Lac de l'Orceyrette
Description
The starting point of the tour is Villar-Saint-Pancrace just south of Briançon. Here you start the road ascent to Lac de l'Orceyrette. Follow an asphalt road for the first few meters, but then soon branch off onto the gravel version because there is hardly any traffic here (motorized excursionists ride up on the asphalt road). This way you reach the mountain village of Ayes (with the only opportunity to stop for refreshments) and continue along the little road to the idyllic Lac de l'Orceyrette. There are still a few more meters to climb, still on a small road, but now a little rougher. This takes you to the alpine settlement of Chalets de l'Alp, the culmination of the tour in the middle of a large rock arena.
The descent gets off to a tough start: the trail over to Alp Taure is a tough nut to crack - always easy to ride but interspersed with flow killers on the ups and downs. This section is definitely not the highlight of the tour, but this follows immediately after the Alp. The trail down to the valley floor is a first-class S2 fun ride and meanders endlessly and variedly through the larch forest. Once at the bottom of the valley, the trail continues on the right-hand side of the stream. If you want something more moderate, take the trail on the left-hand side of the stream. This will take you to the vicinity of Ayes.
The third section of the tour is now on the program: the Mélézin Trail. This involves climbing around 100 meters in altitude on a gravel road to the mountain village that gives the trail its name. The descent begins on the right at the first houses and is marked as a bike trail. This is another first-class S2 flow! The bends are so well worn in that they almost form small banks. The fun trail leads down to the road you know from the ascent. If you don't have the strength, you can roll the last few meters back to Villar on the little road. Everyone else turns into the asphalt road, climbs a few more meters and then turns into the Chemin du Clot de Triomphe. This offers a great trail finish to the route!
Map & GPX-Track
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Details of the tour
24 km
1170 m
1170 m
1246 above sea level
2201 above sea level
1 day
Briançon
Briançon
2949
well suited
More information
More tours nearby
User comments (3)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
We did the ride at the end of June 2026 and climbed directly from Villar-Saint-Pancrace to Mélézin. Easy climb. Beautiful, winding, and fast descent. Not very technical. Some sections were a bit eroded, but overall it was in great shape.
Beginning of September 2024:
In the small settlement of Chalets de l'Alp (approx. KM 11) there is unfortunately a sign "Proprieté privée". This time we dared to stay on the track for a few meters and then unfortunately made the acquaintance of the already quite angry landowner, who was sitting on his terrace and seemed to be waiting for us (bikers). In any case, we couldn't talk to him. He chased us away very emphatically. Unfortunately, that meant rolling back up the 250 meters on the gravel driveway that day.
I don't know how regularly you guys from Ride are down there... Maybe you should talk to the owner of the land. Depending on how often situations like ours occur, it's not good for our sport in the long run.
The Mélézin trail follows later on in the tour - described as a "first-class S2 flow". Leaving different tastes and skills aside, my/our impression was that this trail definitely has its best years behind it and is in urgent need of maintenance. Unfortunately, the good line felt like it was permanently full of rubble and branches, so that we didn't really want to get into the flow due to the constant search for an alternative line.
Too bad about this bike day. There were of course - also thanks to your tour database - many other great bike days.
The first four kilometers or so of the descent lead past two driving bans and through a national wildlife sanctuary. According to the local police, this has been in place since 2019.