One day in les arcs

Can anyone please point me in the direction of some of this mythically good singletack that eveyone goes on. I will be passing Bourge St Maurice in a few days and would like to see what all the fuss is about as I was pretty underwhelmed when I was there for a few days last summer.

General directions to the top of the trails would be really appreciated.

Thanks

go to the funicular station.

get a VTT map.

get on the funicular.

get off at the top.

ride the signposted trails down to the funicular station (there are little signposts, but a map does help/can’t hurt), keep your eyes open for alternative routes.

repeat.

if that doesn’t keep you happy, keep going further left/right than the signposts suggest, keep your eyes open.

my new favourite les arcs/bourg st maurice trail is ‘big gordon’ – you can probably find it on an ign map…

(it’s nothing special, just a few swoopy rooty corners. needs a bit of a pedal though…)

Well there’s plenty of guiding companies out there who I’m sure would be very willing to show you around. – TA, Bike Village, Mountainbike Chalet, White Room, Coolbus etc.

Or get an IGN map and take pot luck.

I was pretty underwhelmed when I was there for a few days last summer

Get
A
Guide

– Seriously, you must’ve done black 8 to death last time

Get
A
Guide

this. One day means zero time to **** around, so do it properly

The Funicular trail is good and long, and if you work it right and catch the last one that enables all the ones above to link up. Then its a long, long way down.

Frozen Heffer!! What a day out on bikes that is

Go to Sainte Foy – up the valley get the uplift do all the trails 🙂

Other tip would be to go to La Thuile on the Italian side of Petite Col Du st Bernard (mapped and lifted)

Don’t really want to get a guide as I am away till sept and need to be frugal.

How far is a la thuile from Tignes?

Google the VTT trails, maybe on http://www.google.fr it may give better results.

La Thuile is a fair distance from Tignes. You can get to La Thuile by driving to the Col de Petit Saint Bernard, riding down, then getting the lifts back at the end of the day (about 15mins climbing required). La Thuile is really good and all the trails are well marked.

Sainte Foy also has really good waymarked singletrack, although the marking isn’t as good as it could be! The resort runs vehicle uplift.

For Les Arcs, have a google around – someone did a GPS map of a lot of the good singletrack and posted it here a while back. Or just get an IGN map and look for red-highlighted dashed lines – about a 90% chance they’ll be good singletrack! Of the waymarked stuff, Black 8 is good (if very well-worn), Red 7 is not bad.

There’s not just the funicular, there’s a whole lift network.

Cheers all, half the Tignes network is closed at the moment so i might be heading down the valley sooner than expected.

I’d be bored shitless after any more than one day in Tignes anyway…

I’d be bored shitless after any more than one day

It’s now linked in with Val d’isere so with the dh over there as well and all the enduro stuff there is definitely more than a few days worth. Especially when it’s all free!

Most of the Enduro stuff is pretty rubbish compared to the Singletrack elsewhere in the valley and the Val d’Isere DH is one of the worst I’ve ever seen.

You can ride from Tignes to Sainte Foy (Might be an expensive taxi back) but a great ride 🙂

Having done some exploring in Les Arcs it can be hit and miss depending on your ability and sense of humor thresholds…a good map (with trails on will hep)

After some guiding a lot more made sense

Stevo has it about right above though.

+1 for StFoy.

We did some lovely trails with the White room a few years back.

We’re back in stFoy on the 13th July for a week (under our own steam) to see if we can find the trails we loved a few years back.

BTW, everything the white room says about the trails round them is correct.

If you do go to Les Arcs, you must try the Black 8 challenge. Off the funicular, do Black 8, if you miss the next funicular back up you failed.

Video Selection of the Valley from Tinges to St Foy to Les Arcs to La Thuile – lots of different styles around (Also shameless plug to my vids – from a White Room holiday last summer)

Cheers for those Mike. I’m heading out to the White Room soon. 8)

You will have a good time!!

Nearly the full 10days worth of vids up there now, only taken 11 months

is there a campsite in saint foy !?

not in the resort (but hey it’s france hide in the tree’s!!) there are some in Bourg and on the way out.

how far is that from the village or uplift ? are u a guide ?thanks

nope just had a good time last year.
http://www.saintefoy-tarentaise.com/english/cycle/

Stevomcd is the guide in some of the vids

edit-

Had a previous trip to Les Arcs unguided/exploring wasn’t much fun guided version was better and the riding out of the main resort was fantastic