[Closed] Morzine - offpiste and long singletrack recommendations

I did the Col De Cou last year but headed back towards Champery. It was ok. Done better riding in the highlands but it was a pretty long trail and the scenery was stunning. Nothing too technical. Only slight concern was the apparent introduction of "no bikes" signs. Quite confusing on the Swiss side as the signs are circular, with a red circle around the outside and a bike in the middle, whereas the signs on the French side are the same but with a big line through them. Big line = not allowed in my head. There is a route from the Col De Cou back to Morzine that I haven't done but will do next month.

Lots of off piste stuff on the Pleney:

Out the gondola - head down towards the black - into the first couple of berm - over the drop/ chute - trail flattens and heads left past a building - as you get level with the building look right and you'll see a steep off piste trail

On the Pleney black at the massive big chute - Don't go down the chute, go down the fireroad/ chicken run - As you're going down there dont go left at the first corner, go straight on - cross the wee stream and follow the pretty obvious trail into the trees - this was pretty insane last year in the dry

Again from the top of the pleney lift - head towards les gets - on the fireroad at the corner where the blue starts, about 10 feet further on there's a trail on the right that's pretty well hidden unless you were looking for it

Komatrautrail in Chatel is also well worth checking out. Off the beaten path away from the main trails so it doesn't get much traffic as most folk dont know it's there. From the mid station in Chatel head down the tarmac road. The trail starts about a minute down the road. Graded red but it's much more technical than the bermy bike park stuff. Lots of rocks, roots and drops. Feels very natural and close to what I ride at home

are you averse to a bit of climbing or not?

My favourite off piste route is from Col d'Encrenaz, up to Col de la Basse, ST descent to les Paquis, along Sur Lachaud and then ST descent through Les Bois Noires to Essert Rommand.

You can get to col d'Encrenaz with an XC loop from the top of the Mont Chery bubble, or pedal up from the valley bottom via la Cote d'Arbroz.

zoom into IGN Bleu (1:25k level) here http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/ign_france_maps/france.shtml and look for la Cote d'Arbroz and you'll find col d'Encrenaz to the West.

EDIT: you will find the route marked out in the upper left quarter of the map photo I embedded in the thread jamba has linked to below.

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/help-please-morzine-for-the-non-downhiller ]This thread[/url]

Les Gets/Boirgeoise - Samoens (needs taxi back) is probably a 90 min ride and 1000 meters descent

The STW Morzine out of season ride/gpx has a few good descents you can do without the pedalling up inc Col du Coux and down to Lac Montriond

are you averse to a bit of climbing or not?

Zero issues with climbing. Happy to pedal a fair way if it means getting to good stuff!

Cheers for the suggestions so far!

see if this link works
http://gb.mapometer.com/mountain_biking/route_4350219

The Col du Coux route in STW issue 91 is better IMO than the one I did which involved too much gravel road descending under cliffs at Balme. Note also the Swiss Mobility app/website for free access to Swiss OS maps which you'll need that side of the border. Col du Coux is more about views and experience than great technical riding

Great post as I am out on the 9th and will give these trails a go on the Pleneyand Chatel as I will have the d/h bike their will be no climbing for me

Porridge oats is next to run of the mill. Just starts on the left of the trees.
What's the one from Chatel above the goat village. Head along the blue to the car park of the cafe. Along the walkers path and brings you out at lac montriond. Techy descent once you hit the trees.

Russell's back yard?
Step up and step down? Kiwi track and about 10 on main pleney.

@wysiwyg - I call that Les Roulianes after the col/name on the map. It's on the STW Issue 91 route

[img] [/img]

Is Russell's back yard still in existence? It was covered in barbed wire years ago.

I never knew which one ROTM was, I think it was out past what used to be Hattock, further down the piste? There is a lot of stuff up the top of Super Morzine that's all new since we've been there.

I would say follow your nose on off piste stuff on the Pleney, there are truck loads on there. see if you can find ATM & up your bum too.

No idea if it still exists but I used to enjoy tennis courts too for some tech too. There also used to be a brutal descent down from Avoriaz back into the valley. That was nuts.

If you're off travelling I would go & find drum & bass in champery too.

If you're off travelling I would go & find drum & bass in champery too.

Any clues to location of this? Google search only shows a few Strava segments in the UK and a thread on here where you mention it! 😀

The Col du Coux route in STW issue 91 is better

Anyone kind enough to share this route? Even if it's just the start and end so I can work it out. Most of the gpx stuff I've found online has started or ended miles away from Morzine

Is it not worth a few quid for back issue access ? It's like saying buy me a pint and I'll send you tye gpx

The start is obvious from the name 😉 Its the link from the Arrete over to some singletrack which was part of an XC championship course which is the value added part

Avoriaz to Village was Russells Back Yard. I rode it 3 years ago. Didn't look ridden.

Again tennis court is frowned upon but still rideable. Was washed out well

Is it not worth a few quid for back issue access ? It's like saying buy me a pint and I'll send you tye gpx

Yep! Didn't realise I could buy it instantly online 😳

Hmmm, can I just buy a digital copy of this issue without subscribing?

http://singletrackmag.com/shop/product/issue-91/

Says out of stock and when I click on the pdf I get redirected to

http://singletrackmag.com/premier/account/

Sorry I thought you could, maybe its just hardcopy. Ask the powers that be.

As an aside you have no contact details in your profile

Where are the gpx downloads on the site? Im a full subscriber so should have access.

Porridge, Hattock, ROTM ect... whatever tracks you know down there that are not marked trails then forget it. I used to live there and as far as I'm aware from what my mates still there are saying is that they are properly off bounds now and enforced.

Zigzag maybe ok which is to the far far right of all that stuff and whilst the top sections fairly mellow and fun the bottom section alongside the river can be fruity if ridden with pace.

There are a lot of gems on the Pleney side more of which im sure you'll find with strava.

If I was to suggest a run thats long and technical with no bother just go and do the champery dh track.

Enforced how ?

@craig I am too

Barb wire at the bottom last time.

So a bit like a footpath without the style then 😉

stile

Go on facebook and find "Morzine Crew" fb page - ask your questions on there about the status of Super M's tracks.

Bookmarking for later

Porridge, Hattock, ROTM ect... whatever tracks you know down there that are not marked trails then forget it

Based on Strava people have been riding it up to a few days ago.

That said....

😯

Probably give Porridge a miss then.

OP if you are struggling I can send you a map if you send me an email. You can ride both ways from Col du Coux - push up to peak amd ride Arrete Berois to Switzerland or down the French side and back to Morzine (a climb on the STW ride as thats designed for when the lifts are shut)

From Avoriaz/Linderet Col de Bassachaux singletrack is pretty nice then head down into the gates of hell towards Ardent/Montriond for a well spicy natural descent that is like Ciarin path only steep as shit. This can be looped in 2 hour eesh no problem from Morzine. Im hoping to find lots more this year done all the usual suspects off Super and Pleney but hoping to hit more from Avoriaz and Chatel this year heard many good things!

Kiksy........

This has ruined my holiday im and not even there yet, that shit sucks, probably the most enjoyable thing about Super side was all the 'illegal' tracks.....so now as stated the only route down is under the bubble

If you're off travelling I would go & find drum & bass in champery too.

I'd like to know where this is to.
I've been told its a hiking trail, but on one I know is able to confirm this.
If this is the case then I may know where too look.
helps always appreciated.

Easiest way to spot it is from the lift (Planachaux) - it starts near the only chalet on the mountain with the ref tile roof.

I usually rode it by riding the top section of the Champery WC track until you hit the fire road about half way down. Do a left along there for a while, eventually you will reach a big grassy meadow with the aforementioned house on it. Trail is there on the right.

There has been a few videos of it recently - I recognise some sections from the Scott/Shaperideshoot videos.

Thanks, that's roughly where I thought it was.
I worked out it was to the left of the WC track and rightly or wrongly finished on the Sur cou road.

Just to close the loop, post here for posterity below is a screen shot from the excellent Switzerland Mobility website (and app) which shows the basic Col du Coux (swiss side) ride. Its the highlighted walking path along Arrete Berries and Croix d'Increne turning North down to Planafrache. When we did it we went South to Barme which is mostly rubbish and gravel roads after the first part 🙁

[img] ~original[/img]

Word on the street (I got back from M yesterday) col du cou is shut - lots of trees down from the recent storms.

^^^ interesting. The ride in is open and above the trees, the descent down the French side has no trees for ages and you can avoid the woods, the Swiss side as you can see from the map has no trees till off the arrete

Hmmm, odd that the lift guy would warn us off it asa wasted trip... but then gave us a heads up on a different loop. Oh well, I guess the OP can report back on his return.

^^^ he could be right of course, the path on Swiss side could be shut from the tree line and its the Swiss side thats usually ridden

French side here, you could pick a route with few / no trees and pickup the road

[img] [/img]

Just remembered a gnarly trail down gravelanche but I think it's gone. Chainsaw massacre iirc.

Speaking of gravelanche you can drive a Volvo 850 estate down it....

Right, We're back!

Had a great trip, raining on the first day, which was great fun, otherwise it was sunny and hot.

In the rush to get ready I only brought DH tyres, and coupled with the lack of buy in from the others in the group, didn't end up doing Col Du Coux after all the fuss!

However, we did do lot of the other suggestions including Porridge, which was absolutely brilliant fun, so loose and steep!

Found some other off piste between Canyon and the Golf Course which was also very good. A couple of the lines there were being forested literally as we rode down so keep an eye out on those.

Took a couple detours on Pleney and found some other lines too which were good. The one suggested to keep going straight where the track comes out into the open on the black and continues left had a big 'Privee' sign on it so we didn't do that one.

Did the Linderets stuff which we didn't do last year and was by a far and away the best official stuff we found so far in the PDS, natural, rocking and long runs. Loved it.

Thanks for all the help, made the trip pretty much perfect in terms of the style of stuff we rode, was great to do more than the standard 'berm-jump-berm-jump' stuff 😀

Word on the street (I got back from M yesterday) col du cou is shut - lots of trees down from the recent storms

Did it a couple of days ago and was totally clear

Did col De bassachaux too. 90% great but the very last section was absolutely terrifying. Any alternatives to avoid the rocky section.we did it in the wet and it wasn't fun

I rode the Bassachaux route a few years ago with my eldest, then aged 14. We were both quite relieved to make it to the tarmac. I remember some steeeeeeep drops!