[Closed] The flip side of Morzine

But is he okay now? That's all that matters!

Sorry to hear you had a fraught time. I had a friend who, on his first trip to Morzine, managed to snap a bit of bone in his back. Was kinda weird watching him fly away from Les Gets in a helicopter...

He's fine now but I think we out him off biking. Oops

Mountain Biking is a dangerous sport and, sometimes, it goes wrong. Either you get hurt or you damage your bike. Be prepared to cover both eventualities and always have insurance etc.

Hope you both return to the Alps - its fab normally!!

Rachel

Jesus Christ, that sounds like an absolute nightmare. Well done for getting through it. Oh and lots of useful advice also 😉

Hang on - I forgot to ask - how's the bike???

😉

Been there done that. 2009 I spent 5 days in hospital in thonon having tibia pinned, munqe chick sorting everything out and spending 200euros round trip on taxis visiting me.

Hope he's okay long term.

I took MC to NYC that autumn to apologize for ruining the holiday. Worth dropping a hint when the dust has settled? 😉

allthegear - I've just laughed my head off at your comment. 😀 The bike is fine, the chain came off, no damage what so ever. However, his oakleys was a different matter. He was quite upset at loosing his nosepiece. I even went back to the site of the accident to do a search, he was that concerned. Me - I parked that priority in the "Home insurance" file to deal with when we got home. I put it down to the concussion.

Had been wondering whether to get a full face helmet for my morzine trip...just made my mind up!!

I'm off there thursday and I will think of this thread every time I start thinking I'm the biking god and get cocky. I've got a full face helmet, elbow and knee pad protection and I'm gonna wear them the whole trip and feel pretty thankful I've made the investment.

Hi jester, mbswindon member here. Really hope your partner is doing much better now and your stress levels have reduced somewhat! Every time it came up in conversation I had a shudder through my body, felt for him with such a nasty injury so early on and indeed yourself at the hassle you were going through.
Although I was lucky enough to sit in the passenger seat of your car for part of the journey home!

Thanks for the story. It does just go to show what can happen and it is a great reminder. I hope that you both get over this and get back out to Morzine. You will not have seen it but there is some great riding out there. I reckon that you must need another holiday now at home just to get over the last "holiday". I hope your partner gets well and back on the bike soon. I guess he owes you a dinner or something now.

Jesterthefirst, I really feel your pain, as CTM mentioned above it happened to us in 2009, wants worse is he wasn't riding like a t*** or outside his comfort zones, it was a simple crash where he didn't unclip and snapped his name. It was a horrifically stressful week, Mr MC being 45 mins drive away it costing me 180euros in taxis to get there and I could only withdraw 200 euros a day from my cash card, so another tip ensure that you can withdraw a decent daily amount.

Try flying home with 2 bikes in bags, a cripple in a wheel chair, 2 85 litre rucksacks and 2 handluggage! Mr MC sat out the front of airport in ambulance whilst I ran around like a blue arsed fly collecting bieks from left luggage, but 2 bikes on a trolley don't go in the lift! it's an endless list of stresses etc, we had to fork out probably £1000 upfront and that was WITH an E111 card!

Ensure you have insurance! Very good post with some top advice. Hope he's okay now, it brings me out in a sweat thinking about that week, but as as mentioned I did get a long weekend to NY in November to say sorry/thanks. x

Great post under rubbish circumstances... Glad you two are getting it all resolved slowly but surely. I was very much aware when out there that circumstances like yours above are but a fraction of a second away from being a reality. I was lucky that i was there with 2 great mates and if anyone had crashed, the other 2 would have done exactly what you did and sorted everything out while the patient recovered.

We made sure we had both EHIC cover and also specialist MTB in the Alps cover before heading off and had printed off all the documentation etc.

Absolute horror story and a great reminder of what can happen

Glad you got it sorted though

I've just returned from 9 days in the Alps, which included the PPDS - awesome event - but its a great reminder of what can happen - even if you're riding within your comfort zone

I hope your partner makes a speedy recovery

a 6 day stay in hospital for a cut face and slight concussion? 😯
how badly did he cut his face?

Someone's got to say it...ride within your limits?

No offence...

Cynic-al it isn't always about riding in your limits, when Mr MC snapped his knee in 2009 it was nothing to with riding in his limits, he crashed on the 10% within the Le Pleney run which he has ridden over 100 times and he lost his front wheel on a breaking bump and foot didn't unclip from the pedals.

When he ruptured his tricep tendon in Betwys in May 2011, it was nothing to do with riding within his limits. He front wheel washed out on a wet rock and a flat section and he came down hard on his elbow.

It's easy to say as there are a lot of people riding like muppets out there, just remember not all the time though.

lol

[u]he[/u] lost his front wheel both times because he was riding outwith [u]his[/u] limits.

totally disagree with Cynic-Al's preposterous question tho. Where would the fun be in riding within your limits all the time?

GW - he broke his jaw in two places and had surgery 24hrs after the accident. The concussion was very bad - he was on a different planet for at least 45 minutes. He also had 8 stitches dotted around his face and chipped two teeth.

Another tip - print the insurance policy off and take it with you so you can refer to it.

The accidental cover included £500 dental treatment but we are not entitled to this in the UK. As his chipped teeth are not an emergency then we will have to pick up the cost of the dentistry.

The car insurance would not recover the car because it did not have a mechanical fault.

Also, the biggest shocker was the cost of the channel tunnel for a single trip back. The insurance flew my partner and myself back from Geneva to heathrow which left the car and the bikes/gear stranded in Morzine. Fortunately one of the Swindon crew volunteered to drive the car back. We came via the ferry so had a return ticket but our volunteer was already booked on the tunnel with his friends so we bought a single ticket so he could still travel in convoy with them. £174 for a single ticket bought on the day of travel in day light robbery imo!

Edit - we are visiting an oral consultant tomorrow in the local hospital and he is making a good recovery although the low sodium levels are making him very tired.

Ooooft! 🙁

good to hear he's recovering well

Really sorry to hear this. I just got back from Morzine and have a similar story. My friend crashed on his first run in Les Gets and broke his collarbone and a few ribs. Luckily we have a doctor in our group(with a big bag of drugs!) and the French dealt with him quickly and efficiently.

Sounds awful! Was he wearing a full face?

Tom - no! We are gnarly fit xc riders, hence why we took it steady on the first day because we didn't want to ride out of our depth before getting to know what the riding was like out there. Unfortunately we only got to ride 500m.

Jesterthefirst I feel your pain, hope he is recovering well and that you are not too stressed. It is amazing how many people on here often chance it without insurance! Has to be at least £1000 we forked out up front to claim back later!!!

MC - I guess we were lucky then. We haven't paid anything out upfront regarding the claim. The insurance warned us that we might get a bill for the ambulance call out and trip to hospital but we didn't see one.

The money we paid out wasn't covered by the insurance, hence my post to warn others of the potential personal cost in case this happens. We do get £20 per day for each 24hrs spent in hospital but we have to claim this money when you get back to the UK.

My partner has read this post and saw about your trip to NY. There's been no comment yet but at least the idea has been planted 😀

Sorry to hear your story. A wake up call for full face helmets, I know its tempting to ride lite, but damn is it worth the risk.

We wear these in the Alps

Lightweight full face lids with great airflow.

[img] [/img]

Sounds like a right rigmarole, gutted.

But surely the worst time/place to practice jumping your bike is on holiday??

The female of the couple whom I and a group of other mates stayed with when boarding in Les Arcs this year broke her leg badly on day 2 and was carted off to hospital. My mate didn't go and see her once and didn't even stay in on the last day when she was brought back to the apartment! He said there was no point spoiling both of their holidays...!

Guess that's what happens after 30 years of marriage.

I hope the injuries are better soon and you're all ok.

I came off on the Pleney in 2006 - 5th run of my first day - pre-jumped into a steep section & the front wheel landed in a braking bump, compressed the forks & spat me over the bars.

I awoke to find a 14 year old English lad dragging me off the racing line, whilst everyone else was using my rear wheel to pop a jump off..!!

I rolled down the hill, brushed myself off & did another 3 or 4 runs, but something didn't feel right. I got back to my mates apartment, had a few beers, crunched some Nurofen & went to bed. I awoke in the night for a pee
& couldn't move, and had lost all sensation of touch in hands & all over body. I was terrified - my 1st child was due in a month & I genuinely thought I'd crippled myself.

Anyway, down to Thonon I was driven to find I'd fractured my L2 vertebrae - the bruising was spectacular!!!

The feeling in my hands gradually returned after a few days but I still have patches on my back, right arse cheek and hip that haven't sorted themselves out.

I now wear armour a lot out there, particularly a well fitting spine protector.

Wow Mildred that's a scary story!!

I was meant to be doing a few weeks guiding; it was going to be my foot in the door with a view to having a career change. I felt an utter nob end. I was out there a month recuperating. The break had joined within about 7 days, but the soft tissue damage took ages.

I drove home on my own and was so full of drugs that I cannot recall one moment of that journey, except that I ended up in Brussels city centre without any idea of how I got there.

[i]Guess that's what happens after 30 years of marriage. [/i]

I think that's what happens when you're a callous git. Knowing someone for a long time is'nt really an excuse, is it?

I know I certainly couldn't ride whilst Crashtestmonkey was in hospital I certainly didn't feel like it.

Sorry to hear of the injury and the aftermath, and pleased to hear of the recovery.

I have a chalet in Morzine, and at the height of the summer it's not uncommon to hear the medical helicopter several times a day. It's one of the reasons that I wear a pressure suit and full-face helmet if I'm doing any sort of even vaguely serious riding.

(1) The proper equipment is VITAL. My wife's cousin came out to do PPdS with us last year on a Specialized FSR XC - a perfectly fine bike, but utterly unsuited to the conditions (size of brake rotors, type of tyres, suspension travel), which made things a lot more difficult. He didn't have a great time as a result, and crashed out repeatedly as a result. On the other hand, I stuck a friend of mine on a stick-tyred 190mm travel DH bike the other week and trundled down some easier runs into town with now problems. The bike gave him the confidence to ride through braking bumps and the like, whereas I've seen any number of people crash out on these. Obviously there [i]are[/i] those who can ride a penny farthing down Mont Blanc, but in the realm of mere mortals, something with a slackish head angles, large brake rotors, a decent amount of travel and high-volume strong-sidewalled tyres will make things a lot easier.

Body armour will probably not stop major injury, but it will reduce the severity. A full-face helmet will not prevent a broken neck, but will ensure you lose fewer teeth, probably don't have a broken jaw, and will likely avoid concussion.

(2) Mountain biking in the Alps is NOT like riding in the UK - it's a much higher-consequence environment, both in terms of likelihood of crashing, possible severity of injury and financial consequence.

(3) Insurance is massively useful, but will not cover everything at the time. Even if you can claim back later, make sure you can access a reasonable sum (think €1000) in the event that you're delayed/need to buy tickets etc. Just make sure there's space on your credit card and you'll be fine.

(4) Learn to ride the terrain. Sounds condescending and obvious, but it's not meant to be. If you ride mainly in the forests on mud, then big rocky sections in the Alps will be a massive shock. Either ride them in the UK (Peak District etc) and get used to them, or take it easy when you get out here. And even crashing on a gravel path can be horrific, as due to the gradient you're often travelling faster and will slide further. It's worth getting a guide (even at the €200 it will cost per day) to get you up to speed.

If you're going to ride the higher-risk areas on an XC bike (and why not - it shouldn't all be lift-assist) then ride well within both your and the bike's capabilities.

And you're on holiday, sure, but take it easy and build up. You can really injure yourself in the Alps (other mountain ranges are available, obviously), and a quick afternoon stroll through Morzine in summertime will reward you with the sight of many plastered/strapped arms/legs/shoulders, plus more gravel rash than you can shake a stick at.

Well said Nickf - respecting the mountain makes the riding and trip much more enjoyable

The amount of people milling around Morzine with various plaster casts is alarming

The amount of people milling around Morzine with various plaster casts is alarming

The accidental cover included £500 dental treatment but we are not entitled to this in the UK. As his chipped teeth are not an emergency then we will have to pick up the cost of the dentistry.

Insurance firms, you've got to love them. If only making a claim was as simple as buying the insurance in the first place. To the OP, how were they apart from this? Name and shame if required.

Well said Nickf the amount of people on here who harp on about "oo if you crash you must've been riding like a d***" it so far from the truth!

Definately true what you say.

Sobering reading this thread. Going out for my second visit next week, and will be on my hard tail, albeit built up tougher than usual. Will be doing more PDS/XC type stuff and green and blue DH only, but am seriously considering purchasing a full face as accidents do happen even if you ride within yourself.

Healing vibes, just got back from Les Gets last night and was shocked at the walking wounded on the way back!

First year I went I crashed innocous within limits, where did I fall on face, had very minor abrasions and scratched Mr MC's brand new lovely Smiths so lucky but after that full face every time when riding the DH courses.

Just back from PDS which we rode on the Friday from Chatel, decided to have an easy warm up day on the Thursday but the only lifts open were Morzine so drove over.
Had a great day in Morzine and Les Gets but on way back to Morzine from Les Gets last run, mate had an over the bars onto gravel incident when he spotted a 3' drop too late on exiting the woods slo mo style.
I arrived to find (what I thought was him stretching) and duly waved on a passing car with the phrase Il est dacord, Il fait du Yoga 😆 only to realise he had winded himself and couldn't speak.
Needless to say I thought we would have to go to the Hospital with suspected ribs and wrist injury and the PDS would be off.
He did cope with it - painkillers and MTFU attitude but it did show me how easy it is to get injured in the Alps especially on that 'last run'

When my partner broke her arm in Les Arcs and spent five days in hospital getting it plated (removing the plates from a previous compound fracture first)
We took it as an excuse to spend another week in France so went on a road trip when she got out of hospital. I guess every cloud has a silver lining I got to get a load of road miles in and saw parts of France id never expect to see 🙂

Another piece of advice do not have "one last run' ... when you have said it, you have to knock it on the head there and then.

The accidental cover included £500 dental treatment but we are not entitled to this in the UK. As his chipped teeth are not an emergency then we will have to pick up the cost of the dentistry.

Insurance firms, you've got to love them. If only making a claim was as simple as buying the insurance in the first place. To the OP, how were they apart from this? Name and shame if required.

Hmmm! I wondered how long it would take for someone to ask this question. After all the fabulous comments on here we picked Snowcard. I was really disappointed and still cannot understand why they did not return my calls for 2 days. After 4 calls and 1 email by myself over a period of 48hrs, and with promises of returning my calls came to nothing, I then received an email with information in that I was already aware of. I then emailed them with the threat of submitting a formal complaint if I did not hear from them within 2-3 hrs of receiving my second email. It worked and the communication channel opened! I had the most apologetic person on the end of the phone who finally advised me what would happen and I was transferred to a hotel later than afternoon. From then onwards, they were brilliant.
I'm still waiting for a claim form which they said they would send out last week.

Another tip! EHIC card (E11) I think, this entitles you to treatment in the France. If you havn't got one, you will need one. If you forget to take it, the insurance can apply for a replacement providing that you know your NI number.

after all the fabulous comments on here we picked Snowcard. I was really disappointed

some of those comments may have been from me. I had a big 'off' in les gets, breaking my pelvis, hand and ribs and tearing my left rotator cuff.

Snowcard (and assistance international) were brilliant. My wife did all the ringing round, but didn't have any problems. I spoke to an English doctor (on the phone) within an hour of arriving at hospital so they could translate for me (arranged by the insurance company). Everything paid for and loads of reassurance all round.

Sorry you didn't have such a good experience.

One thing I did find very bad was the staffing of the hospital... I arrived on a Saturday, and was seen by the medical staff in the emergency department, but once they were done with me, I was put in a ward with virtually no staff. What few staff were there didn't actually know what was wrong with me (they saw my cast, and thought I just had a broken hand), so they didn't help me with anything - I had to walk to the toilet, and clean myself despite a broken pelvis and sacrum!!

when the doctor came to see me on the Monday he was furious that I was sat up, let alone getting out of bed. I had a (stable) fracture of my spine (albeit only my sacrum) and I was supposed to be immobile!

One last thing - to reference another current thread - the food in hospital (Cluses) was excellent 🙂

Dave

pretty sure the pompiers/ambulance are on a kick-back from private clinics. I got taken to a clinic in Thonon and we drove straight past the "NHS" hospital, so the EHIC was irrelevant as everything went on insurance.

And agree with MC's "last run" rule; if you have to ask, the answer's no.

I just got back and I'm one of those plaster clad crew. Fractured fibula on the last 100m, of the last run, on the last day. Was riding well within my limits, wasn't very tired at all, but bike slipped out on boardwalk as it didn't have any chicken wire and my tyres were slick with mud due to rain the night before. It happened on the black run from chatel to les lindarets, knew straight away that it wasn't good and ended up getting piggybacked down. €485 for drugs and cast at morzine clinic and £127 for seat for my leg on the flight the next day. Morzine clinic must be raking it in! Couldn't get to a hosp!

Jeepers tyredbiker that's cheap! headling vibes!

Bloody hell guys... i'm impressed we came back in one-piece after reading some of your posts.

Must admit, i saw plenty of people with carious cuts and bruises and some plaster casts when out there.

Guess that's what happens after 30 years of marriage.

I think that's what happens when you're a callous git. Knowing someone for a long time is'nt really an excuse, is it?

That's another (arguably more common) way of looking at it! 😆

I've just come back from Morzine and although everyone returned unscathed, there was a few offs that a full face lid certainly saved the day on.

The innocuous looking one at 1.37 on this clip resulted in a dented chin guard on some rocks so god knows what a mess it might've been with a normal XC lid.

I'd never ride there without a full face lid and some pads and/or armour. The new Troy Lee stuff is light weight and not very bulky and works really well. After seeing a mate go over the bars and then do a scorpion impression as his heels arched round towards the back of his head at speed, I splashed out on a Leatt brace too this year.

I worked as a guide in Chamonix - NickF is spot on. We were near the heli-port and it was buzzing over several times a day.

To the OP - That is some sage advice Jester. I suppose that you can consider that Insurance is the 'correct tool for the job' but what you present here is the Knowledge to use it properly, which is utterly essential in these circumstances.

You can end up feeling stuck in Blighty too though! I smashed my wrists to pieces in April up at Mabie on the little bit of Orange jumps near the start. I was stuck in Dumfries and Galloway Hospital for a week because Leeds PCT wouldn't give up a bed! The Orthopedic surgeons in Dum And Gal couldn't fix me and the sepcitalists in Leeds(Rob Farnell and Doug Campbell - Legends!) could. But because the wrong person in Scotland requested my transfer, Leeds wouldn't do it! Pure Protocol, no consideration of the implications. Ok, I know it was only Scotland but when your stuck, your stuck and you may as well be on Mars for all the good it does you.

(nearly) mended now. 2 more ops maybe?
[img] [/img]

@mattbibbings - OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that makes my stable pelvis fracture look really tame!

get mended soon!

Dave

crashtestmonkey - Member

pretty sure the pompiers/ambulance are on a kick-back from private clinics. I got taken to a clinic in Thonon and we drove straight past the "NHS" hospital, so the EHIC was irrelevant as everything went on insurance.

This is why a lot of people believe insurance is not needed. If you dont have any you will get all your treatment under reciprocal arrangements without paying. The only thing you will not be covered for is repatriation

contrary to popular belief it is very unlikely you will be charged for evacuation off the mountain and your hospital treatment will be covered

contrary to popular belief it is very unlikely you will be charged for evacuation off the mountain and your hospital treatment will be covered

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx

What isn’t covered by the EHIC?
hideThe EHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance. It will not cover any private medical healthcare or [b]costs such as mountain rescue in ski resorts[/b], being flown back to the UK, or lost or stolen property. Therefore, it is important to have both an EHIC and a valid private travel insurance policy. Some insurers now insist you hold an EHIC and many will waive the excess if you have one.

The EHIC will not cover your medical expenses if you are going abroad specifically to have treatment (including giving birth). Find out more about planned treatment abroad.

You may not be able to use the card in some parts of the EEA as state-provided healthcare may not be available.

Yes - but in actual practice you do not get charged for evacuation off the mountain unless you have insurance.

There has been mutterings about charging people for evacuation off the mountains but it is not normal practice.

All having insurance does is ensure you can be repatriated ( in a very expensive manner) and that you will be treated in private clinics to bump the bill up. If you do not have travel insurance you will not end up with cripplingly huge bills

Are you suggesting that it's not really worth people getting insurance? When a mate of ours crashed over in Switzerland a few years back, Snowcard were fantastic and covered everything (including replacing his bike, helmet, body armour, etc), they were helpful at every stage. If he had relied on his E111 only, then he'd have been up a certain creek without means of propulsion.

good point made there TandemJeremy!

There are a lot of novice riders out in the PDS and its not a forgiving place to ride if you aint well suited to a bit of rough stuff. The only down side with the ever growing influx of people going to the PDS with little experience over and above flat forests in the south of the UK is the bad press it gets us and the rising cost of insurance (however thanks to TJ this shouldnt make much difference.

Granted everyone has to start somewhere, but maybe if you aint confident riding fast hard descents in the peaks or lakes then you should really think twice about actually going to the pds. After all its not a nice place to ride if you are inexperienced. As an experienced rider whos done the alps loads it still beats me up riding in teh PDS and ill be honest, i dont like it as everything is either featureless due to the traffic it gets so you ride faster than you should as there is nothing to slow you = crash, or the tracks are blown out to buggery which means you cant hold on to the bar any more = crash.

Even people saying they werent riding out of their comfort zone, the front wheel just washed out for example. I know its harsh but you prob were riding something that was steeper, much looser or greasier, faster and with poor tyres, knowledge of correct braking or not braking, and like most things in the PDS, poorly built so it can kick you in the air at some awful angle for example.

I did some riding with Rugby MTB club and im sure the riding they do is somewhat similar to swindon (in that its not the peaks) and id worry about most of the chaps (sorry if i offend anyone) riding in the peaks, let alone the alps. They can do straight lines fast but throw some rocks into the mix and 90% didnt know what had hit them. Its only natural but they would be out of their comfort zone.

At the end of the day accidents do happen and you cant look at them on an individual basis and make assumptions, but when you have a town of broken people it speaks volumes

Yes, there will be people outside of their comfort zone and yes, you do get a lot of people walking around with broken bones but you have to factor in that it is a town full of mountain bikers, riding more in a week than they probably do in six months at home and some of those people are going to push themselves more than they would on their local loop. Like it or not, mountain biking is a dangerous sport and at some point you will crash, and it is more likely to happen in somewhere like Morzine than it is on your local hill that you know like the back of your hand. To not get insurance is just daft.

I wonder how the percentages / ratios of bikers who injure themselves at somewhere like Afan, compare to those in Morzine?

I disagree with a lot of what you say Bland.

It's a bit odd that most people go to the PDS for their first Alps trips, considering how DH-orientated the resorts there are.

I know I was out of my depth on my first visit there anyway, and going back last year it was only really the unofficial Dh stuff and the epic XC rides that I enjoyed. I do agree with Bland about the main DH tracks at Morzine/Les Gets.

These guys were a daily occurence on our trip, we saw them fly into Chatel town centre helipad 4 times on one evening alone on the Saturday PPdS day... probably because it was hot, dry and fast.

[img] [/img]

I ride in the peaks weekly, where to be honest the surfaces are worse (big loose rocks) rather than mud and small loose pebbles stuff, although obviously not as steep or for he same duration. You could tell the people that had never ridden surfaces like that before!

The twice I crashed was because the friends I was following crashed lol... once going into Les Gets down a fast tight single track with a drainage rut from the rain... slid on my face for 15m - 20m (yay for full face). Then once at the Morgins down hill going to slow down a steep wet rooty bit, again full face saved the day (probably)

Oh and those helipilots are amazing... the skill and control they have between trees, power lines, zip lines and ski lifts is unbelievable!

We regularly take beginners to PdS and they love it. It's a great resort for them. There are downhill tracks but there's loads of other stuff too and not riding up makes the downs a lot easier.

I dont think its the beginners that are the problem. Its the middle aged men who've only been riding bikes (round trail centres) for a couple of years. But they've been on a skills course, just bought a Lapierre and have seen the lads in Dirt mag doing jumps and drops so they think they should take it on whilst on holiday!

Fair enough, push yourself, but at least do it at home where its not going to have anyhwere near the consequences.

Saying that, I fell off on a straight bit of trail and broke my little finger whilst in the alps.

I got a full facer and full top half compression suit for my trip. It won't stop everything but it certainly limited damage for the times I did fall off - abrasions etc. Can't be certain that it stopped anything else. It didn't stop the cracked rib from one big stack

For the cost of probably less than any insurance excess I'd say it was a worthy investment as I've used them since. Thanks to Crashtestmonkey for the sale of the dainese body armour and spine protector he sold whilst recovering from his elbow injury as described earlier !

Oh and as for pushing yourself, whilst you try to take care, I think you do push yourself a bit. I certainly did. Thanks to a bunch of guys in our chalet letting us tag on for a day and spending time with us showing us a drop off, approach speeds, lines etc I did stuff I never would have done with just my mates. That said we picked a drop off with a good run out, no big rocks so you could say it was calculated risk. Why go to such a place if you'll only ride what you would ride at home - apart from the view. Just be sensible and do things in increments.

Hope the OP's other half makes a quick recovery.

Going out Friday and now wish I hadn't read this 🙂
Got a full face and ins.
I'll hopefully be posting in the other thread next and not this one.
Speedy recovery to the injured.

You'd be mad not to take out appropriate insurance for the small sums involved which is really there for the worse case scenarios.

Its the middle aged men who've only been riding bikes (round trail centres) for a couple of years. But they've been on a skills course, j

Waves 🙂

HELLO

I'll be a happy man if I've wasted £38 on insurance.

If your foreign language skills are not 100% - I would thoroughly recommend one of these:

http://www.pocketcomms.co.uk/

[img] [/img]

For less than a tenner - it'll get your meaning across worldwide with no need to play charades. Would never travel without mine again.

We regularly take beginners to PdS and they love it. It's a great resort for them. There are downhill tracks but there's loads of other stuff too and not riding up makes the downs a lot easier.

I'm sure this is true, but a lot of people just turn up with no guiding sorted and throw themselves down the Chavannes run.

a lot of people just turn up with no guiding sorted and throw themselves down the Chavannes run.

Aye, that be me. I done the same at Whistler, Squamish and Sun Peaks (Kamloops) too.

To me you only need a guide if your riding unmarked tracks and have a chance of getting lost.

Trust your skills, know your equipment and be prepared.

There is absolutely no difference form riding abroad to riding at home, the laws of gravity still applies.

i'm in Chatel the now, for my tuppence, is to be honest with your skill and equipment capability level.

the biggest skill in riding, is the assessment of what comes before you, and managing your ability to deal with it.

i think sometimes the equipment can forgive a lack of assessment/ability, but only for so long, especially in the types of terrain around here.

my own skill level has been found out in the last few days, in regard to understanding how different the trail conditions here can be each day, depending on the weather, luckily even though the bike and i are pretty bruised, i am still able to learn a small bit more.

Yes - but in actual practice you do not get charged for evacuation off the mountain unless you have insurance.

There has been mutterings about charging people for evacuation off the mountains but it is not normal practice.

TJ, can I ask you to substantiate this claim? Additionally, can you tell the people who've been charged €2000 and upwards for helicopter rescue that they in fact didn't need to pay, and that it must be some sort of admin error.

As NickF said there are plenty charged, only reason it was free in Les Gets for a while was Kona sponsored anyone who crashed within the bike park.

I have a friend who nearly lost a finger to frostbite after two nights snowholing on the haute route-the mate he was skiing with was told he couldn't claim the cost of the hotel near the hospital because he already had a hotel booking in the area...the fact it was a hut 3 VERTICAL km from the hotel didn't seem a problem to the insurers!

There is no charge usually levied for mountain rescue in France. Its a free service. Same in switzerland. Austria is different.

some local Mayers in France will sometimes levy charges in their area they are responsbile for but these are hard to enforce. been some court cases on this.

Private companies will charge you, the police will not. If you don't have insurance you will not be charged - but you might have to wait for surface transport not the helicopter

Insurance will not always cover you anyway

Pays yer money and takes your choice - and the situation is fluid

Pay the money, obviously. Only someone who considers helmets to be a hindrance would go without insurance, surely. Plus, if going guided, most insist on it and for good reason.