Skip to main content

Verb-yeah!

Verbier is a very mixed place.  There is great piste skiing & free-riding and access to world class ski touring, but more often its known for it's decadence.  Huge picture perfect chalets with wealthy families and their beaufituful/handsome ski instructors fill the resort. And if not that, the seedier side of ski resorts, the bankers with their paid for woman. . .

Talking of horrible, those exposed switchbacks half way down from the Chateau were bloody horrible, lucky the rest of the trail was very good fun.

Well of course, its Swiss Valais, the footpaths are "tip top" and the lift companies are bike friendly.  There were still a lot of pistes open for skiing, but after 11am you can use the lower lift from Le Chable to Verbier to access the snow free trails that lead back into the valley floor.  Time to explore:
Wayne on a loose, steep and exposed chute

Me and Wayne taking in the view of the Grand Combin & other snow capped mountains

Me exiting a corner.

Exposure between horribly tight switchbacks
Lorne letting it go after the horrendousness

Wayne on the edge of a fun meadow

Fun meadow endings.
Still doing this.  Anja on the North East face of Mont Colmet, Aosta, Italy two days after Verbier.
Many thanks to Lorne for some of the cracking photos : http://www.lornecameron.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What guides do between work in the peak of July

Summer is here, and after fantastic spring riding in Southern France and then all over Valais, Aosta and Haute Savoie with good friends it's been time to get back to summer guiding, taking hikers around the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit.  There's much worse things to do, but with three weeks off the bike I was itching to get back on some trails. With a carefully planned week between tours I was excited and made some plans to hit up some classic lines, and some new stuff too. It's mid July now, so in Chamonix valley you have to think carefully about where to go to miss the crowds, and to avoid going on the bike ban trails (July & August).  Luckily it's still easy to find quiet trails in nearby resorts, or to simply drop round the back of a hill away from the frontside lifts. It went a little like this: Day 1- La Thuile with Wayne of newly qualified French legal mountain bike guiding service  Chamonixmtb.com  . Enduro race venue at it's best, rough and raw.

Provence Posing

Early spring road trip with Team NL The Dutchies had work to finish before they'd start the mammoth 14 hour drive from under the sea to herb filled mountainsides.  Work for us guys in the Alps is more seasonal & temporary, as it is for some Easyjet pilots which meant that the native English speakers left for 'The South' a day earlier. Digne les Bains was the rendezvous location for Saturday night but this meant going so close to Gap and Lac Serre Poncon. The lure of a trail in the Haute Alpes ( the northern most department in the Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur Region ) was too much. 3 of us wild camped lake side with giddy excitement for what lay ahead. Rob & Ben knew each other from ski touring & paragliding, but had never ridden together, nor had Ben ever met team NL.  Rob and I briefed him on the impending fun. In the morning, a classic was called upon to give Ben his first taste of Southern singletrack. Mont Colombus, and a few hours later aft

Servoz storm destruction

Deep in Servoz below the Fiz 75% of trail is ok. But where it is washed away is really bad. Click here for photos What rode was as good as ever for this begining/end of season trail 1hour & half pedal from Serviz village.