I'm fishing around for info on the Portes and thought I'd look on the ESF when I spotted this thread.

We (are stateside) go to Switzerland or Italy every year for a mtn bike trip and have always wanted to go to the Portes du Soleil but always end up at Garda or on road bikes in the Alps w/our friends (Hillseekers on this forum). Really trying to make Portes happen this year, but it's such a daunting task putting together such a trip from the other side of the pond.

Ripzalot, would you recommend we pursue a trip if we're more cross country riders? I know you are an avid DH and we enjoy sweet downhills as well, but we technically fall into the cross country category.

All my mtn biking friends in CH are only versed in the Swiss German region, so it's rather laborious getting the nitty gritty info. Sure, I can google the Portes and come up with vids and pictures galore and fluff info, but not much to really get me somewhere. Which doesn't mean we don't know how to play it by ear and figure it out once we get there. But, it took us years of going to Garda before we mapped out some good routes since we don't speak German or Italian, and I'd rather get some of this right on our first trip.

Since we're not full on DH, are we barking up the wrong tree? Or is this like Whistler in that most peeps associate it with the downhill park and don't know of all the incredible cross country trails as well?

Portes Du Soliel is great for all bikes. DH/XC and road biking as well. The official trail of Pass Portes is a 75 KM XC trail. Of course XC here really means All Mountain, meaning bring a full suspension for the ride down after the climb. It can be done on a hard tail but would be more enjoyable on a 120-140ish mm full suspension.

^^that's about right.

i think it's best on a full susp since a lot of the trails are quite rocky and can be slow going on a light XC bike. if you are into climbing with your xc bike, there are probably better trails/regions around. but nice advantage to PDS is that it's rather self-contained - you have lifts everywhere so it's nearly impossible to get lost or if you get in trouble (break your bike or yourself) you won't have far to get help and/or someone will probably ride by within 10 minutes to give you some assistance. a higher alpine ride (such as in the valais or other higher mountain regions) will give you more breathtaking views but you will be farther away from civilization (and other people), which can be a plus or minus depending on your level of adventure.

there are about a dozen different places to stay, but i would recommend either champery or morgins on the swiss side. the french side, les gets and morzine, get quite crowded in the summer. the swiss side seems to usually be a bit quieter. really it depends on your timing, august tends to be the most crowded, early july not so bad, and early september is probably the best time.

I think the main reason for the Swiss side being quieter is that it is a bit more expensive than the French side. Also, if going there from Geneva airport, then the French side is closer (although not connected by train like the Swiss side is).

Just had a blast at this years Pass Portes du Soleil. I thought it would be more crowded than it was, the longest we had to wait was 10 min. at the Chatel park. The rest of the mountain seemed rather empty. Morgins has a few new trails as well as Chatel. Morgins was an absolute blast, loved it. Early season is the best before all the brake holes show up, smooth as hell. We found a few black runs by mistake, my friend had to walk most of it and I was just trying to survive. God I love Portes du Soleil

Hey..

Yeah I also rode it this weekend.. thing I dont like is quiet alot of it is on fireroad and theres maybe not enough technical trails.

Morgins is sick tho, its an awesome area and almost never anyone there!.. I know the black trail ur speaking off.. pretty gnar. Have u ridden the black trails in chatel? they're pretty sick.

the new "komatrail" in chatel is also a nice ride.

If you are looking for accomadation over that way, try this company:-

http://www.skiaddiction.co.uk/

or this one might be better :-)

http://www.cycleaddiction.co.uk/ (sister company)

glad you guys had a good time but 10 minute wait is still too long for me!

i went last weekend to champery and les crosets, very empty and no waiting at all. got caught in a hailstorm on the last run of the day but otherwise it was super nice.

if you want to thank the guy for the trails, and maybe book a room to sleep and possibly get some advanced DH tips/lessons:

http://www.lechaletdeben.com/752/index.html