Verbier Activity Review: 27th July 2011
With less than a week to go before the end of the Verbier Music Festival www.verbierfestival.com it looks as if this last weekend will be an exciting time to be in the mountains of Switzerland as Kermasse, the Swiss national day will be held on the following Monday and over the preceding weekend.
The festival has staged another great event which has really brought the town of Verbier to life and showcased some of the greatest classical performers in the world. Sadly the regular clouds and showers through July have not played their part in the overall ambience of the event but have not put a dampener on things very much at all.
The mixed weather has also affected some of the sports that Verbier is famous for but there have still been plenty of other sports that are not affected by the weather and regular stable patches with sunshine have still allowed us to get to the outdoor pool at the sports centre amongst other things.
One thing that has not been affected by the weather is the downhill biking. Trifon and the guys at the Verbier/Tzoumaz bike park have been hard at work shaping the trails and putting in new bits and the difference can be felt from one day to the next.
There are a few things to know about at the moment: the top of the Blue trail can not be reached by the usual route, instead the new route is to follow the sign up the track above the original track. Also the red chicane corners towards the bottom of the bike area are closed until after 25th August as there is work going on throughout the area to put a new lift system in and lay more snow canon water supply pipe. Towards the bottom of the yellow downhill track there is also a minor diversion.
Recently I have been on the Black run which is superb but very technical and steep and the red north shore area which is also superb. All in all the effort to improve the biking trails deserves applause, especially considering the small amount of funding and the small team that there is. There is still a huge amount of potential for development of the area when you look at places such as the Portes du Soleil and more needs to be done for absolute beginners and timid riders.
There are lots of other activities to keep visitors to Verbier happy. Everything from ice go-carting www.kartingextremeverbier.com and horseriding www.lesecuriesdeverbier.ch to hiking and golf on an 18 hole course that sits at just over 1500 metres verbiergolfclub.ch
Remember too that if all you want to do is relax then check out the many bars and restaurants that are open at this time of the year, sit back, enjoy a cold beer and enjoy the sun.
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See the conditions for yourself with our weekly Video Snow Reports and check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our What's On Calendar and Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Verbier!
