Day 13: MTB Suisse in La Fouly

12 Jul 2011

Day 13: Exploring in Verbier St Bernard. So yesterday we stepped out of the bike park to explore the other riding options in the local area. If you go for a weeks mountain bike holiday as a group or family then it is likely you will be of different standards and have different interests when it comes to the riding. So whilst the hardcore DH’ers hit the park, what is on offer for those wanting a more wilderness based mountain bike adventure? We met up with Sivan and Amitai from MTB Suisse to see the kind of dedicated mountain bike guiding available in the area.

Our start-point was La Fouly, a tiny village way up the valley from Orsières. There are miles and miles of natural trails in this region, designated as hiking trails but available to mountain bikes as well. If fact there are so many trails that are relatively unused by hikers that the region’s tourist board has plans to turn many of them into dedicated mountain bike trails. Now that is progression! Amitai led the way, although for this ride Maggie the border collie was a welcome addition and seeing as she’s got more stamina than the rest of us put together she often left us behind. The views in this area are stunning, with 2 huge glaciers visible for pretty much the whole ride. There is a small mountain cafe near the top serving amazing omelettes and sandwiches, with cheese, eggs and butter made right there on site. Would probably have been a good idea to share an omelette though – those things were enormous and both Dan and I nearly saw them again on the descent! The single track descent undulated along the hillside, losing 500m back down to La Fouly. We made a few stops along the way to take some pictures. It is the kind of scenery that cannot fail to inspire and with miles of incredible single track to explore we will definitely be coming back to this region as soon as we can.

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