Mountain Biking in Le Dévoluy

The terrain

The mountain biking terrain in Le Dévoluy spans two resorts and is accessible from either the Le Jar chairlift in Superdévoluy, or via the Fontettes chair/bubble combined lift in La Joue du Loup. Mountain biking in Le Dévoluy has seen constant development in recent years and for a small resort there’s a decent mile-muncher and gravity hunter offering. There are 262 km of FFC waymarked cross-country tracks mostly classic XC style loops but also some all-mountain/enduro style riding, plus 50 km of downhill tracks to enjoy.

This is the Hautes-Alpes, so the terrain is quite rocky and bike park staff pay a good deal of attention to maintaining the tracks. There’s also plenty of fun northshore sections and wooden modules to ride. Most of Dévoluy is wide-open Alpine terrain, but as you come down in altitude you drop into the trees and there are some lovely forest sections especially on the Superdévoluy side.

The mountain biking

Montgenèvre and Les Orres aside, the mountain biking infrastructure in the Hautes Alpes doesn’t do the region justice, but Le Dévoluy is doing its very best to change that and the network of downhill trails is expanding every season.

The green and red trails allow you to transition between Superdévoluy and La Joue du Loup, which is a nice way to mix things up during the day.

Downhill

The 6 downhill tracks covering a total of 50 km provide riding for all abilities. Two greens, the 10 km Le Tât in Superdévoluy and the 12.5 km Les Chaumattes in La Joue du Loup criss-cross each other as they gently wind down the mountain.

The blue Le Canyon ramps up the fun a bit dropping 515 m in 6.4 km, and the two red runs, Les Bois and Les Meules, both on the Superdévoluy side are squarely aimed at intermediate riders with rocky singletrack, fast banked turns, jumps and tighter sections through the trees. It’s all fun and there’s nothing too challenging.

The black Les Rochers drops 515 m in just 3.4 km. Fast, steep, natural feeling singletrack leads into a tight series of switchbacks before opening out again through Alpine meadows. After few small rock gardens and a couple of jumps and gaps you’re in the trees with wooden drop offs and some technical cornering. There’s nothing there a good intermediate rider couldn’t take on. 10 minutes of arm-pumping fun.

Down at each lift station, there’s the obligatory skills area with wooden modules, berms and bits and pieces of northshore to get you dialled in before you hit the actual trails.

Don’t miss the two super-fun dedicated northshore trails accessible from the red Les Bois. The trails run in parallel, one graded blue and the other red. They link together a dozen or so sections of northshore over about a kilometre. Every feature has a chicken line if you don’t fancy it.

Enduro

Le Dévoluy’s solitary enduro track is well worth seeking out if you can organise logistics. It drops down from Superdévoluy to the village of Saint-Disdier dropping 1000 m over 12 km. There’s no shuttle bus linking Saint-Disdier with Superdévoluy, so you either need to ride back along the road, or organise independent transport.

Cross-country

The village of La Cluse is the centre for the XC riding in Le Dévoluy. 16 waymarked loops from green to black cover a total of 262 km of trail. You can pick up maps and more information from the Maison du Col de Festre in La Cluse.