Morzine summer 22, meetups and rides.

We’re there with a rag tag crew this weekend, not officially in PPDS, but partaking of as much trails and fun as possible from Friday-Wednesday. Huge fat man on a Pole (Hiya) and mix of rad teenagers and middle aged farts. If you fancy a ride and a pint, let me know 🙂

Sorry to miss the August meetup, have fun!

I'm in Les Gets now, been here since Monday. It's been dry and dusty up to now - but just had a downpour and thunderstorm to make things 'interesting' heading into the weekend!

😆😬

Gawd, hope it doesn’t reach quagmire levels we experienced in 2013! Everything, and i mean everything we wore/rode was absolutely ****ed after that weekend. 🤣

I’ll be there 1-5 July.  Staying at Le Tremplin so right next to the Pleney lift.

16-27 July for us, staying in town. First time !

16th July too. Also staying central Morzine. 5 minutes from the lifts! We missed last year because of covid so I’d so bloody excited to get back out there.

If you see metallic blue SWB transit with orange fluffy dice hanging from mirror, that's eldest_oab. Likely there or there abouts the 7-9th July, then up the road for the rest of the summer...

No plans for me but I could go there any time in July or August. If anyone wants to chip in for diesel and tolls from Sheffield let me know!

6th to the 13th in Morzine with the Mrs (her first time and she's not a biker). Absolutely up for meeting for biking and beers if anyone can put up with a large middle aged mincer. I'm planning on doing a half day at least with rideability hoping that Jon can scout out some "downcountry" (glad there's an official term for it now) for me and happy to share with like minded folks.

I'll be the fella on the highly off trend 8 year old Bronson (with rad oil slick grips).

Razorrazoo

You will be with me then !
Expect we are coming back a day earlier (I think)

Razorrazoo

You will be with me then !
Expect we are coming back a day earlier (I think)

Yes, I’m flying though so will get 1/2 day Friday and most of a day Tuesday (when you’ll be on the road).

Perhaps consider helping out?
STW COMMUNITY – HELP NEEDED

We’ll be out in Les Gets at the end of the season by which time some of the braking bumps will be appearing as new geological features on the maps.

Not the week of that wee bicycle race they’re having.

On my way down to Chatel this Friday (in the standby car) - not planned to do PPDS, but we may jump in.. @phil56 - keep the weather updates coming 😉

For the people who are going and sooner than Aug, keep us posted on where you go, what you ride, what you like, what you don't etc.

I'm still slightly torn on some of our days/plans, we've got day 1 mapped out with Pleny then Les Gets.... but that's about it... another day will be up the Super Morzine on Tutti Frutti/Cap Canaveral etc....

But sharing knowledge on Chatel etc would be awesome.

will share the routes we do - we've got some proper nerdy route planners, but 1 day we've planned to do a Verbier trip!!

Razorrazoo

Will be interested to hear how you get on staying at the Tremplin. We're due to stay there later in the summer.

@weeksy have you been before? I think when you realise how small an area Les Gets/Morzine is and how easy it is to get around you might realise you don't need an itinerary. i.e. you don't need to dedicate a whole day to Pleney or Super Morzine, you can easily have a full session on both in a day. Moving around helps you avoid the crowds and the biggest lift queues are always on the Super Morzine and Zor.

The only trip that needs a bit of planning is Chatel and Morgin. If you're taking a car I'd drive there. Either way takes about an hour. It's still well connected but it's a long way from base if anything goes wrong.

And remember, every time you hear thunder, the lifts are off. Getting stranded is a ball ache.

Tremplin is a very busy lively place to be..

have you been before? I think when you realise how small an area Les Gets/Morzine is and how easy it is to get around you might realise you don’t need an itinerary. i.e. you don’t need to dedicate a whole day to Pleney or Super Morzine, you can easily have a full session on both in a day. Moving around helps you avoid the crowds and the biggest lift queues are always on the Super Morzine and Zor.

The only trip that needs a bit of planning is Chatel and Morgin. If you’re taking a car I’d drive there. Either way takes about an hour. It’s still well connected but it’s a long way from base if anything goes wrong.

And remember, every time you hear thunder, the lifts are off. Getting stranded is a ball ache.

multiple times yes, usually 3-4 days but sometimes 1. So while i've got a decent feel for the place, i've not really done the all-day exploring thing with the small lads before. They're quite up for riding all day every day. So need to think of way/places to keep them occupied. Myself and the other dad going we'll happily ride, but we'd also do a nice chill at the bottom of the hill in Les Gets while they play on the red down to the lift there...

So really thinking of how we can keep both the olds and the youngs happy is slightly challenging. They'll ride anything and everything from blue to black, we'll draw the line at reds for the oldies.

I will be out there from the 1 July and like most will do the usual stuff. A trip to Samoens is on the cards as its a lot more natural. Also debating a Les Haunt forts scare for a brave day.

For the people who are going and sooner than Aug, keep us posted on where you go, what you ride, what you like, what you don’t etc.

Pretty sure we'll do a traverse over to ride the Swiss National track as the group I'm with like that.  Requires some route planning but is a good day away from the usual Pleney/Les Gets/SM areas.

Razorrazoo

Will be interested to hear how you get on staying at the Tremplin. We’re due to stay there later in the summer.

Stayed there last time (2019 - Pre-Covid).  I'd describe it as standard ski hotel fayre, perfectly OK if small rooms. Nice staff, bike wash and garage, decent breakfast, great location.  Will try to remember to give an update on return this time around.

Does anyone know if there's a cheap way to visit Pila? It's totally worth riding for at least a day but that tunnel is bloody expensive!

A return coach trip for bikers would be great.

Weeksy - if in Les Gets do Les Écureuils, the green down the Chavannes.

Is it difficult? Not at all, not even challenging, but on a hot sunny day, particularly in the morning, it’s fantastic wandering down some chilled singletrack under baking pine trees with that smell of resin in the air.

They added more singletrack to it during lockdown too.

PS - also all the more challenging stuff, though everything up to red can be ridden with a toddler on the bike with you, but don’t dismiss that green.

A trip to Samoens is on the cards as its a lot more natural.

Just been watching some vids... That looks quite FoD ish.... and i mean that in a very good way.

We're there 2nd-9th (riding 3-8th) - great to say hi if there are folks over there.

There's a few of us over but cycling 2 adults and 3 youngsters 12-14 who will be doing their best (and probably managing) to leave the adults in the dust. Realistically, kids are happy on most stuff we hit in the UK - Fort William, Golfie, Innerleithen, Aberdeenshire gnarr but I've no idea how that translates into trails in Morzine.

Staying near Pleney lift I believe - but I've never been there before so don't know exactly where.

Realistically, kids are happy on most stuff we hit in the UK – Fort William, Golfie, Innerleithen, Aberdeenshire gnarr but I’ve no idea how that translates into trails in Morzine.

They'll probably find everything perfectly manageable, but much, much longer and hopefully much warmer and dustier.

Staying near Pleney lift I believe – but I’ve never been there before so don’t know exactly where.

Hope you like nightlife!

They’ll ride anything and everything from blue to black, we’ll draw the line at reds for the oldies.

not sure how far you have explored before, but the colour grading across the PdS is... interesting.

the Mont Cheri black is easier than any Chatel top half reds

morgins seems to have been built as a red and black only park, and when they got told to put easier trails in they just changed the signs. Blue and green there are harder than the Zore reds.

Pleney - I know the red has had some work recently, previously it was harder than the black. Probably still is in the wet (steep chutes of roots).

And of course, the swiss national. Red on the french map, Black on the swiss map.

And remember, every time you hear thunder, the lifts are off. Getting stranded is a ball ache.

True dat - last time there with the family we were over at Chatel when a mighty storm rolled in - only time I've ever seen the lifties look worried as they shoved everyone who needed to get back to Morzine onto the chair and sent it off on Evacuation Mode.

Brutal family trek back through the Lindarets bowl in a freezing monsoon, left them up at Avoriaz and headed down the mudslide under the SuperM to fetch the car taught me to pay closer attention to the weather forecast and not be lulled into a false sense of security by morning sunshine!

We're out there week after next, quite excited. Been a while!

Pleney – I know the red has had some work recently, previously it was harder than the black. Probably still is in the wet (steep chutes of roots).

I noticed that watching Pleny trails yesterday because on our arrival day we'll only get 1-2 runs until they close up... So was checking out the Red and Black and thought, "black looks easier"

Wasn't sure how big the drop is on the Red.

There's (from 2 year old memory, dont sue me) obvious chicken runs for anything non rollable on the pleney red and black.

That was part of the fun of the black for me was trying to do something new every lap. The lift is so fast and efficient it was better just to do full runs rather than mess about sessioning.

Last time I was on the Pleney it was starting to get hard to follow the 'main line'. There's so many shortcuts, chicken runs, crazy off-piste bits. It's hard to know which bit of dirt to commit to until you know your way around.

When I first went it was like a motorway from top to bottom.

Never really ridden the red run. It was always a bit of an unfinished mess. Recent videos look a bit better.

A trip to Samoens is on the cards as its a lot more natural.

Just been watching some vids… That looks quite FoD ish…. and i mean that in a very good way.

Just don’t make the mistake I did and book in to a hotel in Samoens only to find the lifts opened a week later 😳. Ended up driving to Les Gets each morning instead (hardly a problem really but was looking forward to riding Samoens).

This is a good illustration of how the Pleney looks now...

Basically jump in the trees at any point and bomb down it.

This thread is getting me both pumped and stoked. I might just jump in the van, light up the credit card and see you all there.

Samoens is definitely worth the trip over from Morzine/Les Gets. It's way less busy and the tracks are a lot more natural and less braking bumps. I think there is a way over to Samoens from the very top of the Les Gets bike park lifts but I didn't find it. There is a shuttle company with a trailer that does day trips to Samoens

This is a good illustration of how the Pleney looks now…

Thanks, just reminded me that I'm actually quite rubbish at riding a bike

Thanks, just reminded me that I’m actually quite rubbish at riding a bike

I don't think that kid is representitive of most of us 🙂

Samoens is definitely worth the trip over from Morzine/Les Gets. It’s way less busy and the tracks are a lot more natural and less braking bumps. I think there is a way over to Samoens from the very top of the Les Gets bike park lifts but I didn’t find it. There is a shuttle company with a trailer that does day trips to Samoens

At the top of Les Get or La Nauchets lift take the road to the right, to the top of Col de Joux Plane, bridleway to the top of La Bourgeois. drop down to your right and there's 2 ace runs that take you to Samoens, its a hell of a ride back up though if you haven't shuttle vent got a shuttle!!

https://www.bikemorzine.com/blog/2022-trail-tickling

Trail updates for PDS here, looking good!

I think there is a way over to Samoens from the very top of the Les Gets bike park lifts but I didn’t find it.

I think from the top of Nauchets head up the road to the top of Rainfolly chair, from there I think (don’t quote me) there’s a trail to the Col de Joux Plane and it’s down the road from there, though there may be other trails to ride. Of course you’ve then got to get back somehow…

I take it the return route is D907 and D902 to come in to the centre of Les Gets?
20km and 500m climb according to google.

Or is there a better way?

We got a week in Morzine and a week in Les Arcs starting this saturday.
Bit excited 🙂

From Les Gets to Samoens you want la Bourgeoise.

Head for the big cross overlooking the Giffre valley then head down to your right. Worth a bit of research beforehand as it's not obvious all the way.

It's flippin glorious. Long way back up though if you're on a big heavy bike!

It’s flippin glorious. Long way back up though if you’re on a big heavy bike!

I’m sure if you take an ‘e’ you’ll be sorted.

I'm back there 11- 28 Aug. Dreading the Bank Holiday Channel crossing on the return leg but have paid for 'priority boaeding' or somesuch. Watch this space.

I've lost count of the number of times we've visited but I've never ridden the Pleney in full. Probably ridden all of it bit by bit over the years with the exception of that God-awful drop. TBH, it doesn't really appeal.

Booked a chalet with AirBnB in Les Gets- at the same time as the DH World Champs which sould be a fun thing to watch. Hopefully the event won't interfere too much with our riding. I really don't wan't those youngsters holding me up on the trails...

Anyone out there at the same time fancy a meet up and a show around. We've done it a couple of times before and its worked well in a very disorganised, flexible way.

Whatever happens, say 'Hello' to the bloke in the Hawaian shirt.

I'm just back from a week riding mainly in Les Gets, Morzine and Chatel.

We had a fantastic time and got to ride in the dry and the wet - it's very different!

Not sure there's much to add that hasn't been covered?

The descent into Samoens is pretty awesome but you do need to plan how to get back - there are a couple of firms that offer a shuttle pick up

Looking at the trails/vids of Chatel, it's not very user friendly !!!! Looks very very gappy.

I think Serpentine is OK though, but some of the rest.. wowsers.

@weeksy There are plenty of really great and user friendly trails in Chatel - there are some serious blacks that get lots of feature in videos etc, but the Vink line down to the bottom lift is excellent and swoopy and in the Bike Park itself there are several great flow trails - including a green 'family trail'

Just back and we did do la Bourgeoise over to Samoen - one of my best days in the saddle ever. Pretty gnarly (for me) at times, with tight rooty-steeps and next to a cliff drop off to the left which was hidden by undergrowth but v close at points. We had a lift back up to the col and it would be a hell of climb back without on anything other than a road bike.

Les Gets trails all running great as were super morzine. I don't mind some rough but the Chatel area was not fun at all with Serpentine and middle Vink line all completely blown and needing surfacing work. Panoramic was smoother and good fun at speed though.

I did notice there's a new Blue back from Les Gets to Morzine since we were last over there. I think part of it is stuff that was previously there and i rode some of with Stoner, but i think a fair bit is new too. Would be a good one to have at the end of the days riding back over to Morzine as i think we'll spend a bit of time in Les Gets when we're there.

What are people looking forward to most then ?

I'm thinking my favourites are going to be a nice bit of Super Morzine Blues....

Lindarets : Dans le Foret.... i like...

I am meeting some friends from the Uk from 31st july till 6 of august.
Cant wait.

I've been intrigued with the ride from Avoriaz, via Morzinette and then onwards to Morzine. I've found a few conflicting accounts that include a fair amount of hike a bike, something that I can no longer do- bloody arthritic hip is no fun, especially if I have to lift an Ebike.

'Alps mountain biking' (Steve Mallett, Vertebrate Publishing) says "Avoriaz to Morzine. A brilliant enduro loop away from the park. From the top of the Prodains lift at Avoriaz, take a right and climb up the ridge in front of you heading for La Chaux. A panoramic traverse brings you to the small hamlet of Morzinette where the fun really begins. One of the fastest singletracks you'll ever ride, it sweeps through the forest on a gentle gradient and drops you back into Morzine centre".

Has anyone ridden this? How difficult is it compared with e.g. La Bourgouise in the wet? Do you have a GPX you'd care to send my way?

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Razorrazoo

Will be interested to hear how you get on staying at the Tremplin. We’re due to stay there later in the summer.

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Just on my transfer back to Geneva airport 🙁

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Tremplin was great.  We had the same room as I had before.  If you’re not bothered about large rooms and beds  then I’d recommend it. Staff are great, gave me a late checkout without even asking and always happy to help. Rooms are clean and the breakfast was decent with plenty of choice. Secure garage to put bike (remember a lock), pump, jet wash etc, all very geared up for bikes.  Great post ride bar with a DJ but the bar closed at 8 ish as people move off to eat.  Location is brilliant, next to Pleney lift, and right near plenty of bars and restaurants.

Few quick tips.
- There’s a new blue and red to link part of the route back from Avoriaz.  They’re very new cut and loamy and will be a nightmare if it rains a lot, there’s also bridges / north shore in weird places. I’d stay on the green which is much more flowy and it seems they’ve built more jumpable rollers on it.

- On the lower part of Fluid in Chatel there’s a newly built large wooden drop, there is a roll down option on the left but I saw no signage for it and rolling up to it it looks like a launch into the void. Be careful as one of my group came across a rider down who clearly hadn’t known.

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Apologies for the code in previous post, was too late to edit it out

I'm in Chatel from 19th July until 29th if anyone's about...

@Ambrose looks like we are there for pretty much the time, although we don't arrive in Morzine until the afternoon of the 13th as we breaking the journey up.
Would be good to meet up. We are staying in Morzine.

Razorrazoo, you’re a star! Looking forward to getting away and busy scoping out some of the quieter trails in the area.

Hi all, we are arriving on friday 15th, riding from the 16th to the 26th july. My girlfriend by her own admission can't ride for as long as i can, and will be needing more rest, half days and so on.

So, i'm looking for fellow riders to show me around (first time in morzine) and ride with. I'm a reasonable rider and enjoy all types of riding really. I can buy you a pint at the end of the ride if that helps ☺️

I'm not going to Morzine this year. Wish I was was. I hate you all....

(have a blast! 😉)

Ambrose Avoriaz to Morzine via Morzinenete is good, there is quite a long section of pushing/carrying at the start, exposed and rocky. Then mainly classic Alpine singletrack.

@Fergal

Do you happen to have a *.gpx or any other information? The brief description from the guidbook really tempts me but 'quite a long section of pushing/carrying at the start, exposed and rocky' really doesn't! Maybe I'll give it a miss 🙁

I'll be in Meribel 9th and 10th august and les Arcs 11th to 13th. With the GF who doesn't ride. Anyone about? Have the car so can travel..

Oh and i want to go to La Thuile. MTB beds needs a few more people who want to go the same week as me, 16th to 27th july in order to run a shuttle so let me or them know if you want to go too.

Well due to the boy breaking his arm it looks like the plans are swapping to Morzine on World Championships weekend to watch both the XC and DH racing.

Sure it's not quite the same as riding... but hey, it'll be a heck of a time for us i think 🙂

Got back on Thursday, Hell of a trip, including SleazyJet cancelling our flight 12 hours before departure and driving down (€2 really hurts over 1600 miles).

Arrvied to near perfect trail conditions, a storm was forecast the whole time we were there, but never arrived. les Gets mainline a continious line of painful braking bumps as per normal. Les Gets 2 side was reduced to a tough Black trail and an unmarked, off-piste line that looks like it might be easier, and really wasn't. The Bike Parks were in great condition, it seems they actually maintain the XC route to Chatel because it was lovely. The Retort DH from Les Gets back to Morzine was actually dry!

Thanks to some great company, I think it's the best trip there I've ever had, and I've been going since 2007.

@Ambrose
Can't really add anything, just remember it was hard finding the start as in not obvious, to start it takes a high traverse line on the left hand side of the valley, leaving Avoriaz it initially climbs a track in the direction of Haute Fort the high peak overlooking the village, used the local IGN map, surprised at how much pushing there was at the start.

Thanks for the reply, I will probably have to give it a miss.
Possibly.

@Ambrose
if you're on an ebike, the hike-a-bike section would be really tough. you could miss it out by cycling up the piste from Prodains to Combe du Machon and meeting the trail there, then its just an uphill push/pedal to get to the high point and start the traverse. There's a couple of points where you might have to lift the bike over rocks, and one very steep exit from a stream crossing, but you'll have missed out ~20 mins of carrying. I did it a few days ago, a small section of the trail in the forest has been flattened by logging/construction vehicles, but it's still all rideable and good fun. happy to give any more info

What I'm really after is some nice flowing French blue, possibly red singletrack. I'll be riding alone. Does anyone know if I can get to Morzinette on access roads? GoogleEarth shows what I interpret as gravel roads but I may be wrong.

AS a clue to what I like/ am after, The Pointe de Mosette- Lenderets GR5 is great. Les Bois Noirs down to Essert Romand ride is great. The Col de Cou is fabulous, esp down via Lac Mine D'Or or even betterer, the Arete du Berrois. The ride fom Col de Bassachaux- Les Roulainnes- La Barme- Lac Montriond was pushing my envelope. The self same envelope was pretty tattered after a wet descent of La Bourgouisse down to Samoens. I'd maybe do it again, in better conditions.

Cheers folks 🙂

I'm here, it is roasting hot. Still looking for riding buddies 🙃

Good to hear the weather is nice. So looking forward to heading there in 3 weeks.

Morgins today. 34c . The red road gap and the drops on la noire were amazing. Massive massive rush after doing those.  Pila tomorrow !

Wheres the videos!

@Ambrose there's (at least one) vehicle (4x4) track up to morzinette, but it's steep and very rough in places. Starts about 500m back towards morzine from the prodains lift, when you get up to bois de morzinette, take the track round to the right rather than the left. At the top, as you come out of the forest to the morzinette plateau, there's a narrower track going to the right, that's the start of the descent. On the way down, follow signs to l'acquy. As the trail gets very rocky, like a dry streambed, you can either go left at the signpost towards la mernaz (an up and down traverse) or follow the route downhill another ~100m to the prodains road and roll back into morzine. If you're happy on the arete berrois (now closed to bikes) and bois noirs, i think you'll like it

@howsyourdad1 i'm planning on riding a couple of loops around les gets tomorrow, probably starting from morzine around lunchtime. They head away from the lifts and marked trails, so require a bit of pedalling, not sure what sort of bike you're on but they'd be hard work on a dh. if you're free and fancy joining let me know

@tfelotthgir, many thanks 👍🏼😁

Ah sorry missed this ! We are off to samoens tomorrow, last day. We have a shuttle back but any tips on how to get there from morzine would be great. I have heard there are nice trails down to samoens from a certain lift, off piste stuff. Cheers!

Whats the deal with Col de Cou these days?

Any other good xc alternatives? We’ve done the one that drops through the woods back into essert romand but soemthing similar would be good?