Fourth week of the 50-50 Project

The beginning was fresh because I met the snow in Verbier! The tops of the trails were covered by snow. In Les Gentiannes I found 5-10 cm of fresh snow! It was a crazy adventure to go down. The day was busy with some shooting with Trifon (shaper), Phil Meier and also Chris Winter (Ridebig.com) and his group. It was snowing, but everybody was out! Great atmosphere! They worked a lot on the red trail, which is so nice now! After such a day, the best solution was to go with my wife Vero to the hot springs of Levey les Bains which were on our road. Sweet!


Just beside them, you'll find the spot of Dorénaz, which is famous for the DH built by Trifon. The spot is very busy in winter because all the downhillers come here to train themselves. Then we crossed the French border because all the following spots are located there. The first one was in Les Houches where I had the best view of the trip thanks of the glacier of Bionnassay. There you can find 2 trails: a blue and a black one (with some red options). When it’s muddy, it is almost impossible to ride some sections of the black one. There is a technical singletrack under the gondola of Prarion (same pass) which is a good alternative. The next spot (Les Saisies) is at the summit of a pass. The resort is small but they have proved that it’s possible to make some good trails despite their size. They have 4 tracks and 2 more options. The Cubérote (black) has 2 dirts at the beginning and was my favorite. Les Saisies was also the 25th bikepark of the trip, so the half of the trip was done!




In Les Carroz, we had the best surprise of the trip for the motorhome. You can find power connection and water for free, just in front of the gondola. They have 2 trails (black and blue), the black one is more natural and on the blue one they made some berms. I saw only 2 jumps on the whole spot of what I was slightly disappointed. After that, I made a stop at the European service center of Marzocchi in order to make a service to the fork and the shock. Thanks Stéphane. Then we rode to Prapoutel (Les 7 Laux) where they have 4 trails. The Cortillets was my favorite one, but I was disappointed of this spot because the berms are too close, there was cow dung on every trail, panels were failing and they do no maintenance on the trails. On the other hand, the managers of the resort are aware of that and they are trying to develop the bike park to improve it, but they need more time.



In Villard de Lans the trails are maintained by an association called Les Pieds à Terre (Feet on the ground) who do a really good job. Everything was very muddy, but I saw no puddle and it was possible to ride every trail even the black ones. My preferred trail was the Kevina (red), but they also have some black, blue and green trails. Nice spot ! Now, I’m not asking for sun, I just want a day without rain!

I’m in Chamrousse and I’ll go to the famous spot of Megavalanche : L’Alpe d’Huez, then Les 2 Alpes / Serre-Chevalier / Les Orres / Vars / Sauze d’Oulx