[Closed] Les Arcs

2700m with a bike which is 1900m above the valley floor. An excellent area for Trail/AM riding. I doubt you'd ride all the trails in one season never mind a week or two. Need a guide for the best stuff.

TrailAddiction or SteveMCD's lot for chairlift and backcountry uplift fun, BikeVillage if you like to earn your descents.

been a couple of times, loads of lifts, loads of trails, great place

you can book a days guiding with trail addiction

Great place. The best descents are not at the top of the lifts IME so a bike you can climb on would be good. Thoroughly recommend Bike Village who will tailor the riding to your wishes and provide very good food as well.

Booked for 10 days in August - Camping - so hopefully the weather is good to us....

Get yourself a guide for a few days, most of the best trails are not waymarked. Trail Addiction or Coolbus Rob will be able to help. Take the furnicular up to 1800, then the gondola to the top for most of the runs. There is also a run that takes you form the base of the auguille rouge right into Bourg, iver 2 km of vertical descending which still rates as the best day i've ever had on a bike. The black 8 is another awesome descent. Don't eat at 1950, its a rip off and have a steak aux girolles at l'alpage (top of 1800). I personally think its better than the pds for the sense of wilderness and back country. you've got this to look forward to

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mmm

Looks amazing - thanks for the info guys....Bliss with no uphill riding...

Bliss with no uphill riding...

aye, keeps the best trails for those of us who can be bothered to climb... 😉

Whats the weather like in August>???

I am going to get over there for at least a day trip this summer. I would be more used to Chamonix weather, in August that tends to be thunderstorms, followed by increasingly warm sunshine until thunder breaks through again. It might be more stable in the Tarentaise.

The myth that you have to climb/pedal to get to the good trails in Les Arcs is completely untrue. There is somewhat of a euphoria (endorphins, etc) associated with having done a bit of a climb and, in my personal opinion, THAT'S why the pedalled-to trails tend to be REALLY enjoyed.

In terms of actual singletrack quality, agreed, there are some absolute gems that you have to pedal/carry to (e.g. la Varda, Col d'Entreporte, etc) but there are also some (OK, lots of!) absolute blinders that you hardly need pedal at all to get to.

I think I must be the only one who didn't really get on with les arcs, despite having a guide for 50% of the time. Black 8. Nowhere near as good as le pleney in morzine. I found that the valley sides are so steep that I was on the brakes a lot and not able to let it rip. I prefer to let it rip. In my experience its way more technical than morzine and much less flowy.

I think I must be the only one who didn't really get on with les arcs, despite having a guide for 50% of the time. Black 8. Nowhere near as good as le pleney in morzine. I found that the valley sides are so steep that I was on the brakes a lot and not able to let it rip. I prefer to let it rip. In my experience its way more technical than morzine and much less flowy.

Who did you get guided by?

Been there last 2 years and no complaints at all. Excellent riding, convenient lifts (although only Funicular and Cachettes lifts open on Saturdys IIRC) and the trails are in very good condition.

We stayed in Bourg with ChillChalet, who were excellent,

Last year, a couple who had been riding at Les Get (or Morzine, i can't remember) for a week stopped at ChillChaleton the way back to the UK. They used a guide for the day and really enjoyed the place, they rated it a lot better than where they had been because the trails were more natural and in far better condition, which is understandable, as there are not so many riders.

We've already booked in again for this year, but going to use a guide for a day to get the most out of the riding.

I thoroughly recommend the campsite at bottom of Les Arcs road. Camping Les Versoyen http://www.leversoyen.com/

partly because the managers son is a very good mate of mine 😀

But honestly, they have very good, clean facilities, plenty of space, a short walk to funicular and also SuperU and offer chalets+mobile homes as well as caravan space+tenting.

I'm hoping on getting there with the family Aug BH weekend.. just got to persuade the wife and not let her think this about me going biking in the alps....

trouble is Black 8 is shagged compared to what it was 8-10 years ago,
second the votes for BikeVillage