the hill we come across a chap searching in his pack. It turns out that he’s lost his puncture patches. We sort through our pack, and despite all running tubeless tyres, find some old fashioned patches. Turns out his new fangled compressed CO2 canister doesn’t do much more than give him frost bite so we lend him a pump too.
We are getting to late in the afternoon and fly down into Les Lindarets. More food and drink is available, but we rush on to the next lift – the wrong lift, part of the classic route. We unload at the top and check our maps, we follow a section of the route until we cross a road and head back down the hill side. Lots of hairpin bends and we’re soon back down again. This time we take the correct TS de Chaux Fleurie, and follow a lovely flowing track overlooking Avoriaz.
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We stop at a hairpin before heading back into France. The last section had seemed almost flat, but looking back we had dropped a considerable distance. It was amazing how blasé we were becoming to the descents. As we dropped into the top of the Pre La Joux we followed a four wheel drive vehicle stretchering off a youngster – good wakeup call to take care with the final section. We opted out of the final chair lift and climbed on the bike instead. The rerun of the previous days section was rapid, and yes this time Andy’s brakes did boil water.
We stop at a hairpin before heading back into France. The last section had seemed almost flat, but looking back we had dropped a considerable distance. It was amazing how blasé we were becoming to the descents. As we dropped into the top of the Pre La Joux we followed a four wheel drive vehicle stretchering off a youngster – good wakeup call to take care with the final section. We opted out of the final chair lift and climbed on the bike instead. The rerun of the previous days section was rapid, and yes this time Andy’s brakes did boil water.
Addendum
For those that haven’t tried it riding in the Alps is learning experience compared to the UK. You can obviously choose the technicality of your route, the same way as you would at Coed-y-Brenin or the Seven Stanes, but the amount of descent is not negotiable! I ended up with tennis elbow from holding the back brake on for such a long time!!!! Although we did see one or two V-braked bikes, I’d suggest that disc brakes are almost compulsory (180/160 minimum, 200/180 preferable), and that full suspension will make the whole experience much more enjoyable. Take plenty of brake pads, and I’d also have to give the nod to large (2.3-2.4”) tubeless tyres. Knee/shin and elbow pads are also to be recommended, and I would suggest that a lightweight full face helmet would be a good idea, especially if you are prone to “air time”. Lastly if you are used to SPDs, get yourself some flat pedals and Five Ten do some very sticky shoes too.
For more details of the PDS try www.passportesdusoleil.com