Story and Photos by Ian Millar
CHARMING
Before we begin lets take a moment to dream. At the end of this paragraph close your eyes and rest your head back. Image a place where rugged alpine peaks crown narrow grass covered ridges, eventually announcing their presence into lush sub alpine forest that wanders its way into a stoic village seemingly frozen by time.
Eyes open now; picture that same image with hardened singletrack packed by the foot of time. Singletrack dancing its way to the valley floor almost a day away. But, not before flat, diving and pebble-coated corners drift you into a new view with each change in direction. Views so spectacular they can only be spoiled by the fact that you can’t give them enough of your time. Here your time has been taken hostage by the rotation of your gravity-powered wheels. Each rotation, reaching velocities that could only be reached by the chemistry of a group of friends delirious on exotically charmed singletrack.
WELCOME
Welcome to Switzerland! Home of the majestic and raw recreational paradise known as les Portes du Soleil – Chamblais region. Situated on the Franco-Swiss border the “Port of Sun” sits well guarded by the Dents du Midi Mountains (tooth of noon), and appropriately named after its sharp tooth like peaks. A quick 75mile train ride from Geneva Airport provides a visual warm-up of what will come. Dreamy views of Lake Geneva and the city of Lausanne marvel your imagination to a world seemingly so distant from our western ways. Upon entering the dramatic mountain range you’ll begin an endless ascent, bypassing quaint mountain villages and finally making the final stop 1050 meters above sea level and literally at the doorstep of the Champery Gondola.
MY KIND OF TOWN
Champery is a very small village. Traditional chalets decorate the main streets. The espresso browns, color bellowing rooftops and sculpted wood balconies. The contrast of saturated red rose filled flower boxes provides instant warmth and welcoming. Champery is wealthy in ambience. There is no structure or business here that could speak on any level of commercial intentions. Businesses in these mountain towns are family run and have been for years. The bakeries, restaurants, ski shops and pubs are all local. It’s a refreshing feeling to walk into a restaurant in another country and feel like you’re at your local watering hole. Authentic warm wood finishes and a relaxed atmosphere are the way of life here.
Champery is just one of the 14 towns and ski resorts that make up les Port du Soleil. All connected by a lift access trail network; it is possible to ride your life away. The variety of trails is sure to please all who call themselves mountain bikers. Alpine ridge rides, World Cup downhills, steep off-camber roots, epic singletrack (up and down), shore stunts, Bobcat built trails, jumps parks and one revitalizing mountain-style course reminiscent of the defunct Red Bull Rampage site.
OUR PEOPLE
The terrain would turn out to be perfect for our team. Our group consisted of one beauty and 3 beasts. To ensure an absolute goodtime we enlisted 3 male riders all hailing from Prince George, Canada. Prince George has had a significant influence on the world of freeriding. PG is not well known, but many shredders have made the move from PG to the bright lights and big mountains of Whistler BC. Canadian DH champ Tyler Moreland, mtb film star Gareth Dyer, and mountain biking’s Bo and Luke Duke: Kenny Smith and Kevin Bartovski. There are a handful of others who also call PG their hometown including Darren and Ryan Berrecloth. Most of these guys at some time whether known to the masses or not, have had an impact on the progression of mountain biking.
For our Swiss journey we dipped into 3 generations of PG natives. Kyle Norbraten (the rook’), Kenny Smith (a bit of a loose cannon) and Gareth Dyer (the veteran). To keep these 3 on their best behavior we invited Sun Valley Idaho’s newest resident - Aussie Niki Gudex.
THEIR PEOPLE
Once in Champery, the first thing to do is head to the local bike shop (located in the base of gondola, 30 meters from the train). If you’re lucky you’ll run into Lolo. Lolo is the manager of the shop. He is also the definition of aggressive cornering. Nobody corners like Lolo. If you get a chance to steal him away from the shop and ride with him, be prepared. This seemingly shy and quiet local is a maniac and master of drifting his bike at ridiculous speeds.
Our guide was Arizona transplant Ben Walker. You’ll recognize Ben by his trademark Sir Lancelot hair cut. You’ll know it’s him either by the way he manuals his bike in circles, or has a beer lip locked to his face. Ben turned out to be one of the greatest people on earth.
Ben started building trails locally to satisfy his own shred needs and soon after his efforts began to be recognized by local resorts. These days he is responsible for most of the fun in the Chatel, Champoussin and Champery areas. When he’s not running his Bed and Breakfast he can be found moonlighting for Scott Bikes’ R&D department and building jumps for Radical Films (check Eric Porter’s trail in Kranked 6).
With over 20 chairs accessing over 400 miles of terrain, having Ben as our guide came in handy, although it’s defiantly not a must. We experienced both days on our own, and days guided by Ben. While riding without Ben had definite moments of speculation, we never did get lost. Everything ended up at the bottom, and for the most part it’s all well marked. What can be confusing though, is a lot of the trails end up on actual roads. It’s actually really cool because after your trail ride you get a few bonus miles of winding, fast and narrow paved roads. It’s a blast and works miracles for your cornering.
GETTING THERE
As usual traveling can provide its challenges. Kenny and Kyle’s journey began in Vancouver at the Cove Bike Shop. Kenny’s team manager Gabe Fox managed to get them to the airport 10 minutes before their scheduled departure. They ended up being rushed and escorted through the gates by security. Then escorted by the glares of unimpressed passengers as they boarded their delayed flight.
Gareth managed to catch his flight on time. Unfortunately his bike box parted company with him at Heathrow Airport in London. His Norco Shore never did show up in Switzerland. Luckily for us, fellow Norco teammate Fionn Griffiths was hanging about after a World Cup DH race the previous weekend. Fionn came to visit Niki and now Gareth had a bike to ride for a few days.
Gareth’s troubles continued when he realized his flight arrived when the last train left for Champery. Having to wait for the bike that wasn’t going to show didn’t help his cause. Lucky for Gary our tourism host Eric Boulanger saved his butt and pulled off a 3-hour drive at midnight delivering us a slightly cranky Gareth Dyer.
Niki, well she is a well-experienced traveler and had our quaint apartment ready for all of us when we arrived. She had the beds made and rearranged the living area so we could manage 5 bikes and people without any fuss.
DAY 2
After 24 hours of travel and jetlag, it’s amazing how fatigue doesn’t even stack up to the excitement of riding in an exotic country like Switzerland. After some bread with a few slices of cold meat (also know as a sandwich in these parts) we met up with Ben. He immediately took us to the goods. We rode on a misty ridgeline and eventually ended up on a dirt road. After a short pedal up the road we stopped at a local farm. Ben darted across the patio of the small alpine shack called Las Pisa. He popped his head out the door and said, “They got beers… anybody? Some cheese?”
Yes and yes, in minutes we were snacking on fresh goats cheese and home brewed suds. Now this is what we came for. After the brief stop we made our way to what could only be described as classic singletrack; high-speed riding, lots of corners, rolling straight-aways, epic views and eventually it ended on a paved road that took us back to town. The ride took over an hour and with rain looming, we called it a day anticipating a good meal and a few drinks.
TIME
On this day I would learn a lesson on culture and local time. I was forced to the conclusion that food is a luxury and time is to be taken easily. I began my decompression to a new way of living, one where time was only relevant if you needed to eat, or wanted a beer. The shops open late and close at lunch, open again for a few hours and are closed again by 6pm. Riding your bike for the day and eating in your apartment proved to be a challenge for unorganized riff raff like us.
DAY 3
On day 3 Ben took us all to France - that’s right, you can ride in Switzerland and France in the same day. After about 25 seconds the novelty wears off and you’re on a chairlift uploading to the Chatel Bike Park. Chatel is more traditional in the bike park sense. Wider Bobcat built and shore-styled trails dress this area.
Corners galore and high speed riding was on today’s menu. It wasn’t until our last ride up we noticed what would be the ultimate freeride park (more on that later). For our last ride, Ben took us on a singletrack ridge ride mission. Again we randomly stumbled upon another alpine café/restaurant, so we broke for an assorted meat and cheese plate.
After we continued our mission, we ripped down trail that weaved its way through the sub alpine tundra. It was beautiful; with the light setting I stopped and gazed across the meadow. I watched the crew ride a trail hidden by tall cross-lit grass. It was surreal – I sighed, and continued on to catch up with the group.
After about 20 minutes, the epic turned into deep gnarled mud. It was one of those battles that are so ridiculous it was pure awesomeness. The smiles and stoke as we cleaned clumps of French mud off our bikes told a good story. The hunger of finishing another day with out any après food or drink available told another.
When we got back our crew of hungry campers took the short walk down to Le Gueullhi for a well needed feed. The food was local and incredible; drinks were going down without abandon. Some time just prior to the main course the mist cleared from Niki’s eyes and a memory of drinking locally made spirits was reborn. Before anyone could say “no”, mysterious drinks reminiscing of peach infused antifreeze were being consumed. This would be the torch that burnt down the building.
We moved on to Le Levant (a local’s hangout) where we discovered the flavor of the night - Black Bull. We’re still not sure what it was but we figured it to be Vodka. The keeper of the bar mixed it with a Red Bull knockoff called Budget Energy Drink. Magically it took over the night. Memories are scattered, locals were offended and personalities we never knew existed came out to party.
DAY 4 – SLOW START
After missing our scheduled meeting time by a mere 2 hours, once again we were on our way to exploring new ground. Off to Chatel for round 2 and time to further investigate what we only had a chance to admire from a distance, the day before. Chalet was well under way in developing the first ever (at least that I’ve seen) mountain-style course.
What is mountain-style? Well mountain-style is an upgrade from slopestyle. Where slopestyle only requires dirt and a mellow hill; mountain-style utilizes real mountains with big mountain features. Imagine a Rampage site in the Alps, still trickable and intensely creative. The course was being built for the first Chatel Mountain-Style Sessions, unfortunately going down just after we were leaving the country.
Hopefully next year the dates won’t conflict with other big mtb events and a stronger international field will show. Our group truly felt that this was the right direction for judged mtb contests to take. Hopefully it gains momentum. Spread the gospel!
We rode a half built course and dreamt up new lines to build. It was a really chill and casual day in the alpine, the kind where you really appreciated and are thankful for your surroundings. Things were almost moving in slow motion. We were defiantly hung over.
DAY 4 – BEN-LESS
Ben stole Niki away from us so they could go act like important people at Scott Bikes (Niki’s bike sponsor). We were left to fend for ourselves. Like a pack of coyotes, we wandered the land and adapted to each situation as it arose. Corner after corner our howls cried for more. We discovered one special corner that Kyle could graze his bar end so close to the earth that a light mist of dirt would linger. Kenny was able to hit its pocket so deep it would discharge him out in a stylish half-cocked moto-whip (check the cover). Stellar moments were thoroughly enjoyed; the dogs were happy.
We voyaged on, but not before a quick exploration of an abandoned old rustic barn took our attention. Pick axes and various cutting tools were discovered resting along the side of an aged deteriorating bed frame. The windy creeks of the old wooden structure and chains locked frighteningly to the bed frame, gave the boys an instant stiffing of the back – and on that note we were back on route.
By this point in our visit we figured out the time of the town. Our après session was spent enjoying frozen pizza and little beers as we admired the misty mountain views from our balcony. Our view overlooked the valley and gondola line, which was just foreground to a massive rock wall, the Dents du Midi.
DAY 5 – BEARCLIMB
During our short visit we encountered about 20 other mountain bikers. They were usually at the base of the tram waiting for the half-hour scheduled gondola rides. I can’t remember once seeing any other riders on the trails. So this morning when we made our way to the gondola and ran in to Darren Berrecloth, his bro Ryan and couple other guys, we were pleasantly surprised. What are the odds of that?
Like I mentioned the Claw’s also hails from Prince George. Now we had 5 mountain bikers from PG, the only town in North America that would ethically host “Battle of the Hockey Enforcers” (A tournament for washed up hockey tough guys to duke it out on skates). In true PG style, the fights in the stands out weighed the fights on the ice.
Claw had to film so we made plans to meet up for a late day epic. After our day of shredding the Champery trails and soaking up more of the uniqueness of the village we made our way up the gondola with a crew of 12.
The ride would involve an hour or so of pedaling and pushing to the higher alpine. On our way we again took a quick break at Restaurant La Pisa, quickly we slammed a back a home brew and munched on more cheese. The land was beautiful and the rocky peaks of the Dents Balanches stood like a massive wave ready to break. While back on route and dodging head-sized cow pucks, Lolo conveniently had a flat. Convenient because it was directly out front of another farm/restaurant. Once again Ben made his move and within a minute or so we were all being handed beers, fudge and cheese.
We would eventually crest the ridge, where the trailhead lay. Ahead was what would turn two handfuls of talented mountain bikers silly with excitement; an epic Swiss ridgeline, dancing its singletrack clad physique down the mountain. Technical challenges would break in on our carelessly erotic moments. Eventually the trail would open up into a high-speed drift-fest. Here is where Lolo slid across loose dirt corners, anticipating and praying for his tires to eventually hook up. Adrenalin levels were running rampant.
The entire ride was almost in stages. The start of the trail was maybe 1-2 feet wide, the next stage slightly wider, eventually double tracking and finishing on a road-wide winding descent. After an hour and a half of what could only be classified as a borderline sexual experience, we spat out onto miles worth of semi-paved road. Finally we arrived at Auberge du Grand-Paradis, another restaurant-pub, and proceeded celebrate with a few jumbo pints and struggle with our best attempts to describe what we had just experienced.
DAY 5 – THIS IS THE END
Maybe I’m just a lucky guy but when I look back on these kinds of trips, it feels like I’m living in some sort of fairytale. Like all good tales the ending always breathes of a pure and positive experience. Well, it’s Switzerland, so of course this one was going end well.
Our last day of riding started in the valley, we wandered about and took in what we all knew would be our last moments in a town we’d grown to love. The rain fell on the streets and we huddle under the canopies of closed shops. Our tentative plan was to meet up with Ben later in the day and he would take us over to Champoussin. Not really knowing what to expect, we boarded a late-day lift and rendezvoused with Ben in the alpine.
In typical big mountain fashion, we broke through the clouds and into a warm and ready sub-alpine. Ben was building jumps and had an hour to go so we explored the area. We found cattle populated trails with beautifully thought-out hip jumps. As the sun struggled to keep its head above the peaks, Kenny drifted tables and Kyle cracked his shoulder tapping inverts. Moments later Ben and his VW Eurovan would come into sight. Ben suggested we get moving, we had lots of riding to do still and time was tight.
After a quick stop to pick up some Heinekens, we parked at the top of our destination. A long semi-technical ridge ride followed. Trees lined this one with the occasional view over looking the valley. The crew was ripping; daylight was a factor or maybe just the excuse we needed to have an uninterrupted pin fest down the trail.
Half an hour later we were back in the Eurovan, I thought the riding was done but when the van kept gaining elevation, I realized we were in for more. Ben said we had to ride this trail and that his brother had just maintained it. In an unconvincing voice he said, “We should be fine for light.” An hour later we arrived high in the alpine.
We dropped into an overwhelmingly spectacular set of berms; berms so deep the next corner would be out of site, forcing us into complete improvisation. Needless to say some (me) blew a few. The trail would eventually hook up with Ben’s original masterpiece. The trail he first built and trail that launched his modest reign as the “the guy who is mountain biking in Champery.” I knew when we hit his trail; suddenly 10 feet ahead in my radar were step down jumps, landing in berms – exiting into jumps. Does that make any sense? The trail did, and we continued down the trail popping and dancing our bikes to the next break in the trail.
Powering high-fives let Ben know of our fondness and if that didn’t do it, Kenny’s aggressive “Ben you F*%KING RULE!” might have helped support that notion. With one more leg left, we entered the woods again, only to be met with a rhythm of small double jumps. Then it was on - a steep, buff track winding through a dark and glowing green forest. Somehow, our tires tracked the steep corners that would rollercoaster drop us into a berm waiting below.
Catch, pump, pop a double; do it again. Rhythm was in the system as the trail went on for a good 25 more minutes. The not quite wet but dark packed soil kept the bike sideways and rails locked. I knew it was happening, I was experiencing the closing moments of perhaps the most motivating bike experience I’ve ever had. Time was soon up and our Swiss adventure was left with only high-fives and a wild night in Geneva.
For more information or to plan your stay in the Chamblais region, please visit the following links:
Chablais Tourisme - www.chablais.info,
Champery Tourism - www.champery.ch
Les Portes du Soliel - www.portesdusoleil.com
Chatel Mountain Style - www.chatel.com
Ben Walker - www.chaletdeben.com
