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See why Portes du Soleil is the ideal Ride with the Swedes playground
It's big mountain style in the Alps in the latest Ride with the Swedes episode as Martin Söderström takes on Châtel Bike Park. Learn more about Châtel and other Portes du Soleil destinations here.
The Portes du Soleil region in the French and Swiss alps is a great playground for any mountain biker. Just ask Martin Söderström, who along with fellow Swedish mountain bike pro Simon Johansson, visited Châtel Bike Park in the region for an episode in Season 2 of Ride with the Swedes.
Watch what happened to Söderström and Johansson in Episode 4 of Ride with the Swedes season 2 in the video below.
12 min
Châtel, France
We go on a trip to Châtel, France, where the boys spend a week riding one of the best bike parks in the world.
Châtel is one of five internationally renowned bike parks in Portes du Soleil. The others being Morzine, Avoriaz, Champéry-Morgins and Les Gets. The Portes du Soleil area in total has 650km of marked bike trails with 22 charlifts to get you to where you need to be. Read on to see what we've picked out as the star trails to ride at Chatel and those four other prime bike park locations in the Portes du Soleil area.
Châtel Bike Park
Châtel has a full-time trail team that regularly shapes and maintains 20 of the downhill trails that it has on its resort. The numbers of trails you can ride and variety of them is what keeps people coming back again and again. As well as being home to the slopestyle Reboul Jam event, featured in episode four of Ride with the Swedes, the bike park is also home to one of the most famous bike park trails in the world in the Vink Line. Cultivated by pro rider Nico Vink, the Vink Line is a downhill track that is made up of innumerable huge jumps, monster berms and massive hucks. It's a smooth fun trail to ride though the jumps at the top of the course aren't for beginners.
Martin Söderström having fun in deep Châtel forest
© Adam Klingeteg
Les Gets Bike Park
Les Gets sells itself on being the ultimate venue for cyclists with the area offering opportunities to ride both on the road and in the mountains. Mountain bike wise there are over 128km worth of marked trails. There are 17 DH tracks, six XC mountain routes and a freeride slope also, while there's also specially-adapted e-bike trails to cater for this growing market. Les Gets is now of course a stop on the MTB World Cup calendar and the track should only be tackled by only experienced mountain bikers. The standout trail for visitors is the Tomahawk trail, which is a super-flowy track that has banked turns, quite a few tables and consistently-sized jump kickers.
It's a welcome back to Les Gets on the World Cup circuit
© GuillaumeG
Champéry-Morgins Bike Park
The Champéry-Morgins area sits on the Switzerland-side of the Portes du Soleil region. Champéry is of course famous in mountain bike circles for hosting the UCI Downhill MTB World Cup and one epic Downhill World Championship in 2011 that saw Danny Hart win in wild and wet conditions. That Coupe du Monde course is pretty steep, and most of the downhill trails at the Champéry-Morgins have a similar difficulty level. The is definite a place to head to if you are very confident in your bike skills. In total there are nine downhill tracks, seven cross-country trails and and two pump tracks in the park. A 40km E-bike trail has also recently been cultivated.
A handy reference to the best trails at the Champéry-Morgins Bike Park
© Sylvain Cochard
Morzine Bike Park
There's a reason why Morzine is the go to place for many of the downhill pros during the European summer. There are endless trails in the area while the town is well equipped to receive biking visitors, having been one of the first French Ski resorts to encourage mountain bike tourism to its slopes back in the late 1990s. Budget-wise it's one of the best places to stay in the Portes du Soleil region and serves as a good place to travel to other bike parks in the area or even to ride across by using the interlinked chairlifts and cross-country trails. The main attraction for those riding in Morzine is the Pleney Main Line (La Noire de Morzine) downhill track. This is a high speed line that many of the pros regularly use to test their skills but that's not to say you have to be on their level to enjoy it.
Avoriaz Bike Park
Avoriaz is a super chilled place to ride and is a bit more family-orientated than the other bike parks mentioned here. That's not to say the downhill tracks here aren't on the same level. The Coupe de France track is a trail that has hosted previous French National series races. The Hattock is the other main descent from Avoriaz. This is a fun ride with some technical aspects but nothing overly difficult to get you in a spin. Another attraction of Avotiaz is Lake Montriond, which is perfect to take in the sun and a place to swim.
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