The SkiBike Shop

Without any shadow of a doubt the SkiBike Tour 2015-16 was exceptional; it was in so many ways both the best and worst since the inception of this website.

It marked my return to Austria's ski resorts, my first visit since 2009 and only my second ever experience of this popular skibiking destination. Things kicked off early in December with the 4 Glaciers Express visit to four Austrian glaciers in as many days. It could have been such a perfect jaunt, in good company with near perfect weather. By the last day I felt like a skibiking god, I owned the mountain; but then came the fall that pretty much ruined the season for me. It was just a random fall of the sort you should laugh off, but it has had long lasting and quite possibly permanent consequences.

4 Glaciers Express - by the last day I felt like a skibiking god

A number of panel beating sessions by Dr. Robert, Croydon's skibiking chiropractor, knocked out enough dents for me to make it to Zell-am-See for the first ever European meeting of freestyle skibikers. It united riders from; Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the five countries that have been pushing the sport forward in recent years. What a fabulously disparate tribe of freaks, weirdos and deviants, I had finally found my tribe.

Skibikers - a disparate tribe

It was a little overwhelming to be in the company of so many of the movers and shakers of the European freestyle skibike movement all at the same time. I have never felt so humbled as to be sat next to a World Master skibob racer at dinner with whom I had previously competed (very poorly) against.

It was also great to see novice skibikers make their first turns on a skibike and to see the expressions of joy (and perhaps relief) on their faces. Blog co-writer Wayne Richards certainly made a name for himself as our chief instructor.

Wayne Richards - made a name for himself as Chief Instructor

Sadly on the last day of the weekend my friend Caspar fell victim to the poor early season snow fall and broke his leg on a tricky section of boiler plate. He was very well cared for at the local hospital in Zell-am-See, local skibike fanatic Maria Boyerl deserves special thanks for helping out as local fixer.

After the skibike weekend I remained in Zell-am-See for a few extra days in the company of Thierry, Stephane and with Wayne as our guide, we toured the extensive skibiking terrain at Saalbach & Hinterglem, Leogang and Kitzteinhorn all places that are rated very highly for skibiking.

We were somewhat beaten back by a great deal of poor weather, whiteout conditions and poor snow conditions which didn't make for the best experience. In fact I don't recall any sunny days for the whole of January, just endless gloom.

No sunny days for the whole of January

Back in France I managed a final ride with Thierry and Stephane, but my heart wasn't really in it, I ended the season early and went home to recover.

A final ride in Frnce before ending the season early

Carl Day wisely once said "freestyle skibiking is not for the over 50's", at the time I couldn't concur, there will always be someone who can buck the trend; my sister is running half-marathons in her seventies. But sadly for this "over 50" he has been proved correct, only in recent days have I had the pleasure being able to feel all my finger tips, for the first time in months of gentle recuperation. I shall count my blessings that nothing broke or I might be dictating this article from a wheel-chair or not even on this plane of existence any more.

Freestyle skibiking - not for the over 50's

For these reasons, I have to accept that freestyle skibike riding is simply too great a risk to take in future. The last six years have been the experience of a lifetime, I have met so many incredible people, have had such wicked wheezes and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

My mother told me that this classic Rolling Stones tune was playing when she went into hospital for my birth; it seems oddly appropriate as the theme for the Blog Tour 2015-16.

I had planned to have one or two mellow solo rides to end the season, but instead found myself heading off to La Clusaz to re-join Thierry and Stephane, why? Because although La Clusaz has been skibike friendly for a number of years, this season the skibike restrictions on (almost) all of the chairlifts have been lifted. The arrival of plenty of fresh snow meant that we would need no excuses to see how this principal would translate into practice.

La Clusaz - the arrival of fresh snow meant we would need no excuses

As locals Thierry and Stephane were guiding me I had only a rudimentary awareness of the route we took. But I spotted some odd anomalies which you need to adjust to at La Clusaz. For example, the Telemix Etale which has both chairlifts and gondolas running along the same cable requires you to be in the gondola section, presumably because you are classed as a pedestrian.
At other chairlifts the lift operators wanted you to travel alone, or as a pair. I think one wanted the skibike on the chair, inside the safety bar, proper old skool leper style; skibiker unclean, unclean, unclean.
It all harked back to the way things were at other ski stations five years ago whilst they were adjusting to a new and strange skibike rhythm. Hopefully as this season progresses the poor lifties will loosen up a little, much as they have done elsewhere.

Hopefully as the season progresses the lifties will loosen up a little

For nostalgic reasons I was quite keen to see the Le Fernuy side of the mountain, as it was one of the first places in France I ever took my skibike to. Le Fernuy was the first area at La Clusaz to open up to skibikes as a niche activity. At the time I stuck to the pistes exclusively, but now appreciate that this quiet back mountain area has some very extensive and expert off-piste riding available, much of it way above my skill level. As if to force the point home, Thierry and I discovered some of the most amazing pockets of untrammelled powder snow just off to the side of the piste.

La Clusaz - amazing pockets of powder just off the piste

So I am very pleased to report that it's all working out just fine at La Clusaz.  It's not a place I would normally have considered to go skibiking, it's just that little bit further than the Portes du Soleil for me to get to. But I can now see that with the new chairlift options, La Clusaz is really quite a substantial resort of which I had only scratched the surface previously.

Peter has been a long time contributor to discussions on The SkiBike Blog Facebook Group. His skibike experience had been limited to a few days riding a Firem VS skibike at Grand Bornand some years back. I had warned him that some might question his skibiking acumen on discussions, when only based on such limited data.

Yesterday Peter did the honourable thing and jumped on a jet from Bristol to Geneva; tomorrow he will be joining myself, Thierry and Stephane as we head off to the European SkiBike Weekend in Austria.
Today we enjoyed a gentle warm up session, cruising around some the gentler family runs that the Morillon end of the Grand Massif has to offer.

Peter adjusted to my skibike very quickly

We chose the sweeping Sairon run for our first descent, once past the steep top section it was strictly easy riding back down to the base station at Morillon 1100. Peter adjusted to my number two skibike very quickly, especially considering his lack of experience, so after refreshments we headed over to Les Carroz.

We eventually worked our way right over to Les Molliets, skirting the border with Flaine where skibikes have been banned from the chairlifts for the last couple of years. I am pleased to report that although Peter had his odd tricky moment, he survived unscathed and eager to see what adventures our trip to Austria will bring tomorrow.

Sairon piste - Morillon

So the 2015-16 SkiBike Tour is back on the road. I couldn't resist the opportunity to stop at the Col de la Faucille on the way in to Geneva and check out all the fresh snow that has fallen in the last couple of days.

I was expecting a wet slushy mess, but the micro-climate in this tiny corner of the Jura mountains has already provided a tidy covering of squeaky snow.

La Faucille - needs just two more days of snow and it will be ready for skibiking

A couple more days of this and the resort could be open once again for skibiking.

So what has been the result of 2015 in regards ski biking for yours truly. Sort of an odd year in some ways and not what I had really intended.  I have skied more than ski biked this year and that has been a bitter pill in some ways, as I do enjoy the biking on snow. Mind you the conditions I have skied in this year, which generally have been really slushy and poor, I haven’t missed much, it’s not been an epic snow season for sure.

Looking back on the 2014-15 skibike season, it is easy to forget that it got off to such a terrible start. Many resorts had a green rather than a white Christmas, even a premium resort like Morzine was forced to bus their guests up to neighbouring Avoriaz where just a few runs were open and lift tickets were rationed. At Morillon, they opened the bare and rocky pistes to anyone that fancied a bit of out of season lift assisted mountain biking on Christmas Day.
Despite a big dump of snow on New Year's eve, the snow drought continued through January and the prospect of the season becoming a total write-off looked ever more plausible.

At the very end of January nature re-established the equilibrium and there were huge snowfalls that continued throughout February. I studied the forecasts and watched the webcams like a hawk; once I had completed all of my work commitments, I blocked booked my diary, packed the car and headed South to Geneva; better late than never!

Time to hit the road - better late than never

I had not been at all well during the winter months and wanted to start the tour with a gentle warm up day in the Jura mountains; blog tour stalwart Thierry drove over from the Aravis area to join me for a whirlwind tour of skibike friendly Col de la Faucille and Lelex / Le Crozet ski stations.

Blog stalwart Thierry

Without any pause for recovery we then had our first group ride of the season at La Clusaz, most of which I spent falling about in the snow and going head over heals in the low visibility.

I then had a couple of days in Sainte Foy, one of which was spent mostly in the company of Max, a skilled BMX rider, working there as a seasonaire. The look on his face when he saw me trudging towards him with not one, but two skibikes in tow, was priceless. His previous skibike experience had been riding his ghetto BMX skibike conversion on his local golf course in South Wales, so riding my skibike on the big mountain was quite a challenge, but one he soon warmed to.

Sainte Foy - skibike friendly, but freestyle skibikes were a novelty

Sainte Foy has historic connections with skibikes, but this was still the first time the lift operators had seen a freestyle skibike. They weren't sure it was wise to take one all the way to the very top of the mountain, but I soon proved the viability of skibikes as all mountain machines and made Sainte Foy the first new skibike friendly station of the season.

Buoyed up by my recent successes, I made a day trip to Tignes to check out whether it was once again skibike friendly. It turned out that you can legally ride skibikes, and can use the gondolas and cable cars for access. The down side is that you can only use the chairlifts with foot skis, which was frustrating, there's no way I will be regressing back to this method of riding and you can guess where all the really good riding was to be found. I ended up switching to skis, it would be great if Tignes caught up with the trend for easy skibike access everywhere, making it only half skibike friendly for the moment.

Tignes - you still can't do this with a freestyle skibike

Whilst in the area I made an expedition to La Plagne to prove its viability as a skibike friendly resort. It has been used by skibobs for many years, but the trip verified that you can also use a freestyle skibike with impunity. La Plagne was the second new skibike friendly resort of the season and fortunately wouldn't be the last either, can you sense a trend emerging?

La Plagne - the second new skibike friendly resort of this season

The venue for the next group ride was Avoriaz, it gave us a chance to scope out the adjacent runs at Châtel and Champery, although we didn't fully appreciate it they were two places we would be seeing more of in the coming weeks.

Avoriaz/Châtel - we would see more of this in the coming weeks

Some very stormy weather followed, but once the clouds had lifted I managed a laid back afternoon at Le Crozet, cruising around and loving the skibiking experience.

Le Crozet - loving the skibike experience

Feeling ready for fresh adventure I headed off the grid for an expedition to the small, isolated village of Areches Beaufort a charming little resort, which in many ways serves as a glimpse into a less commercial past. There's no modern glitz, no giant screens shouting advertising at you wherever you look, a pleasant relief from the marketing overload that so many bigger resorts can exhibit. The conditions weren't brilliant, but it was the third station with a positive attitude to skibiking I had found this season and will be worthy of a return visit next year.

Areches Beaufort - a charming little resort

I had a fun re-union taking giant steps walking on the moon with Kevin the deaf skibiker at Val Thorens. He didn't say a word to me for the whole day, but he laughed like a drain, especially if it involved me making slow motion falls or a really good face plant. Mmmm snow sandwich anyone?

Val Thorens - Kevin the deaf skibiker in action

Thierry and I then broke fresh ground with a trip to Les Arcs fixed in our cross-hairs. Les Arcs is also the self proclaimed "home of (French) snowboarding", this was the place where the snowboard broke out of the snow park and became accepted as an all mountain machine. To say that there are parallels with the history of modern freestyle skibiking would be an understatement. Once again it was totally skibike friendly, making it the fourth skibike friendly resort of the season.

Les Arcs - the fourth skibike friendly skibike of the season

Thierry, Stephane and I then made a visit to the Maurienne valley to enjoy the novelty of being able to skibike at Valloire, the fifth new skibike friendly resort of the season. Valloire has charm and a distinct Gallic/Italianate cross-over vibe, the lift infrastructure at was very good for a smaller resort and the attitude commendable. With easier access from Italy than France, it would make a great spot for a novice Italian skibiker from Milan or Turin to get in some riding experience.

Valloire - the sixth new skibike friendly resort of the season

I took a day off from skibiking and went house hunting in Morillon for a potential base camp for future tours and just maybe a place to retire to later in life.

House hunting in Morillon - a potential base camp for future tours?

I ended the first tranche of the tour by getting thoroughly chilled out on the Dole, drinking Myrtle beer in the car park and musing on the joys of having a great big snowy hill and a chair lift just 30 minutes from my Geneva base camp.

Chilled out drinking Myrtle beer!

Back in November I had spotted Jonathan's interest in skibing via Facebook, I couldn't resist the opportunity to introduce myself, in the vaguest hope that he would give skibiking a go, whilst in the company of some unknown and eccentric Rosbif in Combloux. Amazingly he went for it and even came back for a second bite later on in the tour.

Jonathan in Combloux

On the my last run I unwisely "went for it" on the Boarder Cross circuit, promptly overshot the banking and went sailing into the hillside at full tilt. Fortunately my head broke the fall!
I took a weeks hiatus and headed back to London as "Walking Wounded" to earn myself the cash to spend on "Part Deux" of the tour.

Back in the skibike saddle after a week off, I enjoyed my second ride with Jonathan at the ski station of Praz de Lys / Sommand he was rapidly turning into an off-piste monster!

Jonathan - smashing it at Praz de Lys

I then had an early start to join Thierry on a visit to Champery which was was a little different from the average tour day. Our objectives were; to meet with the operators of the lift company, do some test rides and show how skibikes can safely use the various types of chairlifts. All in the hope that by next season we will have another resort in the Portes du Soleil to ride.

We had passed the ski lifts of Châtel en route for our morning ride at Champery, so it would have been nothing short of churlish not to have stopped on the way back for an afternoon ride. Châtel has been SnowScoot friendly for a long time, more recently it has opened up to skibikes too, for both of us this would be our first opportunity to see how the theory would translate into practice. The trip was a resounding success and Châtel became the sixth new skibike friendly resort of the season.

Châtel - stopped in for a Saturday skibike ride

A second trip to Avoriaz which was somewhat of a reunion, blog co-writer Wayne had come out for a long weekend to join me and was joined by Thierry and John who had come all the way from the 3 Valleys. Group rides always have a different feel to solo expeditions, sometimes you are spurred on to get out of your comfort zone and try new things, like that black run that looked too steep for freestyle skibikes.

Avoriaz - group rides always have a different feel to solo expeditions

Continuing the theme of testing the skibike friendliness of sundry ski stations, my focus of interest shifted to the Les Sept Laux in the Chaîne de Belledonne, somewhat off the beaten track, although not really that remote. John travelled over from Les Menuires to join me and it turned out to be quite a large station, with plenty of variety, very quiet and peaceful and lots of good runs. It was another success and the seventh new skibike friendly station of the season.

Les Sept Laux - quite a large station with plenty of variety

Success at Les Sept Laux spurred me on to check out Chamrousse, another Chaîne de Belledonne ski station. Skibikes aren't officially permitted at this ski station, but they were happy to let me ride providing I had a safety leash. The weather was appalling, but my priority was to ride the eighth new skibike friendly station, tick the box and move on to the 3 Valleys.

Chamrousse - another skibike friendly ski station

This year was the first time someone has made me an offer I couldn't refuse and no the Mafia weren't involved, it was the chance to hang out in the company of fellow skibiker John in Les Menuires to do some easy riding all around the 3 Valleys domain. I would like to report that it was all plain sailing, but sadly that was not so and I have been left with the lasting impression that it was somewhat of a bitter-sweet experience.

The 3 Valleys with John - bitter-sweet

It was such a slow season to get started, but with fresh snowfall and a shift to much colder temperatures it seemed reluctant to end. The timing couldn't have been better for an Easter Monday jaunt to Valmorel in the company of John and Thierry which turned out to be the best riding of the season.

Valmorel - the best riding of the season

A message from Tim and Lesley to say that they were going to make an end of season trip to Morzine, provided a great reason to delay my departure and get in a final group ride of the season in Avoriaz. Due to slow post operative recovery Tim couldn't ride and Leslie wouldn't even consider it, instead I had to hang out with the skiers.

Avoriaz - hanging out with the skiers

So where could I find for the final ride of the tour? I pondered long and hard about where to go, I would have been happy with any of my local little Jura ski stations, but despite bountiful snow, they have all stayed firmly on schedule and already closed for the season. So instead I opted for the Grand Massif domain, which has in so many ways become a home from home.

So where could I find for the final ride of the tour?

I have always found a piece of music that sums up the vibe of a season's tour; this little ditty may not be the most current, but I heard it a couple times on French radio and the words seemed oddly appropriate to me after having I spent so much of this tour hunkering down in a guest or hotel room bed.

Today will be my last day on the slopes for this season, I pondered long and hard about where to go, I would have been happy with any of my local little Jura ski stations, but despite bountiful snow, they have all stayed firmly on schedule and already closed for the season. So instead I opted for the Grand Massif domain, easily accessed above the village of Morillon, in the charming Giffre valley, which has in so many ways become a home from home.

The Giffre valley- charming

I took my time getting over to Morillon and wasn't ready to ride till nearly 11:00, Thierry would not approve of such tardy behaviour. Yet there was still some iciness in the shaded runs, but it didn't last for long. Morillon was pretty much deserted, just a few clusters of school kids, the sun was shining, the snow softening and the visibility perfect.

Grand Massif - I don't even need a piste map here

After so many rides this season where I was frustrated by poor visibility and slopes clogged with novice skiers fumbling around, this was my one day to really let rip in safety. As has been observed by my buddies, normally I err toward prudence and get overtaken a great deal; but today it was I who was zipping past the other snow users, carving giant arcs and daring myself to get the handlebars ever closer to the snow.

The runs in this area are so familiar I don't need to consult the map any more. That said, I don't ever recall having skibiked the Chamois piste before, it had always appeared too steep for freestyle skibiking, but today in the post lunchtime heat I finally put pay to that myth too.

What a perfect end to my tour, school is now out for the summer and there's nine months to wait till the start of the next season.

I really should have already been back in London by now, but a message from Tim and Lesley to say that they were going to make an end of season trip to Morzine, provided a great reason to get in a final group ride of the season.

I last rode a skibike with Tim over 18 months ago at the Bottrop indoor ski centre in Germany, at the time he was testing out a Lenz Brawler that was for sale and hasn't been on a skibike since. I had hoped to get him on my spare skibike for the day, but it turned out he has only recently had an operation on his hand which is taking a long time to heal up. If you have trouble even getting your gloves on, then lugging a skibike on and off sundry chairlifts is probably not a good idea.

A mix of ice, slush, grass and rocks can be intimidating on skis

In the last few weeks I seem to have spent the majority of my time playing catch up with the other skibikers. But today Lesley got a bit intimidated by the odd mix of ice, slush, grass and rocks found on some runs and took a highly cautious approach; whilst I enjoyed the luxury of being able to jump off my skibike and carry it over the muddy bits and had the rare pleasure of being first down the slope. This of course meant I could take a breather in the hot sun and field curious bystanders' questions.

With slushy conditions predominating from noon onwards I witnessed the build up of a great deal of "saddle envy" whilst making jet ski style progress through all the slush. I left Tim and Lesley to head back to their chalet in Morzine with tired legs, whilst I indulged myself in some solo rides till the last lift closed.

Tim and Leslie - saddle envy from lunchtime on

It was such a slow season to get started, with the recent fresh snowfall and a shift to much colder temperatures it now seems reluctant to end,. The timing couldn't have been better for an Easter Monday jaunt to Valmorel in the company of John and Thierry. Thierry and I made a similar visit at the end of the 2013-14 season and were highly impressed with the scale of easily accessible, gentle and fun off-piste riding that this resort has to offer.

There was even the prospect of finding fresh powder snow to ride, which with the possible exception of the few high altitude resorts, is highly unusual in early April in the Alps. But Valmorel has a knack of punching above its weight and delivering better conditions than mere statistics would first suggest.

Valmorel - has a knack of punching above its weight

Thierry and I travelled together from St. Jean de Sixt and made a rendezvous with John who had journeyed over from nearby Les Menuires. We kicked the day off with a trip up the Altispace chairlift and followed an open off-piste route running parallel to the La Froide piste. John, although well accustomed to the high altitude snow available at Les Menuires and adjacent Val Thorens, was still somewhat blown away by the presence of such a huge powder field at relatively low altitude and immediately demanded a second bite of the cherry.

Valmorel - easy, open off-piste

We moved steadily on towards St. Francois/Longchamp re-discovering an off-piste area we had previously nick named "The Mountains of The Moon". In the cool and crisp air the snow glistened like a carpet of diamonds, even the air sparkled and for once I had the pleasure of putting virgin tracks through a hidden gully, turning it into a joyous natural half-pipe.

We headed for the top of Soleil Rouge chairlift

Not wanting to waste a precious moment we headed for the top of Soleil Rouge chairlift for the intimidating big mountain terrain underneath. In many ways the conditions were perfect for skibiking with a foot of un-tracked powder over a firm icy base. The substrate gave predictable control, with the powder lending an awesome amount of float. Had it been deeper we would have needed a snorkel to breath and a periscope to see where we were going. The riding conditions were sensational, it was unequivocally the best off-piste riding so far this season and for me, a revelation of just how good powder riding can be, we simply had to do it a second time.

The riding conditions were sensational

Feeling elated we headed for the two runs off the top of the Lauziere chairlift, which had been closed on our last visit, but this time was fully open, thanks to the recent snow. We split our routes back down; with Thierry and John following the precipitous black route, whilst I elected to play safe and follow the Reverdy red route. Sadly though, we had missed our moment, the sun had already rendered the snow wet and heavy, making both turning and speed control difficult. We made it down safely if not elegantly, but unanimously agreed that it was more of a technical challenge than fun.

The afternoon was moving on and we were all feeling tired, so we slowly retraced our tracks back towards Valmorel, focussing on the easier runs and generally larking about till the close of play.

Afternoon - we were all feeling tired

In conclusion, I can't think of any other resort that has quite the same scale and depth of off-piste as Valmorel. If you like half-pipe riding there are so many little gullies to exploit. If you think that this is just an easy family resort, try out the long and steep off-piste routes available at St. Francois/Longchamp and re-evaluate your opinions. Add to the mix a thoroughly skibike friendly outlook, which allows use of all but one chairlift and you have a winning combination at Valmorel. John was even considering whether to defect here from his regular 3 Valleys haunts for next season and that is all the recommendation you really need.