The Portes du Soleil - School me

[JTmofo]

I'm in the early stages planning a trip back to Europe in July/Aug 2020.

Wife has happily agreed to a week by myself (or with a mate or 2 hopefully) to ride wherever I want.

Finding it hard to get a grasp on the overall size and lay out of the Portes du soleil network, where to stay and whats worth riding.

Not particularly interested in long haul XC kilometers, more All mountain and some intermediate DH.

I would seriously consider a tour company including accomodation, lift passes and guides.

Anyone have any input or suggestions?

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[climberman]

Have not done it but check out Ben Jones guiding:

https://www.benjonesmtb.com/

I rode with a guy earlier this year who had done the Ben Jones enduro version of a Tour de Mont Blanc - https://www.benjonesmtb.com/mont-blanc-enduro and raved about it. Looks sick as fuck.

4,000m +
24,000m descending!

There's a few good blogs around too, try chamonixbikeblog

 

[cameron_15]

I went with MTB Beds Morzine for one of their "riders weeks" back in 2015 and it was excellent. It included Breakfast, Dinner and lift passes whilst staying in a lodge with other riders. I was travelling solo so found staying in the communal lodge with like minded riders to be excellent and had an amazing time with no shortage of riding mates. The guys that run the show were great too and went out riding most days showing us some sneaky local tracks and the best trails etc.

Things look to have gotten better since, with the MTB beds crew offering day trips further outside of Portes Du Soleil.

https://www.mtbbeds.com/

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

I did the PassPortes Du Soleil a few years ago. It was pretty epic and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
I stayed in Champery which was pretty chilled out and a great place to start the circuit as I didn't have to queue up for lifts with the massive throngs of riders who had all set off from Morzine at the same time.

The riding is pretty much all All-Mountain although there is always the option of hitting up old World Cup and World Champs DH tracks if you want. The PP has a big festival vibe with feed stations at the bottom of the lifts offering free cheese, meats, baguettes and beer along with live music, DJs and the like. Even if it's not during the festival the main towns (Champery, Morzine and Chatel) all seemed to have plenty to see and do and shitloads of places to eat and drink.

Champery had the added advantage of being super easy to get to with public transport. I flew into Geneva then got the train to Aigle then a bus to Champery. Pretty sure there are transfer buses from Geneva airport to Morzine and Chatel. I'd avoid flying via Lyon if it's in Summer - when I did it the French Air Traffic Controllers went on strike forcing all flights in and out of France to be cancelled. That's not a rare occurrence.

Other things i recall - it was pretty bloody hot for the mountains (high 20's), Thunderstorms were playing havoc with the lifts on the day I left, There's a bike friendly bus network that can shuttle you back to your base from any of the main towns on the circuit should you do yourself a mischief or find yourself still out after the lifts close (1800 - 1830 if I remember rightly), Swiss trains arrive slap bang to the second of the minute they are scheduled and depart exactly on completion of said minute and replace your brake pads before you go OR at least check that your spares are the right ones for the bike you've taken lest you find yourself at the mercy of cutthroat ex-pat owned bike shops in Morzine.