Alp d’Huez Grand Domaine – 250km of stunning MTB trails

Although Alp d’Huez is universally known for it’s lung burning 21 hair-pinned climb that ascends 1121metres over it’s brutal 14km distance, most mountain bikers will know it for the equally mental – and far gnarlier – Megavalanche.

The Megavalanche – quite simply one of the most bonkers events in the world of mountain biking. But there is much more to Alp d’Huez than just the mega – and it’s well worth exploring.

In case you’re not aware of the Mega, it’s a mass start endurance race from the top of Pic Blanc at 3330 metres, all the way to the valley floor by Lake Allemont at 720metres.

That’s 2610metres of descending in one hit – with 1500 other riders to battle it out with.

Although the Megavalanche race course is worthy of a visit to the area, there are 250km of mountain bike trails in the region,  linking up the towns of Alp d’Huez; Allemont; Auris-en-Oisans; Bourg d’Oisans; Le Freney; Oz-en-Oisans; Vaujany and Villard Reculas.
With access via 9 chairlifts and uplift buses, there’s a whole network of trails out there to discover in this incredible region…

Alp d’Huez from above – one big old lump of rock. You can see the famous 21 hair pins in the middle; Alp d’Huez just above them and Pic Blanc towering at the top in the middle. Lake Allemont is over to the left – where the Mega finishes. Photo | Laurent Salino

Room with a view

Based in Alp d’Huez, we stayed at the lovely VIP Club Chateau which is conveniently based at the top of town, right by the Pic Blanc lift and a postcard view.

There are obviously places to stay for all sorts of budgets, but if you fancy pushing the boat out and having gourmet three-course meals ready for you after a hard day behind the bars – this is one hell of a place to stay.

Although the marked trails are easy to find and follow between the different resorts, we hooked up with local guide Charlie Garcin for a whistle stop tour. Charlie is a ski guide by winter, and mountain bike guide and instructor at the local bike school – although you’d think he was the Pied Piper of Huez with the way the local woman acted around him.

When you go to Alp d’Huez, find this man. His name is Charlie Garcin, he rides flat out and he knows where all the good stuff is. But you might not want to introduce the lady in your life to him… Photo | Sir Callum of the Jelley

When Charlie turned up for riding in a full face helmet and wearing body armour, it made our Brits abroad approach of sausage hats and short sleeves seem a touch minimal. You probably want to wear a bit more for some of the riding out here – especially if tackling the Megavalanche course, which is steep, rocky, fast and terrifying. All at once.

Riding down a 40degree black run might not sound that tricky, but adding icy snow in to the mix and some serious rocks – and you have much more of a challenge. Can you imagine this on race day with hundreds of other riders all desperate to stay upright and get down this at speed? The top riders clock nearly 90kph down this. That is f***ing mental! Photo | Callum Jelley

Riding on the Moon

Sat in the gondola ascending Pic Blanc, Charlie told us some insane stories about the Mega- which for 2016 is in it’s 21st year. It turns out not all French mountain bikers are crazy – despite living in Alp d’Huez for his whole life, Charlie has never actually competed in the Mega…

“You must be joking!” he laughed, “that event is crazy – for crazy people only!”

Glad we got that cleared up.

Insert your own noises of rocks smashing off the down tube. The thing with this slope that makes it so scary – is that it’s harder to ride slow than it is at speed. Would you fancy coming off on this at speed though? Photo | Callum Jelley

With the start line at 3330metres, you’re higher than all but a handful of peaks in the region and are faced with a black rated ski piste.

The piste is about 40degrees steep, and fires you flat out in to a right hand turn with all sorts of problems. That’s assuming you make it past the snow and the huge chunks of rock…
It’s pretty nerving with a handful of riders  – let alone thumping euro-techno and hundreds of other nutters seeing nothing but red mist.

The Mega course has it all – terrifying flat out scree; awkward snow; the glacier that you tackle at god-knows-what-speed and miles of rocky single track that looks like the moon. And that’s only the top quarter of the course! Photo | ‘Sik’ Michael Kirkman

However, getting a tour of this incredible race track is amazing. You’ve really got to ride this thing at some point – it’s enough to make the Megavalanche appeal for even the most reluctant racer.

And there’s simply miles of it – ranging from the 40degree scree slope at the top; to bombing down the glacier at god-knows-what-speed and in to single track that feels like riding on the moon. And that’s just the top part of the course above Alp d’Huez, mind.

It’s not often that a photo actually deserves the word epic. Photo | Callum Jelley

With the tour of the epic Mega track out the way, Charlie was under instruction to show us a specific route taking in a few local towns.

But we wanted something a little different a little less tourist. So we convinced Charlie to show us a bunch of his local trails that you won’t find on the map.

This is where the real fun began.

Have you ever ridden a trail with a death drop to the side, completely balls out fast with your wheel feet from the guy in front? We hit 40mph on one blind trail – four of us wheel to wheel!

Dangerous? Just a touch.

Fun? Well, we were all buzzing our tits off by the time we got to the bottom!

And it was the same thing, every run.

This shot says a lot about our trip to Alp d’Huez – truckin’ down a run leaving a trail of dust behind. We live for this stuff – mountain biking is bloody awesome. Photo | Callum Jelley

Seriously, we rode some of the very fastest, most varied and fun trails we’ve ridden anywhere. There’s an excellent amount in the region varying from old hiker paths to bike parks – of which there are four.

It was ultra dry whilst we were riding around Alp d’Huez – when heading in to dark woods you needed to leave about 50ft between riders, or there was no hope of vision. The Mega came through this wood – god knows what it would have been like if it was this dusty! Photo | Michael Kirkman

And Charlie’s a hell of a guide to ride with – he watches you ride and learns your style and ability before taking you in too deep. When he knows how you can ride and where your limits are, he’ll look over his shoulder and will give you this wicked grin that means only one thing…

Our guide, Charlie Garcin, tippin’er in in the perfect French conditions. Although we would have had a blast riding the region on our own, Charlie really made our trip. Photo | Callum Jelley

We spent a few days in Alp d’Huez riding some staggeringly good trails, each ending up somewhere more beautiful than the last. The region certainly isn’t lacking in decent trails.

The bike parks in Vaujany; Auris-en-Oisans; Oz-en-Oisans and of course Alp d’Huez itself are loaded with all sorts of trails from the relatively tame, to jump ridden trails and French Cup DH tracks which are up there with World Cup tracks in terms of length, features and how gnarly they are.

Cal smashing out some dust bombs just above La Bergerie in Villard Reculas. This was Cal’s favourite corner in the whole area, although the family having a picnic just out of shot on the right didn’t like it too much! Photo | Michael Kirkman

Alp d’Huez is a great place to base yourself for a week or two of mountain biking – visit for the Mega and stay on for a while, or enjoy the place when it’s a little quieter just after the gong show leaves town.

Either way, it’s a great spot. Well worth putting on your list.

Sun, mountains and so much dust. Alp d’Huez was good to us – we had an amazing time, and rode some truely great trails. Photo | Callum Jelley

A huge thanks goes to Alp d’Huez grand domaine; Oz en Oisans; Vaujany; Villard Reculas; Auris en Oisans and Allemont for the amazing hospitality, Charlie Garcin at Alp d’Huez VTT for being such a brilliant guide and VIP Chalets for putting us up in style.

We shall return.

Have you been to Alp d’Huez before?

Where’s on your list this summer?

Let us know in the comments below! 

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