Day 58: Thick Sticky Mud in Les Gets

27 Aug 2011

Day 58: Slipping and sliding down the Chavannes. It’s typical this. For one of the last stops of the tour we have been joined by 7 bike mates from years gone by, and they brought the rain with them to end the great weather that has characterised the URT throughout! I blame them entirely. We woke to consistent drizzle, but worst of all, cold temperatures. Nothing for it but get kitted up, stop whinging, and get out on the trails. And as is always the case, once out, wet and covered in mud it was a real blast, and there were even gaps in the weather to give us a break now and then.

Today we spent the time on the main part of Les Gets bike park – up the big Chavannes Express lift and into the back bowl. There are 5 or 6 trails of varying difficulty that run down about 270m in height drop over the back, with the Nauchets Express lift bringing you back to the top. And from there the main ‘La Roue Libre’ trail drops you the 350m back into the town of Les Gets. Most of these trails are machine-built berms and doubles/tables, with not much steep stuff as there just isn’t the gradient on this side of the hill. There is a cool northshore section in the woods and the jump park trail provides some pretty challenging gap jumps with only a couple of feet on the landings before hitting the next berm. The mud was getting pretty thick by mid-afternoon but the sun came out later in the day and things should dry up for tomorrow. So we can explore the DH trails on the Mont-Chery hill and the ones down to Morzine from Le Pleney without having to put ourselves through the jet wash as well as the bikes!

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