The ski lifts of Les Prés-d'Orvin are 15 kilometers from Biel and take guests up to 1230 meters above sea level. When there is snow. In the past two winters, the lifts have been in operation for a total of twelve days, explains board member Gabriel Zürcher in the Bieler Tagblatt. To cover the costs, 20 to 30 operating days per winter are necessary.

Even if the current winter gives hope for sufficient skiing days, the Les Prés-d'Orvins ski resort must find an alternative to winter operations in the long term if it wants to survive. The Board of Directors has identified mountain bikers as the alternative clientele. A bike park should attract enough paying guests to finance the facilities together with the remaining winter season, Zürcher announced in the Bieler Tagblatt newspaper.

Four trails from blue to black

The idea is not a copy of the Valbirse ski lift 25 kilometers away, which has been pulling mountain bikers up the mountain since 2023, Zürcher emphasized in the local press. Those responsible at Téléski SA Les Prés-d'Orvin have been pursuing the idea of a bike park for ten years. The two disastrous seasons have now apparently allowed the idea to mature into a project.
This is being driven forward by Arthur Balz. Together with his brother Guillaume, he runs a full-time brewery in Orvin, the main town in the municipality of the same name. He explains to Ride that they are still at the very beginning. First, the forest through which the trails would run would have to be rezoned. It is currently located in an agricultural zone. This would have to become a tourism zone for a bike park to be approved.

According to Balz, the canton is currently clarifying whether rezoning is possible. If this is the case, the municipality must approve this in a referendum, only then can the project actually start. But: "Practically everyone in the municipality is attached to their ski lift, so that shouldn't be a problem," says Balz confidently.

The next step would be to set up an association to develop and implement the bike park project and then operate the facility - and rent the ski lifts from Téléskis SA Prés-d'Orvin. Balz is convinced that attaching bike mounts to the ski lift bars will then be the least of the obstacles. "We still have to win over a number of partners, including the farmers," he qualifies. The forester, on the other hand, is asking for it. He hopes that there will be fewer illegal trails in the forest if there is an official offer. In another report in the Bieler Tagblatt, Chairman of the Board of Directors Marc André Léchot promises to involve all interest groups and to proceed with caution.

Start of construction in 2029

In a preliminary project, the board of directors of the ski lift determined that three to four trails from blue to black would be ideal to attract as many mountain bikers as possible - from families to pros, everyone should be able to have fun.

The Téléskis SA Prés-d'Orvin is financially healthy, as the board members emphasize in the media and Balz confirms in an interview with Ride. Nevertheless, it cannot finance an entire bike park from its own resources. Finding sponsors and supporters - including public ones - will be part of the task of the yet-to-be-founded operator association. Arthur Balz does not expect construction to start before 2029.