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Ok, so just got back from a 3 day trip to Les Arcs.
The most awesome place ever, the trails are phenomenal and the views beyond belief. Black 8 rocks
The best trip ever
Thats all!
going next week on mi hardtail are there many breaking bumps
Yeah, lots. Great fun though
Have a good trip
I never really liked Black 8. Some much better trails than that one in the same area.
Black 8's a hoot if you try the challenge.
Get off the funicular, race to get the next one back up.
Some make it, some don't.
Looking forward to St Foy later this week myself. Sure we'll do a day at Les Arcs and a day at La Thuille in Italy.
sainte foy any good ?
Sainte Foy is ace.
Off to Les Arcs in 3 weeks, anyone got any GPX files?
Went to Bourg last week for 6 days of MTB'ing.
Covered Les Arcs, Tignes, Val'Disere (Tignes+Val are free lift passes), La Thuile and Pila.
Pila is beyond belief. Awesome. All DH runs, and the 13km to Aosta is ridiculously good. IXS and World cup trails up top along with loads more, all taped off so easy to follow (until you get to crossroads at speed!).
Les Arcs was prob best of the rest and best IMO for all round riding and singletrack. Cachette is a hoot and the toughest (physically) of all DH runs inc Pila. Singletrack at Vallandry is great, tons to find, just take any footpath down, no need for a guide at all. This was with no TransArcs lift, so no La Varda for us, our only disappointment. We were a week early.
Bit disappointed with Tignes, a lot of trails still not open. Val was better, but limited number of obvious trails (only at each for a day anyway). Tignes did have some nice singletrack down to Les Brevieres - the tightest switchbacks ever!
Nick, no need for GPX files really, just follow your nose. There was a good descent from Vallandry to valley, using the footpath near the burnt out building in Vallandry, you should see it near the bus stop.
Some vids so far
Val D'Isere fun at Rhododendron:
Cachette:
Pila coming soon!
Sainte Foy is fantastic (see all the other threads)
Cachette is a hoot and the toughest (physically) DH run
Always thought it was quite tame compared to Morzine really just a bit bumpy
Always thought it was quite tame compared to Morzine really just a bit bumpy
Thats just it, its very bumpy in the rock garden before the woods and the wooded section. I was knackered by 1/2 way. We did manage to do a Cachette+Black8 in 1 go, with the only pause being the road between, but we had to pace ourselves on Cachette.
Sainte Foy is ace, prefer it to Les Arc. Quiet awesome natural trails.
No full facers mincing about wearing PJ's!
No full facers mincing about wearing PJ's!
Full face and booting it!! No pj's though
I was with Surperfli and here are my thoughts:
What a great trip! On par with Chatel last year!
Yep Best place I have ever ridden. Well organized, Well maintained, all trails marked out and brilliant fun! 15km DH run was just EPIC. Wish we had more time there to ride some/all of the XC/singletrack!Pila is beyond belief. Awesome. All DH runs, and the 13km to Aosta is ridiculously good. IXS and World cup trails up top along with loads more, all taped off so easy to follow (until you get to crossroads at speed!).
Not the best of the rest for me, mainly because the signage was crap (green 1 sent you though a shopping center and done some stairs and then the signs just stopped) Not great for beginners or anyone trying to get from 1800 to 1600. Same with all of the other greens a couple of the blue and reds too. In a way I’m glad the signage was cap because we ditched the marked trails and rode some really cool single track and DH, Best stuff was Vallandry Single track, Black 8 and the stuff the other side of the pipes 🙂Les Arcs was prob best of the rest and best IMO for all round riding and singletrack. Cachette is a hoot and the toughest (physically) of all DH runs inc Pila. Singletrack at Vallandry is great, tons to find, just take any footpath down, no need for a guide at all. This was with no TransArcs lift, so no La Varda for us, our only disappointment. We were a week early.
Tignes and,Val was my second favorite place after Pila bit of everything there and all for FREE amazing!Bit disappointed with Tignes, a lot of trails still not open. Val was better, but limited number of obvious trails (only at each for a day anyway). Tignes did have some nice singletrack down to Les Brevieres - the tightest switchbacks ever!
la thuile was also good loads of DH singletrack, K2 being my highlight.
Nick, have a look at my strava, got all the rides uploaded: http://app.strava.com/athletes/363723
We didn't go to Sainte Foy as the lift weren’t open yet but maybe next time, although I will be going to Italy next time Because it was ace and much cheaper than France.
P.S don't tell anyone about Pila
seen the strava ad yep, yep and yep!!
You missed the off road back from Tignes though, leaving it on in the lifts may have bumped up your averages!!
leaving it on in the lifts may have bumped up your averages!!
Yep I climb straight and fast!
Yer we were struggling with time so we went for a blast down the road 😉You missed the off road back from Tignes though
Rode back to the digs every day thought most took the car 🙂
Black 8's good, but White 8's better.
Oh, and advice on those planning on doing the Petit Bernard Pass back to Bourg/Seez, start at La Rosiere first lift you get to from Pass. The descent is great and was being improved towards the bottom when we did it. The rest from the Pass is a bit bland and there is a god awful climb up back to the road (especially if you had just climbed to top of La Thuile mountains thinking that was all the climbing done!).
You mean from the top of the pass to the corner of the road or below that?
Enjoyed it from the road, top bit was great for the atmosphere
Edit# We were driven to the top
Cachette is merde..as they say. Black 8 is rather a hoot. As always though, its the locals that know the best tracks. And the best tracks over there simply annihilate almost anything you'll find in the UK.
mikewsmith - top of the pass, follow the MTB route off to the right (facing downhill). It goes down access roads/paths/doubletrack until you have to go back up to the road. Short road section to La Rosiere. It would have been better to just follow the road.
We cycled from top lift in La Thuile to top of mountain (300m vertical?), then down to Pass. You were driven - you lazy ??!"* 🙂 We actually saw some nutters cycling up the pass from Italy on MTBs, some on cheap FS?! fk that.
I think they were trying to follow Green1 trail in les Arcs 😕 😉We actually saw some nutters cycling up the pass from Italy on MTBs, some on cheap FS?! fk that.
Ah from the bend after you joined the road we descended great stuff from there. barley rejoined the other route from La Rosarie till the end. Did the Rosarie stuff later on.
Lift is was what the holiday was about 🙂
ahh, got ya. We were just following a trail that was on the la Ros/Thuile trail map. Scott had a local OS type map that could have been used, but we rarely needed it - any footpath out there from the mountains down, is bound to be good!
Thinking of bike hire next year though, mine took a right old beating 160euro for the week apparently
160euro for the week apparently
That's was in pila i think mate not france. I think it saw 300euros for a week in Bourg.
Jay said it was 160 I think in Tignes. KTM's.
PS his Quake frame broke 😯 crack in a weld.
ktm were to big for XC but thats very cheap!Jay said it was 160 I think in Tignes. KTM's.
it certainly is hoot over there,the most spectacular scenery i have ever seen,marvelous in every sense.
Just spent a few days exploring St foy and les arcs and reckon they are both massively over rated. The uplift in St foy is really Micky mouse and the marked trails are ok but nothing special, the dh off the top cable car at les arcs is rubbish, the stuff down to vilandry is ok but again nothing special ( same goes for the 8 and the 7), the cachette is fun but not half as good as the runs in Deux alpes. I did find some good stuff from arcs 1800 towards seez but any French wooded hill side has similar riding. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about, for enduro type riding the Vosges, the ubaye, the Val d'allos and the alpes maritime are all way better. For downhill, Deux alpes blows les arcs away ( as do quite a few other places) .
ianv - MemberJust spent a few days exploring St foy and les arcs and reckon they are both massively over rated. The uplift in St foy is really Micky mouse and the marked trails are ok but nothing special, the dh off the top cable car at les arcs is rubbish, the stuff down to vilandry is ok but again nothing special ( same goes for the 8 and the 7), the cachette is fun but not half as good as the runs in Deux alpes. I did find some good stuff from arcs 1800 towards seez but any French wooded hill side has similar riding. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about, for enduro type riding the Vosges, the ubaye, the Val d'allos and the alpes maritime are all way better. For downhill, Deux alpes blows les arcs away ( as do quite a few other places) .
Which guide did you use...
Yeah it's massively over rated - don't go back 8)
You obviously found all the best bits so just leave it to us people that think it's over rated. 🙂
Are the Marked trails at Les Arcs a victim of the Guided companies success in the area? As in Les Arcs don't put as much time/money in to the marked trails and signage as other resorts.
I know a lot of people Guided rides but I don’t. Half the fun of bike(for me) is exploring, chatting to locals and get lost/finding epic trails. 🙂
Edits: some of the trail we got "lost" on were great 😉
ianv, Les Arcs isnt really a DH'ers resort. Its XC singletrack that it has lots of. The only DH track worhty of triple clamps is the Cachette run.