Mountain Bike Trails & Holiday Packages
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We're based in the valley town of Bourg Saint Maurice in the centre of the Tarentaise Valley. Our location gives us super-fast access to the Les Arcs funicular lift as well as great trails leading right back to the chalet door, but also puts us in easy striking distance of 4 different lift systems - Les Arcs / La Plagne, Tignes / Val d'Isere, La Rosiere / La Thuile and the 3 Valleys. All of the chairlift areas operate during July and August, with a few lifts also running into June & September. As well as the chairlifts, we're kitted-out with our own vehicles and bike trailers, allowing us to access many trails outside of the resort boundaries, both during the chairlift season and during our early/late season Backcountry Enduro weeks.
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The current buzzword for what we ride is probably Enduro although maybe even that's getting too associated with number-boards and cutting corners these days. We're all about riding natural, singletrack trails with a much stronger focus on down than up! We will ride bike-park trails if it's the best way to get from lift to lift and we'll climb when it's necessary to access the best trails, but on all of our trips the aim is to do as much descending as possible on the best, natural trails. We love riding tight switchbacks, rock gardens, super-fast Alpine meadows, steeps and high-altitude, big mountain tech.
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The huge area we ride gives us access to an enormous variety of trails, from smooth and flowy pine-needle hero-dirt singletrack in Sainte Foy to steep, technical switchbacks in Les Arcs, EWS enduro stages in La Thuile or berms, jumps and bikepark in Tignes. We cherry-pick the best trails in each area and select the trails we ride to suit each group's ambitions and ability. We have a loose "never the same trail twice" policy - you'll ride fresh trails every day of your trip, never dragging over the same route to get to/from a fixed base every day.
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We believe the best way to experience our singletrack trails is by riding in small groups guided by one of our team of experienced guides. We have up to 4 guides available for a chalet of 14 guests, meaning we are able to offer guiding to suit a wide range of abilities and fitness levels every week and we can guarantee that you'll always ride in a group that suits you. We are only able to do this because we have a team of highly-experienced, professionally-qualified guides. This costs us a lot more than just doing one-man-band guiding, but it means you can be sure of a great riding experience, without feeling like you're always waiting for other riders or that you're holding stronger riders up. It's not unusual for us to have just one or two riders with their own guide if that's what it takes to make the trails flow for everyone.
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Our summer 2025 season runs from 14th June to 27th September. Full details, prices and availability below:
Some of the best trails I've ever ridden - and I've ridden a lot!
Andy Barlow, Dirt School Coach
we are already looking at dates for next year....Guides are 100% focused on the riders holidays and nothing appears too much trouble. Great food and the biking is amazing......
Ollie Vaulkhard
classic singletrack
Our classic week of riding lift-accessed singletrack. We will use the chairlifts at the different areas around the valley throughout the week, allowing us to cherry-pick the best trails at each of the different resorts and to tailor the riding to suit each group. These are our most flexible weeks, where we can constantly fine-tune the riding to suit each group. Our aim is always to ride as much singletrack as possible with a minimum of climbing, but we can add-in big backcountry days for those keen to get out there a bit more or hit some bikepark trails for those who want to get some air under their tyres. But just so we're super-clear - this is a natural, tech singletrack week, bikepark trails are a quick option for a warm-up or to get to the next lift or if you really want to do some jumps!
We ride in small groups (usually 5-6 max unless you're with a bigger group of friends in which case we'll often give you two guides to keep things flowing). This is really important to us as it makes sure everyone rides in a group that suits them. We generally have 3 groups running every week.
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What's included:
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5 days of 100% fully-qualified guiding (meet the guides)
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On-trail coaching & skills sessions
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Transfers from Geneva airport on Saturdays
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7 nights accommodation in our luxury chalet Nagano
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Breakfast every day
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3-course chalet dinner on 5 nights of the week
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Simple evening meal delivery on 6th night
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Packed-lunch (we provide the bread and fillings, you make the sannies!)
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5 days of vehicle support
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Unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks
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Afternoon tea & cake
Not included: Lift passes (~€150), insurance, flights, Wednesday evening meal
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All prices are based on twin-sharing. All of our rooms can be arranged as either twins or doubles.
Riding Level Required more
Technical Ability: 2 to 5 - these are our most flexible trips, with multiple groups and huge variety of trails at different levels so we can tailor the riding to suit almost anyone.
Fitness: 1+ - these trips are mostly chairlift accessed so only a basic level of fitness is required, but you do limit your options if you're not willing to pedal at all, as some of the best trails need short pedals or pushes for access.
Backcountry enduro
Before and after the short chairlift season, we use vehicle uplift to keep riding amazing trails. For us, these have become our favourite parts of the season. With no need to stay close to the lifts, we open-up vast areas of the valley where there are no ski runs - especially, the sunny, south-facing side. These trails often see much less use than those in and around the resorts and, for the price of a short pedal from the highest tarmac we can reach, we get to enjoy huge singletrack descents on pristine trails. The weather in early and late summer is usually great - a little cooler than the super-hot weather of July & August, but usually settled and sunny. Perfect riding weather!
What's included:
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5 days of 100% fully-qualified guiding (meet the guides)
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On-trail coaching & skills sessions
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Transfers from Geneva airport on Saturdays
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7 nights accommodation in our luxury chalet Nagano
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Breakfast every day
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3 -course dinner on 5 nights of the week
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Simple evening meal delivery on 6th night
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Packed-lunch (we provide the bread and fillings, you make the sannies!)
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5 days of vehicle support
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Unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks
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Afternoon tea & cake
Not included: Insurance, flights, Wednesday evening meal
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All prices are based on twin-sharing. All of our rooms can be arranged as either twins or doubles.
Riding Level Required more
Technical Ability: 3 to 5 - while not quite as flexible as the Classic Singletrack weeks, we are still able to run multiple groups and choose from a wide range of trails. Be aware though, that these weeks are not "easier" or more "cross country" than the chairlift weeks. The riding is every bit as steep and technical and, without the lifts and bikepark trails, there are fewer bail-out options.
Fitness: 3+ - these trips are vehicle-supported, but some pedalling is required. This is typically around 500m or 1hr of pedalling per day. Some days will have less, some will have a little more. Some pushing may be required. In a typical day, we would ride over 3000m of descending for 500m of climbing.
The Tarentaise tour
Dates for 2024 to be confirmed
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€1795
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Bespoke trips/dates possible for complete groups, contact us for pricing and availability.
This concept has taken a long time to bring to fruition - a week-long, multi-day mountain bike trip passing all the resorts in the Tarentaise and using as much uplift as possible to maximise the singletrack descents. We've run some similar ad-hoc trips by special request over the years, going all the way back to 2010. We wanted to build on that to make a regular trip, covering some of the best lift-accessed and backcountry trails while travelling across the whole of the Tarentaise.
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The trip will start in Val d'Isere and, over the course 6 days, cover all the ground from Val to Tignes, through wild, empty spaces to Sainte Foy. From Sainte Foy, up to skirt the Italian border and ride little-used trails back down into civilisation in Bourg Saint Maurice. Some classic Les Arcs and La Plagne descents follow, before crossing the ridge to drop down into the Bozel valley to hook up with the lift systems of Courchevel, Meribel and Les Menuires for the last part of the trip. Each night, we'll stay in a different resort/valley hotel or Gite with with at least one night spent in a more remote mountain huts.
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The aim is to make best use of the lifts to ride the whole tour almost entirely on singletrack trails. There is a lot of ground to cover so there will be some climbing at times, but never too much (max 500m in a day) and we'll be riding with light packs. Big skies, big trails, big adventure.
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The exact itinerary will vary according to the chairlift opening schedules (these vary from year to year so we often have to make changes to work around this), the weather/trail conditions and the ability and fitness levels of the group.
What's included:
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6 days of 100% fully-qualified guiding (meet the guides)
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Transfers from Geneva airport on Saturdays
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7 nights accommodation in chalets, gites and mountain huts
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Breakfast and dinner every night
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6 days of vehicle support for bike uplift & luggage transfer
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Not included: Lift passes (~€150), flights, insurance
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All prices are based on twin-sharing. All of our rooms can be arranged as either twins or doubles.
Riding Level Required more
Technical Ability: 4 to 5 - as we have a lot of ground to cover, it's important to have a relatively strong technical level in order to keep moving along at a decent pace. We can tailor the trip to suit the group to some extent, but a strong group is always going to make for a better trip.
Fitness: 3+ - we will use as much chairlift uplift as possible, as well as some vehicle uplift, but some of the links between the different resorts feel more like one of our Backcountry Enduro days with an hour or so of pedalling for around 500m of climbing. This trip also involves guided riding on all 6 days, so there's no chance for a rest day!
the summits week
The summits week is about big-mountain adventure riding. A chance to do some very raw Alpine riding, far away from the bike parks and chairlifts. The concept is to try to reach a high-mountain pass or summit on every day of the trip, then ride all the way back to the valley. Most of the trails we'll ride this week can't be ridden any other way - there is no mechanical access short of chartering a private helicopter. To get there will mean working hard - pedalling, pushing and carrying bikes for a long way. The descents will be awesome, but will also, without doubt, have some fiendishly challenging technical riding and probably the occasional section which will be unrideable for most. This is riding out-of-the-box, going where most people think bikes just can't go. We may also make use of some mountain refuges for an overnight stay - either just for fun or to access a more remote peak.
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Each day of the trip will involve at least 750m of climbing. A lot of will be pushing or carrying bikes. It will be hard. That's the point! The pay-off will be continuous descents of as much as 2000m. Riders on this trip should be fit and capable of riding at a good technical standard. The days will be long and being able to ride consistently in technical terrain will be important both for enjoyment of the trip and for safety.
7th to 14th September 2024
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6 spaces left
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€1245
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Bespoke trips/dates possible for complete groups, contact us for pricing and availability.
What's included:
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5 days of 100% fully-qualified guiding (meet the guides)
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On-trail coaching & skills sessions
-
Transfers from Geneva airport on Saturdays
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7 nights accommodation in our luxury chalet Nagano
-
Breakfast every day
-
3 -course dinner on 5 nights of the week
-
Packed-lunch (we provide the bread and fillings, you make the sannies!)
-
5 days of vehicle support
-
Unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks
-
Afternoon tea & cake
Not included: Insurance, flights, Wednesday evening meal
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All prices are based on twin-sharing. All of our rooms can be arranged as either twins or doubles.
Riding Level Required more
Technical Ability: 4 to 5 - this trip often ventures into places where bikes are rarely seen. The terrain can be steep, loose and technical. There may well even be sections which are unrideable for most mortals. As the ascents are long and tiring, it's also important not to be riding at your limits on the descents.
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Fitness: 4+ - long climbs will be involved, often including pushing and/or carrying the bike. It will be hard. You will get tired. You might even start to like it.
enduro prep camp
Our local terrain has played host to a lot of high-level Enduro race events, including rounds of the French national series and EWS. Our team of guides are in a great position to coach you on this terrain. Rab, our in-house speed merchant, spent many years racing downhill as part of an Italian race team which included World Cup level riders. He's got the trophy shelf to prove it, including a sadly empty space where his Italian National DH champion trophy should sit! Just riding with Rab is enough to teach most of us a few tricks, but he also has a great ability to break down and teach what he's doing. Pat took some time out during the 2020 lock-down era to get qualified as an official French race coach. Stevo came 6th in the old-man category at an Enduro once. Between us, we can put together a package of training sessions guaranteed to move you up to the next level.
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The idea of this weekend trip is to combine riding the best of our local trails with daily coaching sessions designed to improve your riding skills, race tactics and fitness towards either racing Enduro or just getting faster and smoother on your favourite trails. We also aim to include some timed runs to give you a feel of riding against the clock and give you a chance to track your improvement through the week. We'll look at areas such as bike handling and trials skills, cornering, braking, line choice and physical prep.
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Just to be clear - this is very much a riding trip, just with extra coaching added-in. You'll still get to shred plenty of trails and you'll come away a better rider too.
7th to 11th June 2024
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7 spaces left
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€495
What's included:
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3 days of 100% fully-qualified guiding (meet the guides)
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Dedicated Enduro race coaching each day
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Timed stages to clock your progress
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Transfers from Geneva airport on Fri 7th and Tue 11th
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4 nights accommodation in our luxury chalet Nagano
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Breakfast and 3 -course dinner on all 4 nights
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Packed-lunch (we provide the bread and fillings, you make the sannies!)
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3 days of vehicle uplift & support
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Unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks
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Afternoon tea & cake
Not included: Insurance, flights, Wednesday evening meal
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All prices are based on twin-sharing. All of our rooms can be arranged as either twins or doubles.
Riding Level Required more
Technical Ability: 3.5 to 5 - this week is aimed at developing your riding with a view towards developing speed. As such, there will be individual coaching and room for a little spread in abilities within the group, but you'll probably get the most out of it if you're at least an experienced intermediate-level rider and maybe at least race-curious.
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Fitness: 3+ - There will be some pedalling to reach some trails. There will also be some fitness coaching sessions to help with your race prep! These will be pretty light during your stay, with the aim being to give you some ideas to think about as you get ready for your next race.
video gallery
A lot of people tell us they check out our videos to see if the riding is for them or to see if they're at the right level. While this is a good start, overall we think it's a bad idea. Here's why: everything filmed on a drone looks smooth and epic; everything filmed on a gopro looks smooth and flat (OK, maybe not Stevo teetering on the switchbacks of doom in "Beyond the Norm"). Look back at your own trail films - do they give a good idea of what the trail was like to ride? Usually not. A lot of what might look like fast and flowy high-alpine trails in the videos below are actually pretty technical trails being made to look easy by a combination of good riders and droney goodness.
On top of that, the best trails to film are the high-alpine trails with big open views. But so much of our riding is deep in the forest and pretty close to un-filmable. Thats where all the roots and steeps are. Enjoy the videos, we had loads of fun making them and we hope you find some inspiration in them. But if you've got questions about the trails or about your riding level, ask us!
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The videos below featuring a lot of drone footage were all shot pretty recently (we bought the drone in 2018!). There are a few older videos further down for nostalgia's sake, some of them going all the way back to our first season in 2008!
Riding levels
Technical Ability:
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1 - You're a new or very nervous mountain biker. You're happiest on wide, smooth trails like forest roads. At this level, riding in the Alps would be very tough, but we can potentially run beginners coaching weeks for groups if you're keen to learn mountain bike skills on easy trails with some help from the chairlifts.
UK Trail Example: Any forest road / landrover track which isn't too steep.
2 - You have some mountain biking experience and are happy on steeper, looser, forest-road type trails and you also enjoy riding easy singletrack, such as blue-grade or easy red-grade trail centre trails or scenic rides in the Lakes or Peak District. You generally get off and walk if there are big rocks or roots in the trail or if it gets steep. Singletrack trails at this level are generally smooth, but may have banked corners, rollers and small steps. At this level, your choice of terrain in the Alps would be limited, but get in touch with us and we may be able to arrange a group for you where it's more about scenic riding and enjoying the mountains than riding the steepest trails all day long.
UK Trail Example: Berm Baby Berm or Spooky Wood at Glentress, Llandegla red trail in Wales, Glenlivet red
3 - You're a regular rider at trail centres and you're happy on most red-grade trails. You may also enjoy riding natural trails with roots and rocks. You'll generally ride most features, but will get off and walk if it's very steep or if you come across big rock/root features. You might enjoy small jumps and drops. This is generally the minimum level to be able to enjoy our Alpine riding, but get in touch with us if you're not sure.
UK Trail Example: Most red and some easy blacks - e.g. Pennel's Vennel, The Pie Run at Glentress, Innerleithen Red, Coed y Brenin, BikePark Wales reds
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4 - You've done a lot of mountain biking and are happy to tackle almost anything. You're happy on rocky/rooty trails and on moderate jumps/drops. You might draw the line at very steep and technical features with serious consequences if you crash or on bigger jumps and drops.
UK Trail Example: "Proper" blacks such as Laggan or Stainburn or Bike Park Wales. Steep and technical natural trails like Ben Lomond or The Golfie at Innerleithen.
5 - You're a very skilled and experienced rider. You know what to expect from Alpine terrain and you expect to be able to ride almost anything we can throw at you. You want to ride the steepest trails, the most technical features and the tightest switchbacks. If we ride the bikepark, you'll tackle most drops, doubles and gaps.
UK Trail Example: Not much! The steepest and nastiest trails at The Golfie, steep and technical sections on big mountains in the Lakes, Wales or Scotland.
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6 - You make a successful living from riding bikes as a pro, racer, guide or coach. You'll be very surprised if the guides manage to keep up. We'll set Rab on you.
Fitness:
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1 - You're not very fit, ride a big bike that doesn't go uphill or you flat out don't want to do ANY pedalling at all on your holiday. No worries, we can accommodate you on our chairlift-assisted Classic Singletrack weeks, but be aware that riding down 4000m+ in a day is pretty tiring in itself and that it can sometimes be necessary to do short pedals or pushes to access the best trails.
2 - You're fit enough to go out and ride your bike in hilly UK terrain for a couple of hours. You're prepared to pedal or push for a few minutes if it means accessing a great descent but you don't want to do any long climbs.
3 - You're fit enough to do half-day rides on a regular basis in hilly UK terrain. You'd be prepared to climb for up to an hour to access a great descent, but would prefer to use as much uplift as possible. This is generally the minimum fitness level for our Backcountry Enduro weeks.
4 - You're fit enough for big, all-day rides in the UK and you're happy to do some climbing on your holiday to get to the best, least-used trails. You don't mind if you end-up climbing for an hour or two most days, as long as there's more down than up!
5 - You're very fit and enjoy the climbs as much as the descents. You'd be really into tackling some big backcountry days with a lot of pedalling into remote terrain and you love the idea of our Summits Week.
6 - You're exceptionally fit, into long road rides, 24hr racing or endurance challenges. You expect the guides to be labouring in a sweaty mess behind you. Except Pat. Pat will be cruising alongside having a chat. Pat's weird.
Sainte Foy Mountain Biking
The forest surrounding the village and ski resort of Sainte Foy is riddled with singletrack heading off in all directions. The trails follow the routes of ancient transhumance paths, used to move cattle up and down the steep sides of the valley to and from the high summer pastures. This gives them a great gradient which is perfect for fast, flowy mountain biking. Sainte Foy is undoubtedly the best place in the valley for this kind of fast, off the brakes singletrack riding, with a healthy dose of technical challenges added in just the right places. It makes this part of the area a great counter-balance to some of the steeper riding at Les Arcs or the purpose-built riding at Tignes.
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Uplift is via a chairlift, heavily supplemented by our own 4WD bike shuttle, giving a vertical drop of over 1300m.
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Virtually all of the Sainte Foy riding is in thick forest, with the tree-line here rising to over 2,000m altitude, although some epic backcountry trails also feed-in to the area, like the high-altitude Alpine meadow trails traversing from above the lake at Tignes or the epic descent from the Summits Week trail off the Bec Rouge.
les arcs Mountain Biking
Les Arcs has the biggest summer lift network in the area, opening up a wide expanse of mountain-side and a monster vertical drop of around 1800m from the top of the TransArc back to Bourg Saint Maurice. There is an extensive network of waymarked trails which get better every year. This includes some DH tracks, some swoopy, jumpy bike-park trails and some sections of natural singletrack.
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There's a lot more lurking out there though. There are many, many kilometres of singletrack hiding in the forests and among the peaks which are not waymarked and often not easy to find. This includes classic steep, forest, switchback descents like Double Header and Secret Garden and the jaw-dropping high-mountain tech of La Varda.
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Our location close to the funicular railway, going from Bourg Saint Maurice to Les Arcs in just a few minutes, puts all of the Les Arcs trails right on our doorstep. Most of the best riding drops back down from the top of the funicular through the steep forests back to the valley floor, meaning almost all the trails eventually lead us back to the chalet.
la plagne Mountain Biking
La Plagne has grown on us more and more over the years. There's a wide range of lifts available, which have gradually become better and better linked and co-ordinated. These days, we can set off from the chalet, take the funicular up to Les Arcs and swiftly use the lifts to link travel across into La Plagne and all it's different sectors. You still have to work a little harder to get around, but the pay-off is mind-blowing. Huge descents of over 2000m, dropping from the upper parts of the resort all the way to the valley on 4 different aspects. Trails that take in every different terrain type, from high-altitude tech, through super-smooth, flowing alpine meadows and on down into forest switchbacks, all in one run.
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La Plagne is home to several of the guides' favourite trails and none of them are marked on any bike-park maps! This is much wilder riding than in neighbouring Les Arcs and the trails see much less use. The widely spaced lifts make it possible to cover a huge amount of terrain and create epic, high mountain days.
tignes & Val d'isere Mountain Biking
Tignes and, especially, Val d'Isere have been surprisingly slow to get involved with mountain biking, but that has changed a lot in the past few years. Tignes has always had a good network of purpose-built, bike park style trails that grows and improves every year. Val d'Isere has launched itself into mountain biking in the last couple of years, with a mix of new purpose built trails and waymarked "enduro" singletrack trails. There's some pretty random stuff in there, but also some total gems, as well as some great backcountry riding just outside both resorts and on some of the waymarked Tignes enduro trails - Wonderboisses is an abiding classic!
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Definitely the best bikepark style riding in the valley and some great singletrack as well.
La Thuile Mountain Biking
Just across the Italian border and reached by a short drive to the top of the Petit Saint Bernard pass, for us La Thuile is a uniquely special spot to ride bikes. A "bike park" that, in total contrast to the hundreds of repetitive, machine-built trails across the alps, has absolutely nailed it. The trail network started out as existing paths that were gently tweaked to help make them fun to ride. Since then, it has grown and grown. The resort has hosted the Enduro World Series twice, as well as the Italian SuperEnduro series, with each event featuring brand-new, hand-cut trail which somehow keeps the original "all-natural" feel while getting steeper and techier every time.
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As well as some of the original flowy, pine-needle, Sainte-Foy-on-Steroids trails, there are now stunning stretches of open, high-mountain singletrack, sublime forest roller-coasters and a whole load of sections which will have you grinning manically as you wonder how you managed to stay on the bike.
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We often finish the week with a day at La Thuile. Steep, dusty, super-tech trails followed by Italian ice-cream. Doesn't get much better!