Alps trips advice; ...
 

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[Closed] Alps trips advice; White Room or alternative?

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Hi folks,

I wonder if you could help.

My friend and I are interested in booking a guided-MTB trip this summer. I’m from Ireland and he’ll be travelling from NZ so we’ve decided on the Alps.

We would be interested in singletrack riding rather than DH runs full of drops and jumps. We would be keen to use lifts as much as possible.

Based on the White Room criteria I’d be very much a 3 on technical ability and 3 on fitness; an average rider in terms of skill and fitness, for example, red or perhaps the occasional black at trail centres. My friend would be better on both accounts!

If booking with White Room we would be looking at either the singletrack trip in July or, perhaps more likely, the enduro week at the start of September. Does anybody have experience on these trips and can tell us a little about the trails, amount of climbing and level of skill and fitness required?

Any advice appreciated!

Thanking you in advance.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 10:44 am
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try www.bikevillage.co.uk great riding and lovely people


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 10:48 am
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Thanks Andy.

White Room & Bike Village are both on the list. Some of our available dates are already sold out on BV.

Could you give us any more info in the trails & level of fitness/skill/gnar required?


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 12:52 pm
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If you drop Stevo from the White Room an email he can probably go through it with you, was spot on a few years back when I went there,


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 12:54 pm
 wl
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www.bikeverbier.com always worth a look - amazing holidays with super-friendly hosts, in a great chalet with awesome food etc. And the singletrack riding is, frankly, unbelievably good.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 1:27 pm
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Sadly, Bike Verbier aren't doing full guided packages anymore . They're doing accommodation packages and will recommend  guides / routes but it's up to the individual to organise riding.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 2:07 pm
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I organized part of the stay through https://thebigride.ch/fr/ - they were very helpful. They will also organise a full package if required.

In terms of guiding, I used https://www.purebikingverbier.com/ - Jose there was awesome. Guiding was not the cheap way to go, but for the trails we were looking for (natural singletrack), it was worth it. Riding tailored to ability.

I have only done one trip, but have heard great things about Bike Village.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 2:27 pm
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White room have a number of guides and options for routes so that you should be good. The riding is very much as you described, there are MANY switchbacks.  But like Mike said speak to SteveO.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 2:37 pm
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Myself and a mate did a Singletrack Week with Stevo and the Whiteroom Team in July this year. It was our first proper MTB trip and we considered ourselves a 3 for technical ability and fitness. On the singletrack week the climbing can be near 0 if you want, as all the lifts will be open at that time, however they are very flexible and have enough guides to cover everyone should you wish to do something more adventurous and take in some more backcountry trails, which require some climbing, but are well worth it. The riding we did was almost all singletrack, a mixture of legit mapped 'Enduro' trails and off piste 'local knowldge stuff' all of which was incredible. The team did an excellent of guiding us around trails that challenged us without making me feel out of my depth, as a result I finished the week a more confident and capable rider (even if I did have the odd bump and scrape along the way). The accomodation and food were also excellent.

I can point you at my Instagram page if you want to see some photos of the trip.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 3:09 pm
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 for example, red or perhaps the occasional black at trail centres.

I would suggest you try and get some natural big hill/mountain riding under your belt or you may be in for a big surprise, completely different type of riding.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 3:23 pm
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White Room is first class. When we go up the hill in the back of the Landy we always pass the Bike Village group pedalling up from the bottom of the valley.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 3:57 pm
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Akers

I can point you at my Instagram page if you want to see some photos of the trip.

Me and the wife have booked for July, I'd love to see the pics 🙂


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 4:08 pm
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Only a handful I'm afraid, was too busy riding....


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 4:30 pm
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Looks good Akers, thanks.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 5:45 pm
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I've done White Room and Bikevillage, and tbh the only way to split them is on the things they do differently, they're both superb. BV have an incredible setup as base, I absolutely loved it- WR are absolutely fine with the chalet approach but BV's is basically a massive home for wandering riders. Eating outside at the massive table as the sun goes down was just special. Also, a pool. The riding I'd say is of equivalent quality but White Room does more uplift and I would say ride for ride was more technical- though I'm sure WR can provide the same since they're in the same region, BV had more of the epic flowing alpine singletrack. Both have an amazing squad of people and guides, nothing to choose between then at all.

The more uplift is probably what'd make me choose WR over BV but it'd be with a pretty heavy heart because there's a load of BV stuff I'd really miss. But in the end it's about the riding and spending all that time suffering up hills was time you can't spend bombing down them. But that's not better/worse, it's just different. And hey, if you're fitter than me it's probably less of a big deal but I absolutely died at one point.

That's totally unhelpful hey. I'd do either tomorrow if I could. And the other the week after.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 5:52 pm
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Wallop

think you'll find the only pedalling done at BikeVillage now is to link together trails, other than that it's all uplifts with a ride from the door option if you fancy it, which you probably wouldn't 😉


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 5:54 pm
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Done White Room twice in the last two years and as others have said you can have your riding tailored to your ability and they have enough guides to suit everyone. The riding was at the edge of my technical ability this year, some (what I’d describe as) full on Enduro trails at La Thuile and some pretty technical singletrack around the valley. All superb though.

Their chalet too is very good indeed, the standard of food is first class, and outdoor eating space plus hot tub makes it extra special. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 6:24 pm
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Wallop

think you’ll find the only pedalling done at BikeVillage now is to link together trails, other than that it’s all uplifts with a ride from the door option if you fancy it, which you probably wouldn’t 😉

Good to know! 😉


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 6:38 pm
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you get free beer at the chalet with Whiterooms . nuff said .


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 8:13 pm
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Free beer at Bike village too 🙂


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 10:23 pm
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So they are both great! Good news all round 👍🏼


 
Posted : 16/11/2018 10:49 pm

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