Rider at feed stop in Châtel during Pass'Portes du Soleil MTB 2016 a mountain bike event across the French-Swiss border

---

Portes du Soleil is a collective of a dozen French and Swiss Alpine resorts. Skiing, the original focus, still dominates, but mountain biking is now also big business in the summer months, with 22 lifts available for bikers’ use. For Pass’Portes du Soleil MTB, a dozen of them are employed to create a single circuit visiting all the main resorts and covering about 80km of almost entirely downhill riding. Pass'Portes du Soleil MTB, which opens the mountain biking season at the end of June, attracts upwards of seven thousand riders.

---

Size: 2512px × 3763px
Location: Portes du Soleil
Photo credit: © Jon Sparks / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2016, adventure, alpine, alps, beard, bicycle, bicycling, bike, biking, border, challenge, châtel, cycle, downhill, drink, du, enduro, face”, fatigue, food, france, glasses, helmet, mountain, mtb, mud, passportes, pause, refreshment, relax, rest, ride, riding, soleil, sunglasses, switzerland, tired, uplift, “muddy