Alpine escapes in La Clusaz

Words: Imogen Smith

Think of the French Alps and you often think of cheese and big road passes, but mountain biking is huge in the region, and just like each village has its own distinct cheeses, their trails are unique too.

La Clusaz in France’s Haute Savoie region is tucked in between some of the most famous road climbs in the world. The Grands Cols of the Tour de France – La Madeleine, Le Telegraphe, Le Galibier – are all within striking distance of this ski town in the Alps, and each summer cyclists from around the world flock to the cracked alpine roads that pass through the town on their way through to the next valley, the next climb, the next day of their tour.

Touted as the easiest ski town in the Alps to access, La Clusaz is about an hour’s drive from Geneva (with its international airport), and just 30 minutes from Annecy, or 150km from Lyon, both of which have airports and excellent rail connections. This proximity to international connections also means that English-speakers are in luck – nearly everyone in town, whether working in the service industry or not, can give you a hand if your high school French fails.

But over the last five or ten years, like many ski resorts in the world, La Clusaz has been realigning itself towards the off-road market, inspired, perhaps, by the success of places like the Portes du Soleil to the north, or Switzerland’s Verbier, a couple of hours’ drive to the east.

Four of La Clusaz’s ski lifts open for the summer season, delivering mountain bikers of all persuasions – from all-mountain to XC – to the towering slopes that surround the village, along with hikers and sightseers. The resort profits from the quiet shoulder season each autumn to send dedicated teams of workers out to the mountain bike trails, constructing new routes and extending existing ones, before they are blanketed in snow to bed in over the winter.

Having used the famous bike parks in places like Verbier, I’m stunned by how inexpensive lift passes are here in this corner of France just minutes from the Swiss border (geography is often blamed for higher prices in the EU). Adult day passes for all lifts are EU17.50, and an afternoon pass just EU13.00 – but you could easily pay less if you limited yourself to a single lift for a day at a time – each offers a choice of gravity-assisted runs back down to the village.

The summer season runs from 20 June to 4 September each year. In addition to a range of trails, there is a North Shore bike park, a ‘fun zone’ – a bike park for beginners, and sixteen runs that form part of the 110km-odd network of trail. With so little mountaintop riding available in Australia, limited to our handful of MTB-friendly ski resorts like Buller, Falls Creek, and Thredbo, it’s difficult at times to ‘get’ precisely what’s on offer here. But think of it like a ski holiday. You take the lift up, find a run that suits your ability (or stretches it), go for it, then go again. Pedalling is nearly entirely optional, depending which type of run you choose (avoid XC trails if you prefer to pump than pedal). You try new things, and slowly you move up the difficulty ratings. You wear yourself out, have a nice hot shower, then retire to a bar or a restaurant to eat rich food, drink, dry out, and recover for the next day.

On the ground in La Clusaz

Unlike many other ski villages, where downhill and enduro riding are naturally favoured by the steepness of ski terrain, La Clusaz is blessed with a variety of slopes from gentle to steep, and some thoughtful trail-building and bike park construction has yielded riding to suit all abilities – from families with kids to experienced bike handlers.

Just like the ski slopes, the mountain bike trails are graded in a manner that is easy to understand. Le Domaine is riddled with trails, 16 marked routes spread over 110km network. There is a real mix available, and while 9 cross-country routes will take you all through the valleys, there are 3 enduro trails, 3 downhill trails, an all-mountain route and a dedicated North Shore trail plus the Bike Park to keep you occupied.

Perhaps the true reward for riding in the region is moving beyond the range of the lifts, and exploring across valleys, to nearby towns, visiting their restaurants and their bars. There is a very convivial feel when riding in the French Alps, and it’s customary to stop and enjoy a proper lunch at a mountain restaurant with a view, sampling the local speciality and the house wine or beer of choice.

The trails take in some of the most beautiful countryside and mountain views you’re likely to see anywhere. Taking the Les Juments trail from the Cret du Loup lift will point you towards the Col des Aravis and views to Mt Blanc, before a long bench-cut trail carves into the slope above La Clusaz, crossing ancient stone bridges on the Sud Aravis trail, before jumping back into the forest, scything down steep trails beside the pistes and leaving you near the centre of town. Long trails wind around the back of surrounding mountains, and while some immerse you in the forest, others keep you in sight of town, never too far from a fondue.

The flavour of France

Visiting the Haute-Savoie region, a bit like visiting most places in France, is a reminder of the importance of food, land, history and tradition in French life, and particularly the way they are all related. Each region has its particular festivals, customs, and above all, regional specialties, and these tie people to the land, the local environment – its climate, history, and something that translates roughly as ‘geographical air’. Here in the Haute-Savoie, one cheese in particular, the ‘Reblochon’, is a delicious symbol of the unbroken ties between nature and culture of the region. To give you an idea of this cheese’s importance, the representative body had a tent in the bike show village at the Roc des Alpes, where competitors and their crews, surrounded by tents for bike brands, outdoor gear, and mechanical servicing, tasted cheese and learnt about its manufacture.

Reblochon, and its sister cheese, Tome, are both designated ‘Appelation d’Origine Protegee’ – the reason that Australian ‘champagne’ is called ‘sparkling wine’. In order to protect products that are, in effect, the result of a relationship between land and culture. To meet the requirements for AOP, for example, Reblochon must be made with the milk of cows of just three breeds, who must be fed on the natural alpine grasses of the region in summer, and the hay of the region in winter.

So why am I carrying on about cheese? Well, in many ways, the trails around La Clusaz are unique to the region in the same way, the same ‘terroir’ that has created the unique flavour of Reblochon has created the shape and flavour of the trails in and around La Clusaz. A bit like cheese, trails here are a product of the Alps – the air, soil, and geography; the shape of the mountains, the microclimate, and the outdoor culture that propagates a genuine respect for land. It’s something you can feel on the bike: carving into historic routes used by humans for millennia, La Clusaz’s trails are the product of a deep love of the mountains you can only learn from immersing yourself in the alps.

Pedal-assist in the Alps

E-bikes. They’re a phenomenon in Europe, and Asia and even if a sighting is still pretty rare here in Australia, ski resorts like La Clusaz have been quick to recognise their benefits, and e-bikes nearly dominate bike hire fleets in the shops around town. It’s pretty simple, really. With an e-bike a lot of the difficulty of riding in alpine areas is taken care of with pedal assistance. And don’t get the image of a hybrid-style commuter stuck in your mind, either. Here you can hire e-enduro bikes, e-cross country bikes, and e-downhill bikes are out there, too. You can even pick up an e-kids bike. In this instance, pedal-assist bikes really help keep a mountain bike holiday working, even for a whole family.

The Roc des Alpes

We visited during a mountain bike festival, the Roc des Alpes. A three-day festival that celebrated just about any mountain biking discipline, there were events for marathon racers, cross-country specialists, endure riders, downhillers, dirt jumpers and more. There were also casual rides that toured the farms of the region, to sample their produce. Canyon test bikes were available, and despite the inclement weather this year, the town was buzzing with thousands of mountain bikers. If you plan on heading to a European mountain town, do so when a festival is on. You will experience the village at its best.

Rocdesalpes.com