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Last week I was in the Alps with Northern, Futete and cockernee. We went to Pila on the first day, followed by Verbier, then Chatel, Morgins Champery and then back to Chatel. The riding was varied on all the days which really added to the flavour of the trip. Great riding and good laughs.

I’ve gathered all the pics and vids and will get stuff up as and when time allows….. kicking it off and in no particular order

Verbier

A real surprise this place… doesn’t look much on a map but the mix of trails was superb…. You were either out in the open blasting down the hill or picking over shore and rolling through loamy turns in the woods. I love a bit of woodwork and the stuff here was nicely integrated into the trails. I will deffo be heading back there again.

Futete turned the step up step down into a step up step down transfer switch… an accidental new trick! I don’t have the pics on that one yet, but it was pretty shadey!

Im still learning about the go pro so the table tennis ball rattle is on the first few vids.. not much can be done about the shake thats just from the trail handing out big hits.

The trails look amazing! went through a few sets of pads though ?

is all this accessible from one location ?

Yea all from one lift out of verbier mate - went through 3/4 of my pads in the week... the dirt was more loam than rock for most of the trip

Pila

Having visited Pila before I was looking forward to our day over there. After driving through the most expensive tunnel in the world and 18 million switchbacks to get to the bike park we were greeted by sunshine and a relaxed atmosphere. There must have only been 15 riders in the park that day.

The bike park trails (8 of them with loads of variations) are longer than I remember and a real mix of sweet rolling berms and techy loamy rooty lines with the odd knarley rock garden thrown in.

The real highlight is the top to bottom trail. It starts at 2300m and drops to 500 all the way to Aosta on singletrack. It had everything on the way down. The sweetest berms, drops, uber steep, blown out dusty corners, flat out rock chunder, and blasting though meadows It took 25 mins with the odd stop. We did it a couple times but you could ride it all day.

It’s easy to capture big hucks etc on vids but Pila doesn’t really offer that (apart from the ixs track and they just looked race pace bonkers). Hopefully the vid gives a flavour for the mix of terrain that this great place has to offer.

I can imagine doing a long weekend there in the future.

You have essentially ruined my day at work now as i can think of nothing other than hitting these trails!

Its amazing you don't realize how steep some of those sections are until the saddle pops into shot at the bottom of the screen, either that or you had a boner on the way down

kinda makes me want a DH rig

NIce trails they look great fun. I want to go back to the alps!

This is awesome, just got collegues around to watch it!

RESPECT. Stellar stuff gents

Really amazing footage and looks like you had fabio time out there!

Randem question but do you take it in turns taking a rucksuck or take a punt each run that no punctures will happen??

Cheers Grin - was super fun at Pila, Verbier and come to think of it the whole trip! You'd love Pila - well worth the trip over from Morzine if it's particularly wet in the PDS as seems to stay drier in the Aosta valley.

I tend not to carry a pack - but run tubeless / sealant so punctures are less of a worry - clearly a bit of a risk of a long walk push out but so far I've been ok and I prefer the feeling of riding without

If I do take a pack it's usually 'cos I'm going a bit further afield e.g. if riding from Chatel and heading over to Les Lindarets / Avoriaz or Super Morzine but then tend to leave it at the top of the tracks or at a lift station whilst sessioning the tracks....you pays your money and takes your choice....

...clearly the best approach is to ride with someone who does carry a bag and then use all their kit if you need to (this is what Paul Cockernee does to Gary Futete)

Cracking stuff Gents, would love to have upped the crash per run percentage for the trip. Got me hyped for when my bike arrives next week and I can hit the dh trail to work. Need a headcam though.

Mega cool riding chaps, i thought Wales was full on but thats another level...

Super super jealous !!!! looking great guys glad you pick up gopro and chest mount too . next year next year !!!!!!

Chillie mentioned he was doing something to it so Id check it for suspicious greasy marks!

Not much crashing this trip which was good, although if you freeze frame that step up step down you can see I was only a few inches from the right hand side on landing. Later attempts were smoother. Chatel vid to come which has a good Black Shore segment in it with stuff like this!

And were was the chicken run? LOL!