Oz Station (Oz-en-Oisans) is a small ski station linked with the Alpe d’Huez ski domain.
I climbed it for the first time at the end of the ride up Col de la Croix de Fer car-free bike day – see map at bottom. But I thought I’d write a separate blog post for Oz so it didn’t get lost in that long article.
Here is my guide of the best climbs in the Oisans regions: Beyond Alpe d’Huez – The Best Cycling Climbs from Bourg d’Oisans.
I started beside Allemont just below Barrage/Lac du Verney (I used this photo in yesterday’s Croix de Fer post):
The ride up to Oz starts on the edge of this lake, and it can be occasionally viewed far below on the way up. It’s a big, purpose-built ski station road, but very quiet with plenty of hairpins.
It’s short, basically half a big climb. But definitely worth the visit.
At the summit were a couple of open ski lifts and lots of lazy downhill mountain bikers enjoying signed downhill trails above the village. I’ve certainly been looking at maps and may one day try to climb with a mountain bike up and over Lac de Besson and see if I can reach roads/trails directly above Alpe d’Huez.
Again, the map below includes the initial ride to Croix de Fer / Glandon. The Oz climb is the hairpins at the end and is labeled.
A 3D video of the ride:
1 Comment
Hi Will,
I’ve been waiting for you to do this one! The family and I had a few spare hours at the end of a summer trip to the area back in 2016 so I did the climb to Oz almost as an afterthought as something to do. And so glad I did. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Think I only saw 2 cars all climb – there was a race up the mountain going on mind you so saw plenty of crazy people running up the climb (have they not heard of bikes?!)
Oz station itself is pretty cool. They had a MTB trials event going on there when we went up so there was a fun little pump track for the kids in the village and also a good ‘go-ape’ type place.
Overall not the most difficult climb but recommended for either a 1st day warm up type before tackling the bigger climbs in the area or a last day climb if you’ve a couple of hours to burn.
Thanks as always for the blog!