Bikeradar.com has posted an article on "Alpine riding skills, part 1: Weight watching" (about weight distribution on the bike, not about getting light enough to be able to climb all day). There are some useful tips in there, and not just about riding, but also equipment, e.g., which tires to use. The "part 1" in the title implies that there will be more to follow, so I'll post links here when the subsequent articles appear.

Here's the introductory paragraph of this article as a teaser, click here to read the rest:
"The Alps are a favourite holiday destination for riders seeking big mountains, steep climbs and mammoth descents to reward their efforts. However, there’s more to it than buying a plane ticket – getting the most out of a trip to the Alps means honing your skills to meet the more strenuous technical challenges of big mountains."

I'm sure that some of our resident MTB aficionados can add their own tips specifically related to riding big mountains, so please share them below.

EDIT: Here is part 2: Climbs & Descents.

Wow cool article and good find.

Was considering a day trip to the mountains over the weekend, is there anywhere open yet?

I look at Lenzeheide but it said from July......

Cheers,

Phil.

There are a lot of places in the Lenzerheide region already ridable without lift assistance and the Rothorn lift is due to open at the end of June(25th). Some of the lifts in Davos are already open, as is Filzbach.

I did my first alpine tour of the year last weekend. Rode up to 2100m between Arosa and Davos. The trails in the region are in perfect condition and the snowline 1 week ago was somewhere between 2100m and 2300m. It's only going to get better from now on.

There is loads of riding available already.

Alright thanks for that, will start to have a look about then

I just bought myself a mountain bike on the weekend. A Specialized Stumpjumper Comp. I'm keen to get some riding done on it however I've not done much yet except for a few excursions in Gempen around Basel.

Are there any groups I can join around Zurich?

Keep an eye on the calendar. We meet fairly regularly on Tuesdays to do Uetliberg. Not sure if we will go tomorrow though. The weather is not looking to great.

Part 2 in this series has now been posted at BikeRadar.com: Climbs & Descents.

Thanks Chris. Though I cant understand why he wants to ride on such rough roads, getting his bike all dusty and dirty!

Oh no, not me. I sold my mountain bike last year - the road cycling here is just too good to spend time, money, and basement/cave space on it. However, other people seem to enjoy it here, so I thought I'd post these articles for their enjoyment since they are very relevant to Swiss MTB'ing.

The best Alpine climbing skills I know of are these:





and


The first one alone allowed nearly 2000m of descending with only 100m of climbing yesterday. Alpine riding at its best.

Exactly my thoughts.

That bus looks like it has a mischievous grin. Like it's about to trick you into hooking your bikes on the back and drive off without you

Now that would be a horrific experience!

Maybe someone just put their bike down behind the bus for a second, prior to hanging it on, and the bus backed and ran over it.