Rou and the IMB Team head to Les Arcs in the Savoie region of the Alps to rediscover one of the best mountain bike locations in Europe. With runs from the top of the mountain to the valley floor and a hugely improved bike park they make new friends, ride amazing trails and discover somewhere they might try and call home.

The IMB Team head to the Alps to rediscover one of Europe’s best mountain biking spots from the peaks of the Aiguille Rouge to the valley in Bourg St Maurice, Les Arcs has a lot to offer!

My very first alpine mountain bike trip, some nine years ago, took me to Les Arcs, we camped in Bourg St Maurice and took the funicular up to 1600 each day to ride the handful of trails at the top and the infamous Black 8 back down to the campsite. Four years later I was back for a fleeting visit as a way to break up the long van drive back from Livigno in Italy. When I got the invite to come and see what had changed in recent years I jumped at the chance, what I wasn’t ready for was just how far things had come.

The mountains around Bourg St Maurice are legendary in wintertime, the Paradiski area provides uninterrupted skiing and snowboarding between three resorts and encompasses 160 lifts and 425km of pistes. It’s a vast area, with some incredible off-piste opportunities too. Just down the road are Tignes and Val d’Isère and a little further afield you’ll find the Three Valleys. Needless to say the terrain around these parts is breathtaking.

Les Arcs and Peisey Vallandry, two of the resorts that make up the Paradiski region, have been working hard on their summer offering for mountain bikers. The area has long been a favourite haunt of riders from all over Europe; the bike park at Arc 1600 has always been popular and the wooded runs down to Bourg St Maurice offer varied and challenging terrain.

In recent years, the resort has been working hard on expanding “Le Bike Park”, and this was what we were here to see. On our first morning a glance over the map with Eric from Arc Mountain Bike, Cecille from the Tourist Office and Nico, who was to be our guide for the day, left us excited to go and explore.

Arc Mountain Bike, run by Eric and his experienced team and conveniently located at the foot of the pistes in Arc 1800 in the ESF Office, offers lessons, guiding and decent rental bikes from their partner Commencal. The set up is ideal for people wanting to learn to ride or enjoy the bike park without their own gear. You can rent all the safety equipment too: helmets, kneepads, elbow guards, back protectors and even gloves. The bikes are all current season Commencal steeds, with a few from the previous season to make up the numbers when it’s busy.

In addition to lessons and rental Arc MTB has a fully operational workshop, which is handy to know should you have mechanical issues during your visit. For the more adventurous rider they offer enduro trips, which can include accommodation as well as guided rides around the area. Whatever you want, these guys can handle it.

Cecille and Eric had kindly arranged for Nico Secerov, one of the local pro riders to take us out for the morning and show us around. Nico has been living in Les Arcs for a little over 5 years, skiing in the winter, although he now prefers to snow scoot (think part bike, part snowboard, all death trap). His real passion however is riding bikes in the summer - and it is easy to see why.

The Bike Park has grown a lot since my first visit here, Julien and Fred have been working on the park tirelessly for years and the efforts have certainly paid off. When talking about Les Arcs it’s important to break down the areas, each “Arc” is a village in it’s own right, with it’s own runs and lifts. In recent years trails have been built to join them all up so you can ride in between each area while the lifts ensure you never have to pedal uphill.

Arc 1800 is where we were based in the well-equipped Belmont apartment building run by Pierre et Vacances. Arc 1800 is one of the bigger villages, more of a town really, with lots of shops, bars, restaurants, two supermarkets, the large Hotel Du Golf, complete with 18-hole golf course and also a swimming pool and fitness centre. There is even a bowling alley, a laser game to shoot your friends and a huge kids club with countless activities including trampolines, circus skills and climbing walls. If you want to combine a family holiday with a mountain biking trip this could be the ideal spot – the Hero Club will keep the kids entertained whilst you can go off and shred trails on the bike.

Serviced by the huge Transarc bubble lift it is the perfect location to base yourselves for a week of riding here.

Next to Arc 1800 is Arc 1600, this is where MTB was born in the area and it is home to a freestyle zone with plenty of jumps, North Shore and wall rides to challenge your skills. It is also where the funicular from Bourg drops you off and again there are bars, restaurants, shops and accommodation on offer.

The legendary Cachette chairlift will take you and your bike up the mountain and you’ll be greeted with impressive views across the valley. From here you can ride the black or the red routes down to the start of one of the best-known trails in the area, the Black Eight. This rollercoaster run will challenge you all the way down to the valley floor and spit you out at Bourg St Maurice, where the funicular will haul you back up so you can do it all again.

On the other side of Arc 1800 you’ll find Peisey-Vallandry, a smaller village with an array of quaint wooden chalets. Again bars, restaurants and shops are there and if you want a quieter stay then this is a good choice. Vallandry is the main chairlift that runs in the summer, but you can also take the Vanoise Express across the valley towards Le Plagne, which is a whole other resort to explore.

If all this doesn’t sound like enough to keep you busy, fear not - there is another world waiting to entertain you on the other side of the mountain. If you stay on the Transarc bubble from Arc 1800 right to the top you’ll find yourself in the mountain area of Arc 1950 and Arc 2000, these two villages were purpose built slightly more recently than 1600 and 1800 and are hugely popular in the winter season, and are becoming more so in the summer now too. Again bars, restaurants, supermarkets and all the facilities are open during the summer months and there are plenty of events organised and activities on offer to keep you and the family entertained. The Arcabulle lift runs here in the summer and gives easy access to the runs on this side of the hill.

You can also take the Varet lift up to the large gondola, which will take you to the top of the Aguille Rouge, the highest peak in the area at 3226m.  It’s not possible to take bikes right to the top, but the trip is worth it for the stunning 360 degree views and the postcard images of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe and the eleventh highest in the world at 4809m.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of the area that Les Arcs covers and the size of Le Bike Park; it’s huge, and it could take you more than a week to explore it all!

We arrived at the end of the two month long season, which runs from the beginning of July until the beginning of September. Usually you would expect the trails to be pretty tired and full of braking bumps in a bike park by the end of the season, however this wasn’t the case, in fact far from it.

Les Arc has employed an interesting strategy within the park to avoid excess wear on the trails. The idea; put simply, is that you shouldn’t “need” to brake harshly. They have used the terrain to build speed, but also to slow you down too. Instead of crazy steep sections leading into corners you’ll find undulations with natural rises to slow your speed without the need for excessive brake action. Coupled with the fact that everyone and their dog still go to Morzine (something I still personally fail to understand), there is also less wear and tear in general.

Of course, the more technical trails are a little different, there are plenty of challenging places that will leave you hanging off the back of the bike. However, the Blues especially and most of the Reds have a real flow to them, you can let the brakes go and build speed letting the trail do the work rather than your brakes, this makes for trails that are smooth and hold up well to traffic! 

Julien and Fred work full time to keep the park running smoothly, and considering the massive size and distance the place covers we were hugely impressed. There is a wide variety of riding on offer: as usual trails are graded from green, blue, red and black, and there’s also a special training area at Mille 8 in Arc 1800, which is perfect for developing the skills necessary to ride the park.

Another great feature built into the park’s DNA is that, while a blue run might not sound like much fun to an advanced rider, Julien and Fred have built pro lines into all the trails. For example, instead of following the trail into the berm, you can take a high line and jump over the berm landing in the next one. A series of small corners perfect for pumping can be doubled or tripled depending on your skill level.

This was made brutally apparent when following Nico, watching him racing along the trails and realising the true scope of all the lines on offer. In the same breath you could watch a complete beginner come cruising down the trail perfectly happy and smiling from ear to ear. To say the team have really thought about the bike park would be an understatement. Every corner and every line has been carefully curated from the terrain available to deliver the maximum amount of fun for everyone.

To travel to Les Arcs and to not venture off the beaten track would be criminal, while the blues, reds and blacks of the bike park offer great bang for your buck, there is a growing “enduro” feel to the place too. On the piste map you’ll find the challenging Elle Chablatte, a natural thread of single track that has been roughly cut into the hillside. The idea is that the tyres will do the rest, so expect it to be loose and loamy with plenty of rocky and rooty challenges. This actually became one of our favourite trails during our visit, and the build team are planning on more trails like this to be featured in the park.

The really challenging gems of Les Arcs, however, lie in what is off the map, and for this you will need a guide. (It is totally worth the investment!) Nico was only meant to be our guide for a day or two, but ended up riding with us for the full week, imparting his bountiful knowledge of the wealth of runs that you’ll only find with someone who has been here a while.

Some are trails are almost secret, whilst others are becoming more common knowledge, yet they all have one thing in common: when you get off the bike park map here, it gets steep and technical, very quickly. Trails like Jackson, which was built a few years ago, run through the trees towards Peisey. They offer the perfect opportunity to train your switchback technique as well as explore some different areas of the terrain.

If you want to really push your limits you can explore the infamous Malgovert. There is a saying amongst the locals here, if you tell them you rode Malgovert, they’ll firstly double check that you actually did, as it’s a rather hidden gem, then they will follow up with “Did you put a foot?”

It’s a badge of honour among some of the best riders here to be able to ride the trail from start to finish without “putting a foot”. If you make it, then celebrations are in order. Needless to say, as I followed Nico headlong into a ridiculously technical section I watched him put both feet down momentarily as he ping-ponged through the huge rocks.

Moments later I was putting one foot after another while carrying my bike wondering how anyone could ever get through here in one piece. Steve Peat rode this trail once, as to whether he “put a foot” or not you’ll have to ask him. Apparently he was blisteringly quick…

If you enjoy a challenge you’d do well to check out the Sky2Trail event that is happening here just before the season opens. Three days of enduro racing that will culminate in this very trail, check out the website for more details, it’s a partner style race that should be fantastic.

The scope of the ‘off piste’ runs down to Bourg is immense, combined with the huge bike park area and everything in between and you’ll struggle to get bored here. We barely scratched the surface during our weeklong trip, every day we rode something new and everyday we were blown away by the quality of the riding on offer.

There is one last jewel in the crown of the area, if staying in bustling Bourg, or one of the Arcs doesn’t appeal, a quiet campsite called Les Lanchettes is situated just up the valley that caters for mountain bikers. They also have a fleet of e-MTB’s and offer electric mountain bike tours into the area behind Les Arcs.

While I know e-MTB’s are a bone of contention among many of you, after a week of hard pedalling a visit here is well worth it not only for the experience and scenery, but also for the cold beers on the deck of the campsite bar. The idyllic views and silence broken only by the birdsong and wind rustling through the trees is worth the trip alone.

There is a welcoming vibe that encompasses the whole area, which we truly felt; at every turn there is a friendly face. Whether it’s on the trails or in the bars for an après-bike, the mood was the same wherever we went. We’d often miss the funicular while enjoying the simple pleasures and the great food, beer and cocktails at Charly’s Factory opposite the funicular station. Christophe and his wife Agathe make mountain bikers feel so at home while waiting for the next train up the hill it’s hard to leave.

Breakfasts at Le Madly, near Arc MTB, set us up for the day with strong coffee and fresh croissants, whilst evenings in Chez Boubou were filled with laughter and new friends, which even led to us taking on the locals in a game of laser quest. Think French techno, vibrating body vest, UV lights and laser guns and you get the picture. Team IMB had never played before, but we made it to the semi finals and got a mention in the local paper too.

It was with this stunning scenery, incredible mountain biking and welcoming, fun attitude that we fell in love. We extended our stay for as long as we could and said we would definitely return again. Imagine the surprised looks we received when we arrived in December ready for the winter season, with a loose plan to stay right through until September, maybe even longer.

We came to Les Arcs to write a trail guide, we left with new friends, stories of epic days in the saddle and a sense of belonging. Maybe, one day, we’ll be lucky enough to call it home too…

Les Arcs Information - https://www.lesarcs.com/

Check out the Trail Map Here - https://www.lesarcs.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/bikepark/PLAN_VTT_2017_BAT.pdf

Arc Mountain Bike Rental & Guiding - http://www.arcmtb.com/

Bike Park Information - https://www.lesarcs.com/bikepark.html

Les Lanchettes Camping and e-MTB Tours - http://www.camping-savoie-mont-blanc-lanchettes.com/

Pierre et Vacances Accommodation - https://www.pierreetvacances.com/fr-fr/location-vacances-les-arcs_om

Charly’s Factory - http://www.charlys-factory.com/

Chez Boubou - https://www.barchezboubou.com/

Le Madly - http://lemadly.zenchef.com/

Sky2Trail Enduro Race - https://sky2trail.com/

 

 

 

Videos

Le Petit Single dans la Montagne - S3E2 - LA JACKSON
Le Petit Single dans la Montagne - S3E3
Camping des Lanchettes - E-Bikes
By Rou Chater
Rou Chater is the Publishing Editor of IMB Magazine; he’s a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, but his passion for bikes knows no bounds. His first mountain bike was a Trek 820, which he bought in 1990. It didn’t take him long to earn himself a trip to the hospital on it, and he’s never looked back since. These days he’s keeping it rubber side down, riding locally and overseas as much as possible.

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