Mountain biking, after the lifts close. Le Bourg d’Oisans and Alpe d’Huez.

Inter-season Mountain bike riding Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez after the lifts close

Within the mountain biking world, Alpe d’Huez is of course best known for the Mega Avalanche. This three day event attracts thousands of amateurs keen to race against some of the best professional riders. Competitors start at the Pic Blanc at 3300m, beginning the race on the glacier before descending over 30km of gruelling trail to Allemont at 720m.

However Alpe d’Huez is also a world-class location thanks to the explosion in popularity of ‘Enduro’ riding. This combination of cross country, all mountain and even down hill skills lends itself to the huge sprawling resort with miles and miles of single track to explore. During the season, over 250km of well-maintained trails are serviced by a network of chair lifts, gondolas and cable cars.

Unfortunately the summer season is only limited to about 10 weeks, so once schools go back at the end of August the resort starts closing down. However this does not mean the end of the mountain biking season at all. Autumn see some of the best conditions for riding with warm stable conditions and deserted trails. Many business owners, time restricted during the busy summer season, now find time to get a little more time on their bikes.

Cross country trails around Lac Besson

My ridding buddy Dan from Ribot Lodge and I finally find ourselves with a little more time on our hands to go and hit our favorite trails. Granted, the high altitude trails off the Pic Blanc are no longer accessible, unless you fancy an epic slog up the service roads. However the majority of the best trails are found just above resort level and all the way into the valley.

One of our favorite inter-seasons rides has us meeting in Bourg for a pre ride coffee. Now some chose to ride the road up to Alpe d’Huez, but we prefer to catch the bus, which costs around €3 and is adapted for mountain bikes. There’s plenty of technical climbing to be done later in the day so good to keep something in the tank for then. Plus these days with both having kids, we have to have to keep our rides times down a little.

The bus drops you close to the top of the resort, where the majority of other riders chose to take one the of the down hill trails back to the valley such as the one from Villard Reculas via the Forêt de l’Ors. However here we chose to jump on the bikes and climb higher by paved then unpaved road to just past the mid station of the DMC gondola, where we hit the XC 11 MTB trail. This is a reasonably new and very fun piece of undulating single track, passing a number of picturesque lakes, ending with a fast decent to the mid station of the Grande Rouse cable car. Here you have a number of options. Continue on past the cable car on the EN7 down towards Vaujany and where there are further options to continue on down to Allemont. Alternatively change to the EN9 trail underneath l’Alpette gondola down to Oz Station (resort). However we chose to take a path that is located between these trails, which lead to just below the resort of Oz, but by a much more naturel and fun forest single track. This path is technically for hikers only and off limits to mountain bikers, but during the inter-season is totally deserted, so we never have any problems.

Fast single track above Oz station resort

It starts as a high speed decent through grassy pastures, before dropping into technical rock gardens, then moves into the forest and fast flowing, natural switch backs. Once in Oz station there is a short climb to bring you up to the lower part and arguably the most enjoyable section of the mega avalanche course (EN1). This is a fast section of forest trails with some high speed and technical berm corners. This trail can lead all the way to the mega finish line in Allemont, but we are usually short of time by this stage, so peel off close to the bottom in the direction of Bourg and the cars. There are trails on either side of the valley leading to Bourg along this 9km section. Both are undulating, but with little actual altitude gain. This section is a race to the cars and generally recognized as the time to drain the last of the energy in the legs.

The time it takes to complete the circuit varies hugely with your skill and fitness level, but you should leave yourself a good half-day. The bus from Bourg to Alpe d'Huez is number 3020 and 2013/14 timetable can be viewed here

Located in and close to Le Bourg d’Oisans are a number of cycling and mountain bike friendly hotels and chalets. One such hotel, Hotel Rondpoint is ideally placed close to the bottom of the road to Alpe d’Huez and offer the possibility of an uplift service to the resort for mountain bikers.

Alpe d'Huez - Back country mountain bike trails

Alpe d'Huez MTB/VTT piste map

Alpe d’Huez is most commonly knows in mountain biking circles for the Mega Avalanche. And for good reason, this international event, pitching armature against professional riders attracts people from all over the world.  The event takes place over 3 days with a day of practice, a day of qualifying and finally the race day. Competitors start at the Pic Blanc at 3300m, beginning the race on the glacier before descending over 30km of grueling trail to Allemont at 720m.

However visit the resort outside of this popular week and you will be blown away by the amount (250km marked trails), standard and diversity of the mountain bike trails. Even better book a guide to show you some of the resorts hidden backcountry treasures.

Single track around Lac Besson

One of my favourite all mountain circuits is to take the DMC1 gondola from Alpe d’Huez up to the first stage and then ride the cross country trail past Lac Besson (XC11) to the mid station of the Dome Rouse cable car. At the top of the Dome cable car the start of the Mega Avalanche qualification course heads off to the right. However we generally chose to head off the back of the resort to the left and follow a series of less obvious and quite technical single track in the direction of the Col du Couard. The trail, well above the tree line, starts with on loose rock mixed with sections of fun slick rock where you can chose any number of different ways down. It is set on a balcony plateau and runs past a number of very beautiful partly frozen lakes.

At the Col du Couard the trail climbs again onto a 

section of extremely exposed, not for the faint

hearted trail, which leads around the back of Les Agiguillettes before another short sharp climb up to the Col du Sabot. From here it is a fast decent through grassy meadows into the picturesque resort of Vaujany and a well-earned stop in one of the charming restaurants. It is now possible to return to Alpe d’Huez either via the two sections of the Dome cable car and then down the Mega qualification course (L1), or continue down towards Allemont (EN1), where a free shuttle bus brings you up to Oz Station and the Poutran gondola which brings you back to the main MTB area above Alpe d’Huez.

It is worth noting that this circuit is only really possible when enough snow has melted at altitude, usually sometime towards the middle of July and that the Dome cable car closes everyday from midday until 2pm.

For accommodation in Alpe d'Huez and the surrounding area visit us at Bike lodging

Les Deux Alpes Mountain biking

Les Deux Alpe Mountain biking

Having lived close to and ridden Les Deux Alpes since 2007 I’m always amazed by how quite and undiscovered by the huge British mountain bike scene this resort is. Compared to the resorts of the Portes du Soleil which sometimes feels like a huge British trail center, Les Deux Alpes in general has avoided the invasion of the UK rider. This could have something to do with the extra traveling time from airports. However with a new motorway section from Geneva to Annecy, the transfer time from Geneva to Les Deux Alpes is now just 2.15 hours and Lyon is just 1h45. With the recent launch of a new transfer company 'Chairlift'  supplying direct transfers from these airports, getting to Les Deux Alpes just got that much easier.

Les Deux Alpes sets itself apart from Les Portes du Soleil by having incredibly long descents. With an altitude loss of 2500meters from the glacier at 3200 meters to the hamlet of Venosc at 700meters. In which there are 110km of French Federation approved trails. These range from snow pack on the glacier to technical lunar landscape, onto high speed berms through alpine meadows, before the tight technical forest sections leading on below the resort level.

In recent years, the Free Raid classic event has been joined by the world famous Crank Works event attracting some of the best riders in the world. Different to its sister and founding event in Whistler Canada, this event still remains relatively low key and spectators are still able to rub shoulders and chat with all their favorite riders right in the pit area.

The Mountain Of Hell mountain bike event takes place annually in late July and is a mass start derby bringing together professional and armatures all looking to concur this grueling race. Starting at the top of the Les Deux Alpes glacier the race descends for almost 25km with a drop of around 2500meters over glacial snow and ice, loose rock, mud and tree roots before the finish line in Venosc.

Dates for the 2014 event have cause quite a bit of confusion due to a clash with the Mega Avalanche in Alpe d’Huez. Contrary to earlier publications, the event will take place over the weekend of the 18,19&20^th July.

If you are looking for somewhere amazing to stay for this week or any other over the summer, take a look at Chalet Venosc located close to the bottom of the Venosc run. Here you can enjoy a luxury mountain bike holiday, with hot tub, sauna, games room and cinema room for an amazing price.