The SkiBike Shop

 
Normally I like to prepare carefully in advance before testing out a new ski area, but today I went with a hunch that I might be able to score some good skibiking at the Massif des Brasses and luckily my senses proved correct.
It is located in an area referred to locally as the Valley Vert (Green Valley), the name is well chosen, for this isn't a deep barren wintry gorge but an area of wooded rolling countryside with steeper hills at the edges.
It reminded me strongly of the area between Pitlochry and the Spittal of Glenshee in Scotland's Cairngorm mountains. There was plenty of "big sky" and charming little villages, where farming is still the main money spinner and tourism pays for the luxuries. all very down to earth and Gallic.

In spite of cut price competition from multinational corporate supermarkets, the villages have retained their; local bakers, confectioners and butchers. Incidentally the bakers are always worth a visit for a delicious pain au raisin (sweet raisin bread laced with gooey custard) or pain aux noix (a savoury bread made with walnuts). Both make superb components for the perfect brunch time belly filler.

It was an easy and quick drive out from Geneva, practically flat by local standards, with the last couple of kilometres a bit steeper and more twisty. I found it hard to believe there would be a resort open given the lack of snow on the verges of the road. Passing through Bogeve I spotted the signs for the ski station and followed them.

Massif des Brasses - Village ski station

 
I was expecting to see a tiny village, with a 100m hill above it, served by 2 drag lifts, a red and green run, plus a nursery slope served by a rope tow lift; a bit like the French provincial equivalent of your average British dry ski slope. Upon arrival my first impressions were that it was exactly that.
However, the chairlift went much higher than I was expecting, following a tiny stream through the woods up to the sunny peak of the Pointe des Brasses. Here learners get their first runs and more experienced snow users can head off in different directions, meanwhile others just chill out on a sundeck, or eat and drink the day away at the restaurant.

Massif des Brasses - Much bigger than I was expecting

 
The top station is stated as being at 1600m, this is low altitude by Alpine standards where the sun this far South can melt away snowfall on any given month. But for today, in late February, the result was pleasant soft rideable snow, not the killer ice I had experienced just a short distance away a few days earlier. The downside is that the ski season at the Massif des Brasses is likely to be short. The upside, is that there is plentiful woodland riding on offer; being up on a glacier above 3000m is all very macho, but there is a lot to be said for whizzing through the woods.

Massif des Brasses - Tree Line SkiBiking

 
The infrastructure is mostly based around chairlifts complemented by a handful of interlinking Poma drag lifts. Most chairlifts are small, vintage 2 and 3 seater non detachable types. Providing the lifties are on the ball they will slow them down for you, so it isn't quite so painful on re-entry. Won't be an issue Brenter type skibob riders, more for the novice pegger freestyle skibike method followers. The lifties have become accustomed to SnowScoot riders and are on the ball and friendly.
The price at 21€ was excellent value, confirmed during a chat with a local, who much prefers prefers to bring his kids to the ESF ski school rather than pay big resort or worse, Swiss prices.

The runs are easy by Alpine standards, you are on big rounded hills, rather than craggy mountains, the riding is steep enough, I hit an icy bare patch and was surprised quite how far I slid on my back before stopping.

In summary the Massif des Brasses offers fun, cheap, unpretentious skibiking when conditions allow. It is an easy drive from Geneva, almost in the Southern suburbs.
You could fly cheaply from the UK on EasyJet, grab a hire car and be there in an hour. You would be unlikely to need chains except during a blizzard or immediately after heavy snow.


 
I recommend you head for the Chenevieres chairlift above the curiously named village of Onnion, there you will find a modern detachable chairlift, so the take off and landings are very slow and safe.
You can also go to the main car park at Chaine d'Or, above the village of Bogeve, from here you can skibike for 3 minutes down an easy blue to the same chairlift.
There might be local bus and coach services, choices might be very limited though.

Pras de Lys Sommand is the biggest resort that I had never heard of, the chances are that you probably don't know it either. To the best of my knowledge you won't find it in any package holiday brochures, if you visit you are unlikely to hear the usual melange of English, German and Dutch languages spoken. Yet again, this is a secret the French don't want to share with the rest of the world, in fact it would not be stretching the truth much to say that I felt like a spy just being there.
Pras de Lys is located right above the charming historic market town of Taninges, very close to Cluses, which perhaps you may already know, as Cluses is the gateway to Les Carroz, Flaine and the other parts of the Grand Massif domain. Pras de Lys Sommand, however, is a stand alone resort and not part of any larger domain. One part is a giant snow bowl located on a high plateau, the other is the face of a linking mountain.

Praz de Lys - much bigger than I was expecting

 
The drive from Geneva is relatively easy, but the last 5km takes you up quite a steep road with hairpin bends. In fine weather this seems straightforward, but in heavy snow you could well have to fit chains to make it. I didn't see any cars in the car park that weren't wearing winter tyres, although the usual complement of posh 4x4s were noticeably absent and small front wheel drive hatchbacks were the norm.

Frozen waterfalls on the road to Praz de Lys

I was staggered by the scale of the place, it is much larger than I expected, so much is hidden from below. As well as Alpine skiing there is also Nordic (Cross Country) skiing, SnowShoe hiking and even a snowmobile track.

I quickly set myself up and jumped on the nearest chairlift and headed down an easy blue to warm myself up, it was very difficult to control my speed due to the extremely icy surface, so I tried another run with exactly the same result. Furthermore, the layout of the pistes mean that steep hills are criss-crossed with much easier runs and even hiking and cross country trails. It is an odd arrangement and strikes me as potentially quite dangerous, a bit like having a cycle lane cross a motorway.
I decided to give the nearby red run a miss as I was having a crisis of confidence, had I forgotten everything I know overnight?
I tried some of the nearby off-piste sections, they were crusty but quite deep underneath, if you broke through the crust you had some digging out to do, none too enthused I went for a final go on the icy blue.
About half way down a steep section, I thought "bugger it with all this turning malarky Mark.. just let the frickin skibike run free"
The piste was totally empty and it looked like I had a mile free ahead and no-one behind me.
Bloomin heck, I thought I was going to break the speed barrier, I have never been so fast before on a skibike, taking off over bumps and balancing on a knife edge.
So this is what it feels like to be Raymond Georgesson, Serge Mermillod or Martin Schwaiger. I gingerly took myself back to the car park and put the skibike in the back of the car before I killed myself or someone else. I got the SnowBlades out, I have twice the braking power on those!

Just before my dice with death on the icy "Le Lac" run

 
I re-tried the near fatal blue on SnowBlades and confirmed that, yes it was very icy and fast, but not entirely unreadable. I just don't have sufficiently good carving skills on a skibike yet, maybe I never will.
I then decided to try over the hill on the Sommand sectors
this was a completely different story, the snow was still hard but at least it had a decent couple of inches of soft scrapings. The runs were also of a less severe gradient and might possibly get more sun on them. I really could have kicked myself for not persevering and bringing the skibike over to this sector and there was now insufficient time to switch back. If I was to return, I would definitely park on the Sommand side and ride there first.

Overlooking Sommand from the top of the bowl

In conclusion, Pras de Lys Sommand has plenty to offer the skibiker, there are runs of varying grades from moderate to very difficult. It is the best value resort I have visited, an afternoon lift pass costing just 18.5€, something like £15, which in the UK would buy you an hour on a badly maintained dry slope or roughly 30 minutes in an indoor snow centre. There are plenty of chairlifts, although you do need to check the map, as I spotted one that took you to a piste leading down to a drag lift for the return uphill leg.
Access from Geneva by car is on par with the other local resorts such as Flaine, there is also a coach up from Cluses, which has a railway station served by TGV Express Trains.

Taninges at dusk - rugged yet pretty

I had a slightly later start today and wasn't on the slope till 10:30, I am feeling the fatigue setting in and yet there is still so much to cram in before the 2012 tour and my skibiking season ends. Last year I managed to schedule in a few rest days but this year it isn't an option, as Warren Zevon once said "I'll sleep when I'm dead".

Today I have made peace with the T-bar drag lifts, I even found myself messing about whilst riding them, as I casually rested a leg on top of the fork crowns on the ride up. It's an easy but novel stunt that Martin Schwaiger considered a first on the T-Bar. I wonder if he'll copy it, of course the crown of a BullSkate fork is a lot higher.
Whilst I was exploring some of the pleasant and gentle woodland runs, I got a call from Martin to meet him at BullSkate base camp. We shared coffee and McVities chocolate digestive biscuits, shot the breeze and in spite of pressing chores elsewhere, I persuaded him to come for one final ride. He ran me through his carving drills, at the end of which he declared I was 25% carving, in truth it was probably only 10% and he was being nice to me. I warned him that in future there may be an army of "fat, sweaty, middle aged Englishmen with a hatred of T-Bars" to follow in my wake, at least he knows what to expect now, I hope they don't destroy his hard earned street cred.


In the afternoon I cruised around Sorenberg some more, trying out every run imaginable, right down to a tiny nursery slope. There really is plenty of variety on offer, steep reds, gentle woodland blues and some very wide flatter "carving practice" pistes.
Yet again I lost myself and missed the corresponding lift up the hill and ended up walking back to the car park. I followed a "winter wonderweg" pisted footpath with my skibike at my side, gliding along the snow like a well trained dog. A far better option than trudging up the main road with it over my shoulder.

If you are tempted to follow in my skibike tracks, here is some salient information.

BullSkate skibikes can be rented by the day in Sorenberg and at a few other locations, expect to pay 40 CHF (Swiss Francs) per day, hire will include approximately a half hour of tuition.
By car Sorenberg is just over 2 and a half hours drive from Geneva airport.
You could also fly to Zurich cheaply by EasyJet from London Gatwick airport, then use the train and hourly post bus direct to the centre of Sorenberg.
There are a small number of hotels of varying types in Sorenberg, but if you want to try the "Nuclear Bunker Experience" and don't mind roughing it a bit, contact Frederic Hupka currently it costs just 15 CHF per night and is probably the best bargain in all of Switzerland.
The town has restaurants to suit varying budgets, but the prices will make you shudder, at the bottom of the range a plate of chips and ketchup was £10.
Self-catering may be the only option for cash strapped British skibikers, the town has a bakery and smaller super market. Prices for food is slightly higher than in the UK, but the quality is excellent, even convenience food is significantly more wholesome than the British equivalent.

Sorenberg - sublime woodland SkiBike riding

Emerging from the bunker this morning expecting to see more bright blue skies, I was surprised to see a good couple of inches of fresh snow had fallen overnight. As even more was falling by the minute, I swiftly retreated back to my room and donned a thermal base layer. I also pulled out of my pack a pair of very 90's Steiner goggles that in spite of their vintage have only seen a few days use.

Steiner goggles - remember the 90's?

I wanted to revist the runs from yesterday but as I suspected the conditions at the top of the second chairlift were poor and appeared to be worsening. There are two routes down from the top of the Hinter Schwarzenegg, on one side you had to face the wrath of the wind along an exposed ridge, on the other, a steep red run obscured by fog. I tried both and preferred the pelting of riven snow over riding blind. I persevered for a couple of hours but eventually decided to move lower down where there would be more shelter.
A couple of potentially nasty crashes proved that it would be difficult to ride fast and safely on the piste. So I decided to go off-piste, at times riding up to the tops of the forks in powdery snow. Skibiking is very much like riding a bike on wheels in such deep snow. You steer uphill to slow down, but try not to stall or fall off. When you do, you end up having to dig both yourself and the skibike back out.

DIY SkiBike - axle deep in fresh powdery snow

You need to get up on the pegs and lean right back, way behind the saddle, this un-weights the front ski and you see the tip break the surface like a submarine. Get the technique right and the sensation is like flying, there were even a few precious moments where I had enough speed and control to feel the whole ensemble planing like a speed boat.

It was so much fun to ride freely all around the mountain, bouncing and bobbing over hidden obstacles, cutting a fresh trail as I went. To some extent I feel that this is where a skibike truly belongs, the technique isn't complicated and the gratification is instant.

Uncle Fester the crusty Fiesta covered over in just a few hours

Strange things seem to happen to me every time I head into the lesser known parts of the Swiss Alps. Last time it was witnessing the sight of a full blown Swiss Scottish bag pipe marching band playing lesser indie pop hits from the 1980's.
This time it is to be the chance to lodge in a working nuclear bunker. From the 1950s to the 1980s those canny Swiss, having witnessed the sabre rattling of the United States of America and Russia, decided that all new properties required a fully functional bunker capable of surviving the ultimate form of combat.
Presumably, once the fallout had settled and radiation levels were tolerable, Swiss post nuclear families with the right dynamic for the New Frontier could emerge to a post holocaust nuclear winter pumped for some epic ski adventures.

So what is it like? Well one enters a normal Swiss chalet and heads down an innocuous looking staircase to the utility room. There it is, a massive 6" thick bright orange blast door, passing through the door the air is tainted with the smell of damp earth and stinky ski boots. The place is filled with a random collection of junk and souvenirs of abandoned hobbies.

Nuclear bunker - blast door

Much more terrifying than the nasty whiffs are the cold war accoutrements, such as; the air filtration system capable of manual activation, once the first high altitude air burst emf device fried the entire European electrical grid.
If they finally went and pushed the button, how would we pass the time waiting for the all clear? How much Toblerone, Museli and Emmental cheese could one eat before the attraction waned?
The owner of the bunker provided the answer, we only keep it stocked up with booze, if it is ever needed... I want to be very, very drunk.

Living in a nuclear bunker has its disadvantages, no natural light to wake you up is one of them. I though I was up with the larks, but it was 9am by the time I surfaced. I rushed through a quick shower and shave then headed down to BullSkate base station to install my shiny new BullSkate "big ass" saddle.

BullSkate "Big Ass" saddle

Task accomplished, I helped Martin get out his collection of skibikes from storage, how you can cram 16 skibikes into a space not much bigger than a garden shed is a work of art.
A spartan breakfast, even by my ascetic standards, of an orange and a couple of chocolate digestive biscuits left me ready for the moment of truth. My lucky saddle did the trick and my journeys on the T-Bar were for the most part successful. So the scoreboard currently reads Schwaiger = 1 Kinnon = 0
The best part of being able to finally utilise Sorenberg's T-Bar heavy lift system was to get enough uplift to head over to the zone with proper modern chairlifts. Oh deep joy loads, chairlifts how I love you, even though you have occasionally hit me on the back of the head.

Sorenberg chairlift - oh the joy of it!

 Like a bird set free to soar high, I played on the pistes and contrary to my normal tastes felt the desire to head into the many areas of rough stuff. Up to the top of the forks in snow and under the chairlift someone shouted "Crazy English Men", I promptly saluted and replied "God Save the Queen" before continuing on.
Packing my kit back into the car at the end of the day, I was somewhat surprised when one of the many babes that pass through the BullSkate base camp said "Hey aren't you the God Save the Queen guy? Life is definitely looking up, I just need to be about 25 years younger, have a full head of hair again and quit using the gay wrist position (on the handlebars).

Leaving at first light I enjoyed a pleasant scenic early morning drive from Geneva. The route is very fast to Interlaken, but from then on it is tiny local roads almost all the way to Lucern before the turn off and short run up the valley to Sorenberg itself. It is smaller than I was expecting and the BullSkate hire centre/party zone/chill out lounge was easy to find.
This tiny 16' x 8' portacabin is, to the best of my knowledge, the epicentre of European Freestyle SkiBiking, no-one else has this many pegger skibikes available to hire. Within this tiny space, in a manner similar to Dr Who's Tardis, BullSkate manage to cram in; a sun deck with barbecue, a workshop with space for 16 freestyle skibikes, a bar and chill out sofa with optional nightclub lighting. This is the gestalt of youthful trendy skibiking, a universe away from the staid conservatism of the ski-bobbing scene.

BullSkate Base Station - The epicentre of European Freestyle SkiBiking

My arrival couldn't have been better timed, Martin Schwaiger was about to give a lesson to a group of novices, I joined the class and went through the exercises horrified to find that by BullSkate standards my skibike riding skills are well below par, to say the least.
Martin's appraisal could by summarised as follows:
I can skid the skibike, just like a girl
I keep my knees together, just like a girl
I have a gay wrist position, just like a girl
I put the balls, not the flats of my feet on the pegs, just like a girl
I can't carve the skibike, like a real man could.

This is how I ride - Come on Barbie let's go carving

Martin seems fixated by the carving concept, without this skill he feels that you do not fully control a skibike. It appear that at this point I Scarve turns, i.e. I start with a skid that turns into a carve.
I followed the "Schwaiger method" to the best of my abilities, but it seems that I am one of those students that just don't get it, much like some girls.
The biggest problem I have with the "Schwaiger method" technique is that it involves gliding an uphill boot over the piste in a similar style to the classic skibob racing technique.
I have just spent the last two years making it second nature to keep my feet on the pegs at all times and be one with my skibike. Now I am expected to go back to virtually step one, perhaps what we have here is a failure to communicate.
To compound my pain at the BullSkate skibike boot camp, the Sorenberg lift infrastructure is built around my "Bete Noir" the dreaded T-Bar drag lift, which I am struggling to get more than 50 feet on before the cursed thing ejects me. Apparently even 50 year old non-athletic office workers manage them with aplomb. I warned BullSkate about fat middle aged English blokes having a considerably lower level of physical ability and tolerance.
Ironically skibikes are banned from the gondola, but kids can carry on sledges the size of garden gates, aaargh!

Tomorrow, I will install a BullSkate "Big Ass" saddle on my skibike, Martin promises me that he had the same problem with sporty saddles, they are too thin.. we shall see.

In the last hour I was so angry and frustrated with myself, I donned my SnowBlades and went for a ski to chill out for a bit and it worked. I didn't pack my bikini and head to Rio, like a girl might.

Sorenberg

The crashes of the previous day had left my left leg in a very stiff and sore state, so I decided to give myself the morning off and catch up on my on-line world. SkiBiking could wait till the afternoon.
Ferney-Voltaire is just over the French border and adjacent to Geneva's Cointrin airport, so it would be a logical assumption that in quite a fair sized town there would be a selection of Internet cafes / Wifi hotspots.
As I popped in to various establishments asking whether they had wifi, I began to feel that there must be some kind of conspiracy taking place.
It was not unlike the first episode of cult 60s tv show "The Prisoner", where Paddy McGoohan tries in vain to get a map showing where "The Village" is, "map you say, no, we don't much need them here..."
On a hunch I followed the signs for McDonalds, located well out of town and sure enough there was free wifi, so for the cost of a coffee, I was in business. The place was full of smart young executive types busy on their laptops.

Lelex - The perfect carving practice run

In the afternoon I headed back to Le Crozet and timed the journey, just to confirm it really is 15 minutes. The Weather was still overcast, but the snow had abated and there were even the occasional bright spells. Oh the joy of being able to see where you are going.
Yesterday, I had shared a ride in the gondola with a man from Belgium and his impossibly cute daughter. They holiday here regularly because they enjoy "ski sauvage" or wild skiing. It was noticeable that the pistes had been groomed very little, yet the snow quality was outstandingly good and this was around 1000m or 3000 feet, well below the level of Alpine resorts. I could see their point, it would also explain the attraction for snowboarders and SnowScoot riders, plenty of rougher stuff to go ploughing through and over.

Bugger! Skibiker has missed the last lift

Once again I lost all track of time and completely missed the closure of the interlinking chair lift. I thought I was facing a long walk back up the mountain, but some words were uttered over the radio and I was told to wait a minute or two. To my surprise after a few minutes a snowmobile raced up to me, I was told to sit on the back, my skibike was thrust into my arms and we were off with the alacrity of the proverbial scalded cat.
I have never been down, let alone up a ski run, at the speed this fellow drove. The ride up on the chair would take about 7 minutes and I think we were at the top in under 2.
It was very unexpected to get such VIP treatment from the staff of Le Crozet / Lelex or maybe they were eager to get me off their mountain as quickly as possible.
Luckily for them, tomorrow, I leave at dawn for Sorenberg in Switzerland, home of Swiss SkiBike manufacturer BullSkate.

In spite of the exhausting drive yesterday, I still managed to drag my lazy carcass out of bed and prepare for my first investigation. I munched through a few juicy clementine oranges whilst peering through bleary eyes out of the window of the Geneva flat. The day looked dull and overcast with occasional flurries of snow. From my vantage point both the Jura and Alps were obscured from view, this could mean hill fog or fresh snow, I wouldn't know till I was up there.
My one certainty was that today could never be a "BlueBird Day" so rather than head for the high mountains and risk being stuck in whiteout on some featureless moonscape, I decided to play close to home and at relatively low altitude amongst the forests of the Jura mountains. From my base at Ferney-Voltaire I made the brief 20 minute journey by car to the ski base station at Le Crozet. Imagine that a proper ski station just 30 minutes from Geneva airport!
On my last visit to Le Crozet high winds shut down most of the mountain infrastructure, leaving just a short nursery slope to play with. This time it was going to be different, in spite of steady snowfall the whole area was open and running at 100%. Le Crozet has a gondola lift station which takes you much higher up the mountain where the pisted runs begin. There are only a few short runs on the South facing side looking towards Geneva. They are perfect for lessons, practice and a few warm up runs, but the hidden gem is terrain available on the North face heading down towards the small village of Lelex situated in a long valley.
I tried a few funs and as the day progressed the snowfall steadily increased. On the many tree lined runs, this wasn't too bad as the trees broke the force of the wind and helped tremendously with orientation. I wasn't out to break any speed records today, it was all about being slow and steady and living to ride another day. I soon settled in to a Zen like state, loving the feeling of fresh soft snow gliding under the skibike. On a couple of occasions, I got caught out by ice freshly exposed by the action of so many snow users and fell incredibly painfully on my left side somehow crushing my wallet into the side of my thigh. No doubt I will have quite a bruise to remember this holiday by for a while.
I met a group of SnowScoot riders on the piste and (I hope) amused them greatly by riding by shouting my best "Rock'n'Roll maaan" in a terrible faux American west coast accent coupled with a few Rebel Yells, on my substitute Harley Davidson overtaking their Lambretta Scooters on skiboards
I enjoyed myself so much that I lost track of time and was lucky to get literally the last chairlift ride back up the mountain to the Geneva side.

Whiteout at Le Crozet - scary stuff!

I hadn't appreciated how sheltered my riding trails had been, on the summit of Monthoisey's exposed peak the conditions were scary heading towards terrifying. It was like Scottish skiing on a good day, with pelting wind blown snow and almost no visibility. With helpful and much needed instructions from the lifties I made it back to the safety of the gondola station. I heard them send a radio message out "the biker has arrived" it had felt very lonely riding that last kilometre with no one else left on the piste and it was reassuring to know that I wouldn't have been left on the hill overnight. As I stepped out of the lift safely back at Le Crozet base station, I heard them shut off the traction motor. Wow, last man down.
The cost of my day's adventure was a measly 23€, this is about what you would pay in the UK for an hour on a badly maintained, killer, dry ski slope. I was told by a local skier that for loyal users there is a "pay as you go" season pass, getting cheaper with every visit, Mr Thrifty thoroughly approves.