Forum

Cool stuff dude. U will need Friday and Monday off. No where decided yet mate lol - we are trying to work out what is going on with flights and BA and maybe look at locations that mean not flying into Geneva. open to suggestions as long as they are within 4hrs of Zurich so matt can get there.

So chaps, any thoughts of where you're going to go?

Worth having a look at Rowan Sorrell's mountain biking europe book - has good descriptions of each resort and what's on offer, pretty handy for choosing where to go.

We've got a copy you're welcome to borrow or if you let me know where you're thinking of going, I can tell you what it says in the book!

I am excited, off to Winterberg on Wednesday! And we're just sorting out Les Deux Alpes for a week from 13th August....yay!

So Joel was keen to check out some other options with the uncertainty over BA and their strikes.. good idea... so he errrrr tasked me with the Job.. had a look at a few

Options

Italy - Livigno - Milan Airport - really close to Matt, change of scene. Could be an option but not a massive amount there from what I can make out. Do some digging chaps http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/inde ... &Itemid=47
Austria - Wagrain - Salzburg airport . Cool website might be worth some investigation. http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/inde ... &Itemid=57
Winterberg - Koln Airport - over 5 hours for matt but im sure in his car in Germany that's more like 4 http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/inde ... &Itemid=43 Very freeridey and not the variety of the PDS

None of those really beat PDS for me in terms of hassle for everyone and variety of riding.

Strange you should mention LDAlps Beth as that was my standout alternative - as it gives options on airports (Torino, Lyon, Chambery) and its easy to also ride Alp D Heuz. It is however a 5h drive for Matt. Saying that out traveltime will be more than that so im sure he can do it. We would be going the same time as you which would be very cool essentially that one needs Matt to say hes cool and we can do a bit more digging. http://www.gravitymountainbike.com/inde ... &Itemid=22
Lots of terrain http://www.2alpes-vtt.com/domaine.htm

Plus if Tom and Beth are out there at the same time thats an added bonus

Discounted

Italy - Pila - not a goer as you need to hire a car and cant stay by the riding
Sweden - Are - 2 flights or 6 hour drive needed - Fly for Matt
Andorra - Vallnord- Fly for Matt

So where im sitting its a bit of PDS goodness or we go for a bit of LDAlps - Quite fancy checking out somewhere new myself.

Yeah 5 hours is ok for me, I don’t mind driving anyway.. especially on mountain roads Happy to go to LDAlps. Wagrain looks pretty good too, but not quite as much there as LDAlps? Plus would be cool to meet up with Beth and co.

Beth are you now going there instead of Cham again?

Somewhere new suits me. new place new bike , right time to design a new jersey!!

Sounds good! Would be awesome to meet up with you guys out there We're going to drive, roadtrip in the new van!

Matt - yep, changed plans from Cham to LDA - I was always a little bit unsure about Cham because I thought it would probably be a bit too much steepness doom for me and when Tom came back last week, he told me that he thought I wouldn't like it, so LDA it is!

But will just be me and Tom - Gary and Becky are still off to Chamonix. When I grow some balls, I would like to go to Cham though - sounds like you guys had a wicked time out there...

Guys, following the thread with envy.

Ridden LDA on a snowboard and thought it was great, steep lower, mellower top . Picked up a bike map as well which you are more than welcome to use.

They have the glacier there too which means you could do winter sport in the morning , bikes in the afternoon. What a combo

Rode Whinlatter in the Lake District Tuesday (will post ride report seperately) which gave me a real sensation of DH, smiles kept growing so FR/DH seems to be calling me Just got to keep progressing my skill level and will be keen to join a trip (cant make this year due to work)

If flying to slazberg, leogang and the surrounding area is only 2 hours drive from the airport, I know a nice chalet there too with some english hosts.

Most people I know combine a trip to Winterberg with Willingen . Willingen has an uplift to a
freeride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t23GUE4sTNY
and downhill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wczyZnxcOcg

its good fun but for the amount of effort (flying, transfers etc) I would go for a bigger spot

Cheers for the tips guys - massively comprehensive review of les deux alpes over here

http://dirt.mpora.com/features/travel-g ... alpes.html

"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." BOOM

Tom Beth - what are your plans for the week were are u staying, when are you heading down etc

Would be nice to ride Alp Du Heuz for a day as well while we are there.

Tom Joel - im off for a wee while now enjoying myself in the land of lederhosen. can you do some digging onto accommodation and transfers for Les 2 Alpes, as I haven't had much time to put on it so far and info isn't as readily available as Morzine. Cheerz

Hello hello!

Sorry for delay replying - we've been out riding in sunny, awesome Winterberg this past week Will do a little report on our adventures later, Winterberg is brilliant and definitely worth a visit!

Haven't yet sorted anything for L2A - wanted to wait to make sure we were back from Cham and W'berg in one piece! Planning to do some digging and sorting today and will post up what I find.

We definitely want to do a day at Alpe d'huez though, Tom is planning to do the mega next year and apparently you can ride most of the track all summer long, so I know he wants to go check it out...

Cool - We are struggling with the transfer at the mo - looks like the only way we can fly in is into Lyon and the transfer from there is 2 hours costing 600 euro return for 3 of us. We are going to factor that into an overall trip price to see how it works out but at the mo its making L2A come out a bit pricey.

We have looked at car hire too which is no cheaper and the train

Thats a lot of wonga!

have a good time mate.

Did a quick Google - you've probably found this already but it might be of help: http://www.2alpesnet.com/travel/travelling-to-les-deux-alpes.htm