About Us
What makes trailAddiction special is, quite simply, a deep-rooted passion for mountain biking. By sharing this passion with all our guests, many find a whole new dimension to the sport they already love so much. A large majority of our guests (now, our friends!) return to stay with us time and again, and of course we are always delighted to see them again.
2021 is about going back to basics for trailAddiction, with a scaled-down, one-chalet operation, and a maximum of 3 guides & 2 shuttle vehicles at any time. We’ve gone back to Chalet Eagles Nest as our all-time favourite from previous years – having the best balance of modern facilities and rustic Alpine charm. This smaller-scale setup (by former trailAddiction standards) allows the best-possible degree of flexibility to react to weather, trail conditions, and the riding style and preferences of our customers on any given week. Best of all, we are looking forward to ride with each of our customers on an individual basis, and in that way to personally share and enjoy the thrill of riding the best trails in the world with each of you – a pleasure that never, ever gets old.
trailAddiction began way back in 1999 with two friends from University, who wanted to show their mates from back home a ‘different’ way of riding bikes, for fun, that was very much in the Alpine and using uplifts, but very much NOT in the brake-bump-infested bike parks of Les Gets and Morzine.
That was, to take a ski lift, public bus, shuttles, or even thumb a lift to the highest point in the valley, then pick a hiking trail and follow it all the way back to the bottom.
Those two original founders of what became trailAddiction Ltd were Ali Jamieson and Ash Smith: Ash eventually went on to create the groundbreaking Trans-Provence, whilst Ali took on the creation of the Trans-Savoie Big Alpine Enduro. The point is, trailAddiction has always been about riding “Enduro” before Enduro even was a word! That said, trailAddiction has never been a provider of ‘Enduro-specific’ holidays per se, since that’s far too much ‘in a box’ for our liking. We simply do our best to provide the kind of riding YOU want to ride, in a beautiful, natural, Alpine environment. The only catch is, you’re going to need to enjoy riding sweet single-track, and lots of it!
With Ali’s passion and drive, plus a lot of top guides who’ve joined us along the way, trailAddiction grew through reputation and word-of-mouth to become what was probably the biggest chalet-MTB-holiday provider in the world, providing literally thousands satisfied customers with a week-to-remember, as well as running spin-off events such as Enduro2 not only in France but also Switzerland, Italy, and even New Zealand.
Managing such a large operation across several continents eventually became unsustainable, and for Ali as the sole remaining director, the element of personally sharing new MTB adventures with customers on an individual basis, had become lost in a torrent of paperwork, admin, and management responsibility. At the end of 2016, trailAddiction closed its doors and the company was wound up. The staff went off to follow various new passion-projects, whilst Ali spent time in New Zealand in search of new trails and new adventures. Before long, trailAddiction Ltd was reborn as an NZ registered company and provider of backcountry MTB adventures on New Zealand’s South Island, centred around Nelson.
But the call of The European Alps never faded, and in 2019, Ali returned to Les-Arcs. The rest was pretty much inevitable. A successful relaunch of trailAddiction’s Enduro2 pairs-format event in 2019 sealed the deal, and in-spite of obvious challenges due to COVID-19 in 2020, we were back in the Alps offering bespoke guided chalet holidays based out of Les Arcs but offering backcountry adventures to all corners of the valley…and beyond. A new business structure – using local partners in each of the countries that we now operate through which we can deliver the trailAddiction brand, and quality – means we are now small enough to know each customer by name, yet are well-established enough to provide exceptional quality and reliability of service, at outstanding value-for money.
Unlike some other alpine operators, we are not a winter ski chalet looking to expand into the summer market. Neither are we a general alpine summer tour operator. In fact, we don’t even operate in the winter, and we have no affiliation to any winter activities. Nor do we organise other sporting activities in the summer. Heck, we don’t even have any children of our own because we’ve been too busy riding bikes and pouring over trails maps all this time!
The possibilities for lift-assisted Alpine adventures are endless in this part of the Alps, and we can’t ready to share some of them with you this year.
Company Structure
trailAddiction Ltd is a Tour Operator specialising in MTB holidays and events in all corners of the Globe, with more than 25 years of experience and 10,000 satisfied customers. trailAddiciton Global HQ is at: 16 Mount Pleasant Ave, 7010 Nelson, New Zealand.
Our French-Based Guided Holidays are promoted & sold by trailAddiction Ltd from New Zealand, and delivered via our local partner; Mountain Sports International SAS, 254 Rue Vendome, 69003 Lyon, France.