Mountain Biking in Orcières

Orcières in the spectacular Ecrins National Park is the biggest and highest ski resort in the Champsaur Valley. In July and August 3 lifts whisk bikers up to 2650 m and a network of graded trails wind their way back down via banked turns and jumps to the valley below.

The Mountain Biking

Orcières is a bathed in sunshine for 300 days a year. That means dry, dusty trails for your riding pleasure. And, the mountain biking is extensive, especially if you factor in the hundreds of kilometres of FFC waymarked singletrack in the Champsaur and Valgaudemar valleys.

The bike park’s not huge but there’s plenty of riding to keep intermediate and advanced riders entertained for a few days. And they’re adding new trails all the time and working hard to improve the existing ones.

Downhill

The downhill tracks have a classic, flowy profile that just makes you want to let off the brakes and fly. Wooden modules and berms add some technical interest from time to time. If you’ve ever been to the Portes du Soleil you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the quiet trails and lack of braking bumps.

Enduro

It’s Orcières’ enduro tracks that really show off the terrain though. Natural singletrack snaking through a wild Alpine landscape. Don’t miss the 1000 corners descent that covers a huge 1370 m of vertical drop. The trail spits you out, calves burning, at the bottom of the valley where a free shuttle bus brings you back to Orcières 1850.

You just need to time your descent to coincide with the bus times. It’s a times like this that you’ll be glad you fitted dual-ply tyres!

Testament to the quality of the riding in Orcières, the Maxiavalanche mass-start enduro event was held here for three years in a row from 2013 to 2015. The YouTube video above will give you the full flavour of the event.

Cross-Country

Making great use of the Ecrins Alpine terrain, the Champsaur and Valgaudemar FFC mountain biking area offers 230 km of waymarked, graded trails. And, it’s actually possible to extend that further by linking into the adjacent Gapençais MTB area.

There are a number of easier loops around the village of Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes. If you’re feeling fit, consider the 130 km Tour du Champsaur which most people like to do in 4 days.

Depending on snowfall, the XC trails are accessible from May to October.

Orcières MTB Holidays

Undiscovered Mountains run mountain biking holidays to Orcières and offer the opportunity to mix up time in the bikepark with enduro uplifts and cross-country riding. You can also choose to have a day off the bike and have a go at whitewater rafting, rock climbing or any number of other high octane outdoor pursuits.