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Following on from this thread http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/help-please-morzine-for-the-non-downhiller I've decided on Morgins/Champery as a good location for a trip in July/Aug.
My sister and her husband are flying out from South Africa, we're driving from Basel and want to end up near Chamonix to bikepack the Tour Du Mont Blanc, they fly out of Geneva.
They are pretty experienced XC riders, but have never ridden in the Alps, I've done Les Gets (12 years ago!) but not been to the area since. I'd like to avoid the worn out popular stuff and rather do quieter less technical riding with a priority on scenery as opposed to super gnar-rad-core. We're after a good location to use as a base, hoping to stay in a quiet campsite which is close to lifts (we'll also have a car) but we don't want to rely solely on lifts every day due to budget constraints, they're happy to ride up stuff although we don't want to spend most of each day climbing.
I've got Steve Mallets book and he recommends 2 places in Champery, has anyone camped there? Any tips on which sites are good and how early you need to book?
We want to end the trip with TMB which I think we can do in 3 days carrying bikepacking gear, any tips on which direction to go and if aiming to do it in that time is over ambitious?
Champery is nice and close to your start point but its right at the edge of the main riding area so you'll need the same lift and final run almost every day. Somewhere a bit more central gives you more options. I'm a fan a Morzine but it might be a bit busy for you (although it is far from busy by UK standards) so maybe look at Chatel or Morgins.
Without the lifts you'll do a lot of climbing. The hills are big! You should be able to put an XC, non lift assisted loop together but there will be a chunk of climbing in it. Still a nice way to spend a day especially with a picnic and no rush to get home.
I wouldn't totally right off the [i]the worn out popular stuff[/i]. It's great fun at least give a bit of it a go. Its not actually that technical, it just can be a bit steep.
The PdS tour is nice lift assisted big ride with epic views. Nothing too tech on that.
Thanks, I'm making some enquiries about camping so that might be a deciding factor, I'm not too fussed about the steeper stuff but my guests might be! My sister will be borrowing my XC bike (Rocky Mountain Element with 120mm SID) so will have the least suitable bike but I'm sure she'll survive.
Can't help much with the PDS side of things but for the Tour du Mont Blanc, it's hard to say if it'll be an easy 3 day bikepack or not as it's so fitness dependent. None of the trail is that technical (by alpine standards) and you can easily speed things up through the Italian section by staying on the valley floor through Val Veny and Val Ferret, but where's the fun in that....
If 100miles/166km and 30,000foot/9000m climbing sounds reasonable in 3 days with all your camping gear then you'll be fine. However, July/Aug is the peak time of year for the tour and it's a bit frowned on to camp. You'll get away with it, but you might get asked to move on and threatened with the gendarmes if you don't. It's not that expensive to stay in refuges, think 20 to 40 euro a night with dinner and breakfast, and means you can do the ride with just a day pack which makes life a LOT easier.
Either direction is good, both ways mean hard climbs and excellent descents. I'd err to going anti-clockwise if going for 3 days as the direct Bovine descent to Champex-lac isn't great, but if you drop down to the valley base on the better trail to then pedal back up to Champex-lac it's a lot more meters and kms. Whereas the new (well, newish, they changed the trail in 2013) climb from Champex to Bovine is fairly easy going, esp when compared to the old way, and the descent to Trient from the top is smashing.
I've decided on Morgins/Champery as a good location for a trip in July/Aug.
Any particular reason you're choosing Morgins and Champery. It's definitely pretty over there but it's the much quieter part of the PdS though that may be preferable. That quietness does come at the expense of trails. Simply, there are fewer (official) trails in that neck of the woods compared to around Morzine etc.
If it has to be over that side then I'd definitely recommend closer to Champery than Morgins. It's fairly easy to get up from Champery to the stuff under Les Crosets then down into Lindarets and Chatel.
Morgins definitely feels like the remotest bit of the PDS
Camping wise - there is a distinction between bivouac and camping in France. Bivouac means just dusk until dawn whereas camping is leaving the tent in the same place for more than one night.
You can bivouac where you like up on the French mountains unless there is a bylaw prohibiting it - in which case you should see signs making this clear. Camping is prohibited outside of campsites.
There are also some places on the TMB route which are designated bivouac spots. I stayed at one beside la Balme at the top of the Contamines valley (below Col du Bonhomme).
Some very useful info, thanks. I think we'll aim for 4 or even 5 days for the TDMB having looked at the map last night in more detail.
As far as riding after that I'm leaning more towards Les Gets as there are more trails although there doesn't seem to be an abundance of official campgrounds. We're not planning on sleeping in car parks...
If you want to ride PdS Morzine is the usual choice as you more "in the middle" than say Chatel. Plenty of good riding around there of course.
If you did chose Morgins you are a bit closer to say Verbier if you wanted a day or two there also. I can't help with camping around there, not sure how easy that is to do in Switzerland. As above Morgins and even Champery are pretty quiet - one advantage with Champery is you can get the train to Geneva (I recall)
3 days TMB - that's going some based on how long others seem to take. Depends fitness and love of climbing I suppose - we drove up Val Ferret last year via Champex-du-lac and thats a fair old climb on an MTB, lovely valley mind, fields, hanging waterfalls, Glaciers đ
@BoardinBob, I originally decided on Morgins because it seems pretty quiet but it seems it may be too quiet. Looking at Camping le FrĂȘne in Les Gets now if anoyone has stayed there I'd be happy to hear about your experience.