The history of the Pic Blanc…
It was in the 1870s that Joseph Bayle, parish priest of the village of Oz 3300, took part in the first expeditions to the peaks of the Oisans region. The highest point in the Grandes Rousses massif is named after him: Pic Bayle. It was this keen mountaineer who named the summit “Pic du Lac Blanc”, more commonly known today as “Pic Blanc”. Around 90 years later, the cable car to the summit was built. Many skiers, walkers and mountain bikers use it to get to the Pic Blanc. This iconic spot is also the starting point for one of the most famous mountain bike races: the Mégavalanche. Every summer, mountain bikers race down the Pic Blanc slope as far as Allemond, covering more than 2,600 metres of ascent and descent!
Megavalanche 2016 @ot Oz 3
Le Pic Blanc Alpe D'huez
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An exceptional place
The Mont Blanc, the Meije, the Grandes Jorasses… mountains as far as the eye can see! Straddling the communes of Oz 3300 and Le Freney d’Oisans, the Pic Blanc is one of the highest peaks in the Grandes Rousses massif, along with the Pic Bayle (3,465 m) and the Pic de l’Étendard (3,464 m). From the Pic Blanc, you can admire the surrounding mountain massifs, with an orientation table to help you recognise each of the peaks: Pic Bayle, Grande Casse de Pralognan, Grande Motte de Tignes, Grand Paradis in Italy, the Vanoise glaciers, the Dent Parrachée, the summits of the Maurienne as well as the Meije and the Barre des Écrins… The panorama is exceptional on a clear day: it offers a palette of colours ranging from the blue of the sky to the ochre and grey of the rocks, not forgetting the emerald green of the lakes and the white of the eternal snow…