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MTB and Cycling in Oisans |
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MTB Trails
in Oisans :
- » Cross country
- » Freeride
- » DownHill
- » Raid
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Season's events
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MTB and Cycling in Oisans |
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Season's events
Freeride
Leave one car in Bourg-d’Oisans at the Casino supermarket car park or one of the other free central car parks. Take another vehicle up to Alpe-d’Huez. Park on the ‘Parking des Bergers’ and take the path to the Col de Sarenne.
The other solution is… to tackle the mythical climb up to Alpe-d’Huez. This adds 14km and over 1000m height gain to the route, but means that you can avoid having to take the shuttle bus.
From the Col de Cluy, the descent is against the backdrop of the majestic Ecrins massif along ancient, stone-walled paths. This side of the mountain, bathed in sun and heavy with the scent of lavender, is one of the most attractive in Oisans.
Leaving the car park, ride past the landing strip to join the small road up to the Col de Sarenne. At the Bridge over the Sarenne stream, turn right onto a path that leads to Huez. At the junction 700m further on, keep left, following the Col de Cluy. Once at the Col (1801m), next to the shepherd’s hut, leave the main path to dip down into a narrow valley, passing to the right of a large rock and carrying on down the sunny path for a little over a kilometre. At the bottom, ride up the track a little way and take the path to the right to Les Puys. This wide, fast path comes out at a viewpoint. Turn right towards Cluy-la-Mine to the Cours d’Auris – Les Puys Mizoën junction. Turn left to reach Les Puys after a few minutes of descent.
At Puy-le-Haut, ride to the car park. A path leads off to the right, down into the woods towards La Croix de Trevoux. This paved track comes out at the crossroads of the La Croix de Trevoux (sign posted and with a cross), before continuing downwards to the road below.
Once on the road, turn right towards La Balme. 500m plus loin, in the hamlet of Les Chatains, you will see a lovely, old post-box embedded in the wall of a house. The path leads off just here to the right, passing the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Pitié. It carries on up for just over a kilometre to La Balme where, next to the boules ground, you will see signs on an old millstone. Follow ‘Bourg-d’Oisans – Les Cheminées’. As you begin the ‘chimney’ bends, stop for a moment at the iron-bearing source at the oratory to entrust your soul to Saint Christophe. The switchbacks of this spectacular descent, built into the cliff, require considerable technical skill and concentration. If in doubt, walk the first ten bends. Lower down, the path becomes less steep and easier to ride on. It comes out at a stone bridge over the Romanche River. Go up the route to the ‘Rampe des Commères’ tunnel and take the old road to the right of the tunnel. A few minutes later, you will be down at the car park of Le Clapier. To get back to Bourg-d’Oisans, take the dyke from Le Clapier, followed by the main road as this is the “wrong” side of the Romanche.
La Croix de Trevoux
This is an ancient crossroads of four stonewalled paths. This route, perched in the middle of the mountains, has remained just as the Romans built it in order to be able to cross Oisans.
