About the trails, downhill MTB & Bike Park in Deux Alpes

There are trails with a descent of 2,500m, and the resort hosts some big competitions such as the Mountain of Hell, The Free Raid and the Downhill French Cup, plus 2012 also saw the first ever Crankworx competition this side of the States, and there's more to follow from them this year.

Downhill Mountain Biking
On offer in resort are:

• 91km of slopes between 3,200m and 700m of altitude.
• 2,480m vertical to play with
  – 18 all levels downhill trails
  – cross country routes
  – skill centres at the top of Valle Blanche and Cretes areas
  – A pumptrack at the foot of the slopes
  – Lifts adapted to MTB
  – Bike wash stations : Vallée Blanche, Diable, Venosc and at the foot of Jandri Express

There are green graded DH trails with the shortest at 1.2km and with only -120m descent, so perfect for those new to mountain biking who want to give it a try. Next up are blue trails with the longest covering 6km and -630 of descent, which are also pretty mild tracks, with a few soft berms and small jumps to practise on (obviously the faster you ride these the harder / more fun they become).

The Jandri that starts from the top of the Jandri Express is a little more technical than you might appreciate. Loose rocks abound, so only tackle this once you're really comfortable, and bear in mind that there's a lot of descent to cover before you're back in resort. This trail is covers -600m descent before you join another blue or red trails to get back down to the valley floor.

For the more experienced riders, there are red graded trails and black trails, plus an elite track built for riders at the very top of their game. These harder trails often have large jumps, high north shore sections and steep, tricky switch backs. The black track Satan lives up to its name.. full body armour and solid nerves at the ready!

Check out the map of trails on the Glacier side of the valley, accessed by the Jandri Express gondolas and on the Vallee Blanche side (which is more suited to beginner downhillers and cross country riding) - see the image player above.

Bike Park
Les Deux Alpes Bike Park has a four cross track, slopestyle, northshore, walls, tables and dirt lines. Check out the Cretes skills centre in the images above, which is a good practise area for beginners to get to grips with tabletops, berms and riding skinnies. In summer the bike area opens in late June and runs through to the beginning of September.

You can find lift pass prices here, and search for where to stay here. Lift opening dates and times can be found here.