Skip to main content

Saint Luc, Valais, Switzerland

In a small hard to reach valley there is a real gem of bike-friendliness

Tom H. Photo by Tom G
The road up!
It was a long drive, but the girls did us well!  We'd only seen a few cars on the hairy, Verdon Gorge-esque road up to the ski resort village of Saint Luc.  The road up was stunning and the views into the steep sided gorge were worth the drive alone.  We'd come to bike, and upon pulling into the carpark we were greeted by a lack of parking spots.  Is it going to be too busy today? The funiculare train only runs every 30mins at weekends.

The bike park was so busy that they were running the funicular constantly meaning very little que time.  Not that 30 minutes is that bad, but it meant we kept going and going all day long.

Another reason we kept going lap after lap was that the trails were so good!  The Swiss bike park's always seem to have a good setup and are alwats so well looked after.   Despite constant funicular access it was not that busy, everyone was out having fun, stopping on the side of the trails to recount stories of good lines or near misses with friends.  Saint Luc is nearing the Valais canton boarder so there were people speaking French and German in the lift que, and thanks to our rabble from Cham, English!

Tom G on start of red/black
Tom H on a rock hip jump
We did several laps of the 'blue' trail with enough to entertain me and Tom H thanks to some sizeable jumps, as well as enough 'fun' to keep the girls Pam and Ellie smiling.  Not forgetting Mr Tom G who was getting up to speed on his bike after winter season of skiing and travelling abroad.  Tom had been down to Finale Ligure the day before and was nursing some pretty hardcore hand blisters but he borrowed a pair of Ellie's gloves which seemed to help.

The red run had a few more bigger drops in and some great berms for us all to rail.  Me and Tom H did the black later in the day which had some very committing jumps/drops and some fairly steep sections, but nothing horrendous.  However there was more than the 3 bike park runs...
Me on a drop.  Photo by Ellie

Uknown local looking right at Tom G
Tom H again
I'd done some online research and had of course found potential for lovely singletrack (footpaths). Swiss footpaths almost always deliver goodness! One option looked snow covered so out of the train we turned left, climbed for about 2 minutes and then dropped in on sublime Swiss rock and flow.  We came across a few snow patch's, but this didn't deter our adventure which led us onto a smooth, gentle ribbon of pine needles all the way back to the village.  It was superb and we all loved it.
Chalet view
Due to Tom G's technical difficulties this is the only shot of the sweet singletrack.  Thanks Ellie
In the area around the funicular station the local company had put on a bbq, a small skills course for children, music and a sweetie stall.  There were competitions going on for the kids and adults whilst everyone enjoyed the sun, views, music and the food.  It was all so positive and bike friendly.  Something like this would never happen in Chamonix!

 To finish the day?  A second lap of the super singletrack of course!

Huge thanks to Pam for driving us all,
Sorry for the boy humour on the way home.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What guides do between work in the peak of July

Summer is here, and after fantastic spring riding in Southern France and then all over Valais, Aosta and Haute Savoie with good friends it's been time to get back to summer guiding, taking hikers around the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit.  There's much worse things to do, but with three weeks off the bike I was itching to get back on some trails. With a carefully planned week between tours I was excited and made some plans to hit up some classic lines, and some new stuff too. It's mid July now, so in Chamonix valley you have to think carefully about where to go to miss the crowds, and to avoid going on the bike ban trails (July & August).  Luckily it's still easy to find quiet trails in nearby resorts, or to simply drop round the back of a hill away from the frontside lifts. It went a little like this: Day 1- La Thuile with Wayne of newly qualified French legal mountain bike guiding service  Chamonixmtb.com  . Enduro race venue at it's best, rough and raw.

Provence Posing

Early spring road trip with Team NL The Dutchies had work to finish before they'd start the mammoth 14 hour drive from under the sea to herb filled mountainsides.  Work for us guys in the Alps is more seasonal & temporary, as it is for some Easyjet pilots which meant that the native English speakers left for 'The South' a day earlier. Digne les Bains was the rendezvous location for Saturday night but this meant going so close to Gap and Lac Serre Poncon. The lure of a trail in the Haute Alpes ( the northern most department in the Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur Region ) was too much. 3 of us wild camped lake side with giddy excitement for what lay ahead. Rob & Ben knew each other from ski touring & paragliding, but had never ridden together, nor had Ben ever met team NL.  Rob and I briefed him on the impending fun. In the morning, a classic was called upon to give Ben his first taste of Southern singletrack. Mont Colombus, and a few hours later aft

Servoz storm destruction

Deep in Servoz below the Fiz 75% of trail is ok. But where it is washed away is really bad. Click here for photos What rode was as good as ever for this begining/end of season trail 1hour & half pedal from Serviz village.