Useful Information for Mountain Bikes

ROUTE GRADES
The mountain bike routes are graded in colours like ski runs and marked with numbers.

The green route indicates "Parcours tres facile", very easy trails along four-wheel-drive tracks and "Foyer de ski de fond", tracks that are used for cross-country skiing in the winter. These routes start from the centre of Chamonix and can be used as an off-road route to reach the harder trails.

The blue route indicates "Parcours facile", easy trails along wide tracks incorporating gentle uphills.

The red route indicates "Parcours difficile", difficult trails along thin paths. Be warned some sections of the red routes are very difficult.

The black route indicates "Parcours tres difficile", very difficult trails along continuous up hill struggles on four-wheel-drive tracks giving access to the telepherique stations. For those who don't like hard up hill routes, cable cars can be taken on many of them allowing you to experience extreme, "full breaks all the time" descents.

Although some of the routes are only a couple of kilometres they can be connected to create longer more interesting routes.

There are some restrictions on mountain biking. During the "high season" between 1st July and 31st August, mountain bikes are restricted to the coloured signposted routes only. The Mountain Bike Police patrol during this period! This is due to the large influx of tourists using the trails for walking. Outside the high season, all the trails are open to the intrepid mountain biker.

TELEPHERIQUE - CABLE CAR SERVICES

The following information should be verified before being relied upon as correct.

Aiguille du Midi:
You can take your bike to the mid-station only.. The telepherique is open throughout the year at
7h00 and closes at 17h00, except from the 4th July to 23rd August when it opens at 6h00.

Le Brevent:
During the high season you can only take your bike to the mid-station, but either side of the high season you can take it all the way to the top Brevent station. The telepherique is open at 8h00 and closes at 18h00.

La Flegere:
Always open to Mountain Bikers. The telepherique is open throughout the year at 8h00 and closes at 17h00, except between 14th July and 16th August when it is open at 7h30 and closes at 17h30.

Lognan (part of Les Grand Montets network):
This system is always open to Mountain bikers. The telepherique is open from 7h15 and closes at 17h15.

Le Tour - Col de Balme:
Always open to Mountain Bikers. The gondolier is open at 8h15 and closes at 17h00 throughout
the year, but is open until 18h00 between 13th July and 20th August