We are thinking of heading to Les Arcs at the end of August / beginning of Septemeber. Realise the lifts will be closed, but does anyone know if it still works well as a venue earning your own ups?

Bump

Great place to ride. I’ve been there twice with BikeVillage and never used a lift, although have been shuttled a couple of times. If you’ve got the legs though, there’s no end to good trails round there. Maybe give BikeVillage a shout for some guiding – they know all the good stuff!

I’ve done the downs to death, never ever cycled up, never wanted to or even thought about it to be fair as its a long way up.

Saw a Roadie going up it last year and he was sweating a tad, wouldn’t like to think I’d got to come down after pedalling up for an hour or so, it’s not like BPW as you probably already know, so I woukdnt advise riding up or even pushing up.

I’m still trying to find a guide for our trip in July. Trail Addiction can’t help unless you stay with them.

Try coolbus for guiding. For accommodation check out The Loft in Bourg

P-Jay, have you been before ?

I’d definitely recommend TA, I’ve been twice with them, they know some of if not the best trails on both sides of the valley, I’m there first week of Aug which isn’t much use but I’d have been happy to show you some of the trails,

Not much use to you I know but I’m sure others out there would assist, Tagging onto the back of the TA groups isn’t really appreciated, we had the big Ginger KIWI, Chech stop a few straddles who thought they would follow.

Incidentally La Thuile lifts are open til 4th September, and the 2 main Pila lifts til the 8th, according to their websites. Lifts or no I’d rather ride at either of those than at les arcs. Though I gather Pila can turn to dust if it’s been a dry summer. Both a long enough drive to notice, but totally doable. (La Rosiere’ll be shut but I assume you can still ride their descents down to seez on the way back)

Haven’t done much riding up at les arcs so no comment there. I think going to a chairlift resort and not using the lifts would break me 😆 But in general I’d say, consider guides- it’s a holiday multiplier basically, especially if you’re pedalling upwards it’ll stop a lot of wasted time and considering the overall cost of the trip it’s a good investment imo. Worth speaking to the regulars to see if you can get a guide, maybe on the rest day- also Coolbus, and see if Yvan Bonin is available (he’s a former White Room guide, and god amongst men)

There’s some amazing riding in Les Arcs but its not marked and not easy to find so you really need a guide otherwise all that effort you put into getting up the hill won’t be worth it. If you can’t get a guide then get yourself an IGN carte de randonnee (french OS map) that covers les arcs and look for interesting looking footpaths, its all open access and there are some great paths that drop down to bourg between arc 1600 and arc 1800.

I’m still trying to find a guide for our trip in July.

I was in Les Arcs guided last year – going back for a few days in July and going to follow some of the epic routes I tracked – can help you out with some GPX files if you like….

I rode up to the start of double header the other day, i took what I know as the shortest and best way to pedal up, it’s still a lot of effort and not what I would be wanting to do a few times if I was on holiday.

I would be tempted to do the last few days in Les Arcs while the lifts are open then head over to LaThuile for a day and a day in Pila ( some good rewards if you pedal/hike-a-bike ) then over to Switzerland as the lifts are still open there.

Or book a guide company and take advantage of the great services they offer when the lifts are shut, more often you will find the better trails away from the lift systems.

@ndthornton – those files would be much appreciated, email in profile

OP did you see this thread Linky

Also check out bus schedule and cabke car as you can use those for uploft to resort and ride down. IME guided companies use van / bus uplifts from Sep onwards. You can also research resorts with lifts open into Sep, eg Chamonix

Have TA got a new website ? It doesn’t work well with Chrome, errors all over the place.

P-Jay, have you been before ?

I’d definitely recommend TA, I’ve been twice with them, they know some of if not the best trails on both sides of the valley, I’m there first week of Aug which isn’t much use but I’d have been happy to show you some of the trails,

Not much use to you I know but I’m sure others out there would assist, Tagging onto the back of the TA groups isn’t really appreciated, we had the big Ginger KIWI, Chech stop a few straddles who thought they would follow.

No, we’ve dropped a small nut I think. We’ve been to PDS loads of times and fancied a change – more of the same, but different. Lift up, ride down – we ride big trail bikes but happy to ride DH trails within reason.

Anyway, there’s a load of us going, but people keep joining and other dropping out so Lad organizing it booked a big self-catering chalet to make it easy.

We were planning to find a guide when we arrived, we’ve never had a problem with that in Morzine – just ask around a few shops, but without being there before and not knowing the ‘lay of the land’ it’s hard to get your head around it.

I’ve heard it’s far more of a ghost town in Summer than Morzine, smaller and split over a few ‘levels’ from Borg St. Murice and then 1600, 1800 and 2000.

I guess I hoping it would be a bit more sign posted, we usually fall out by mid-break because there a couple of lads who aren’t happy unless they’re pushing harder and harder every day on harder and harder stuff and well, some of us who are happy to ride easier stuff and have a laugh so we tend to split into groups, well once the swearing, bitching and ‘hold me back I’ll swing for ’em’ dies down 😉

P-Jay Bourg is a reasonably sized town, its not a ski resort as such. Its popular with mtb-ers as a lot of the best trails finish down in the valley and its easier from Bourg to explore / access the other hills/resorts. Trail Addiction are not actually in Les Arcs, they base themselves in Peisey / Nancroix (bottom of little bucket lift which connects with the big Les Arcs/La Plagne link). Bike park trails are sign posted, the best natural trails are not – its a case of map reading / following walk path signs – IME that takes patience and a tolerance for getting lost, sounds like there is some scope (absolute certainty 😉 ) for melt down in your group ! I am sure you could find a guide locally, did you try my suggestion of contacting White Room to ask about their ex-guide Yann, saw him in winter guiding a fat bike group.

did you try my suggestion of contacting White Room to ask about their ex-guide Yann, saw him in winter guiding a fat bike group.

Ah, I think I missed the a bit of your post – I remember you posting “there is a good guide called Yann who is now self-employed” which was great, I remember thinking “wonder if he has contact details for him” but forgetting to ask – I spent 20 mins unleashing my best GoogleFoo on ‘yann les arcs’ but came away empty handed.

Is this him?

Yup, that’s him, dude I mentioned up the page. I had the best couple of days riding, just chasing his back wheel round st foy and la thuile, he’s a master of riding exactly as fast as you can go . Also, speaks like a french mtb yoda. “This trail, it’s rocky? Maybe we crash? We go”

It’s still great if the lifts are closed if you don’t mind climbing. Been a couple of times in the first week of lift closure I think. It’s not a ride without 1000m self-powered climbing anyway.