Hello STW people, I haven’t posted anything on here in years, so be gentle.
Me and the missus plus the two young’uns are heading over to Morzine this July and need help with finding good family friendly routes.
The boys are strong wee riders able to tackle Laggan Red (the older one the Black) and the missus is ‘ok’ with Laggan Red and Aviemore natural singletrack. I made a bad mistake taking the family down a ‘red’ at La Clusaz in the rain last year, it was a slide / root fest from hell, me and the older lad found it quite a hoot, but the wee one was well out of his depth and the missus still hasn’t forgiven me…
Any advice on classic Alpine xc routes? We plan to buy lift passes. Will also do a few days with just the boys so probably head for the ‘park’ – yo.

Bookmarked

In Les Gets, the greens on the Chavannes side and the Mont Chery side are nice introductions. Mont Chery side has a short rode section with a small climb but I’ve never seen a car on the road in the last 7 years I’ve been there.

The blues on the Pleney are a wee bit of a step up. The one that goes under the Pleney lift is the easier of the two. The other one is a bit more techy and steep.

Under no circumstances take them down the new-ish Red on the Pleney. It’s far from a red. I’ve passed beginners or less experienced folk on the verge of tears clinging onto the side. Classic French trail grading.

Plenty of mellow stuff up on the Zore side too. Blues are nice and straightforward.

For a nice XC day

Up the Super Morzine lift

Up the Zore lift

Take the path towards Avoriaz

At the Col de la Joux Verte, take the PPDS route down towards Lindarets. If they can do Laggan this’ll be fine. Not steep, wee bit rocky.

As you pass under the TSD Lindarets lift, don’t go left, keep going straight and head towards the Mossette lift

Take the Mossette lift

From the top, take the PPDS route back towards the Pointe de Chesery

Follow the PPDS all the way back into Lindarets

Follow the PPDS all the way down to Lac Montriond and then onto Morzine

Nothing tech, just a nice loop with some stunning views from the top of the Mossette lift

We normally take newbies and kids from the top of Super Morzine to Linderets via the PPDS route. Nothing to nasty on that. You can add the bit up Mossettes if you want to go a bit further. All very nice. There’s a new green between Super Morzine and Avoriaz on that run too which is a good place to warm up and do a couple of loops. Edit Same as Boardin Bob above.

Most of the Reds and Blues are fine in good weather (albeit steeper than the UK equivalent) but a bit of rain really changes them. They can get really slippy. The higher stuff around Mossettes is better then if a little bleak. If its really wet take the day off and go to the pool at Avoriaz then ice skating

The Les Gets reds and blues are harder/steeper than at Chatel/Linderets/Avoriaz IMO. Linderets is also a better place to hang out as you can do short loops or sit one out as you wish. Great for a mixed group with some a bit keener

Also interested in this so instead of starting another thread I’ll just add to the above if that’s ok!
I’m heading to Morzine for a long weekend with wife and kids in a few weeks time. Son (8) is quite competent and will be dead keen to ride at any opportunity. He’s ridden all the blues at BPW (at pace!), a few in Whistler (e.g. B-Line) and more locally to us in Hampshire is fine top to bottom at Rogate and some of the more secret trails in the qecp area. So 2 questions;
1. As above – recommendations for single track routes which won’t be irresponsible but will be enough to keep him interested (fire roads won’t cut it!). Lift assisted, but some pedalling is fine.
2. Bike choice? I think we’ll take his commencal Meta 24″ hard tail. Then have 2 choices, either try and rent a full sus locally for him (which looks super expensive and from what I’ve heard with no guarantee of quality), or spend the money on a full face for him which he’ll get to use at home and let him ride the HT?

Any prior experiences welcome!

All the above advice is spot on although I’ve always preferred Linderets/ Avoriaz to Chatel.

also off the Zore lift (Supermorzine) the “new” green under Serrassaix is very doable and can be easily “sessioned” (use the serrassaix lift back to the ridge above Zore) lots of times before then taking the link track down to Lindarets.

Nothing to add. Just bookmarking for future reference.

Trying to get the missus up to speed yesterday. Took her to Saint Jean D’Aulps via the paths along the Dranse. Highly recommended for kids or beginners. About a 13 mile round trip. Nothing technical or steep but feels like mountain biking. Start at the sports centre/swimming pool under the super morzine lift. Well signposted for saint Jean D’Aulps

BB, lovely trail.

You can follow it further on to at least Seytroux.
Also, turn in the other direction upstream (take the path signed as the Chemin de Reynard from the foot of the Rue du Bourg) on the left bank of the Dranse heading upstream all the way to Erigné.
The climb up the road to Le Lac du Mine d’Or is a bit of a schlep beyond Erigné though.

Yeah we’ll be doing the opposite direction tomorrow.

She had a few “moments” on the super morzine greens in the afternoon 🙄

I don’t get it. She’s absolutely fine with speed. Will bomb along at a decent pace on the straight. Show her a bermed corner and she screams and jumps off the bike 😆

Yet she was fine doing 35mph on the road down from avoriaz!

when the chemin du reynard comes out on the road at erigne, continue up hill for just a bit further (but not as far as where it really pitches up towards the lac du mine d’or) and there’s a nice café on your right for a cold beer.

Another vote for the trail underneath the Seraussaix lift that Stoner mentioned (I think it’s called ‘Soylent Green’?). We used it as a warmup trail last year, for which it was absolutely perfect.

The Panoramic green run over in Chatel is another good un – it’s about 7km long, but nothing particularly steep or techy. It’s a good one to session too, as it drops you into Plaine Dranse, and you can jump on the Rochassons lift back up to the top. From Morzine you can get to it via the Chaux Fleurie lift from Lindarets.

The return to Super Morzine top station (Alpage?) is another family friendly green run, starts off about halfway along the link between Zore and Col de la Joux Verte.

Is there any decent riding off La Grand Terche – I’ve just seen the lift seems to be open every day over the summer, never noticed that before.

I made a bad mistake taking the family down a ‘red’ at La Clusaz in the rain last year, it was a slide / root fest from hell,

Les ecotanges enduro trail? Had a similar experience in the wet with Mrs p recently. Having walked/slid about 70% of it I was shocked to see there were 30 people slower than us on Strava.

I dont think there’s really much of interest off La Grande Terche. I walk around there fairly often and most of the tracks are double/fireroad. Strava heatmap has v little I can see that isnt along wide tracks.

However, I HIGHLY recommend visiting the buvette at Graydon (Buvette du Roc d’Enfer) https://en.valleedaulps.com/buvette-du-roc-d-enfer.html
for fantastic food and an amazing location. You can ride down to it along double track from the top station of la grande terche (head east then switch back SSW). If you fancy a climb you can ride up from Top station to the summit of La Grande Terche and then SW towards the Combe de Graydon before switching back ESE to Graydon.

From there there’s some nice single track south from Les Places (just a few km NE from Graydon along the road) towards le Plan de Criou, and then down into Essert Rommand for the return to Morzine along the river valley bottom.

The fud.

Looking down on the Buvette from la Grande Terche.

all directions and place names should be easy to identify from IGN.

Looks like some good stuff up super morzine
What about around les gets?
Thinking about taking the wee man out on Wednesday

As above Mont Chery side also the “off piste” Chapelle Jaquincourt is an easy ride with just the river crossing a bit tricky but easy if you help with the bike. Would give a sense of being away from it all a but of an adventure. Other thread has a gpx basically it’s top of Les Gets (bike park) follow road towards Lac Joux Plan and turn off (from the Lac tremendous view of Mont Blanc on a clear day, ice ceam van 🙂 )

BoardinBob outlines a classic family day out above. Some rocky sections, but not steep at all. In fact you could say the most difficult part of the day is the first 50m from the Col del la Jou Verte

The ride to Mt Caly from the top of the Mont Caly lift in Les Gets always makes me smile, most especially the wholly wonderful cafe in Mt Caly. Return via the road to Morzine for a nice bit of speedy fun. Tere are other ways down too.

Another possibility is the Les Gets retour au Morzine. There is a very short rocky/ loose section that cannot be avoided- so walk this bit, it is the initial drop down off of the ‘Tour du Golf’ It is at point 1513 on the IGN map. From here follow forest roads down to the Troncs lift at Grand Pre and then on tarmac for a bit to the coverered green bridge/ walkway. Turn left off the tarmac and follow the big track back to Morzine. fast, fun, super easy.

Sitting looking at 2 piste maps here
2016 one has the run from top of mossettes around lac vert and chesery down to lindarets
2017 shows the route running down towards les crosets alongside mossettes Suisse
Take it on the ground the 1st route is easily found?

1st one is pretty easy to find just need to head in the right direction at the start which feels like the wrong direction then don’t miss the turning. From mossettes its down either piste, left or right. Right is steeper and rougher. If you go left turn left just after the steep straight bit, towards Switzerland. When you get to the saddle/col go left. I think you can see the Lac from there iirc. Then just follow the vtt signs (there’s two tracks, one for bikes, one for walkers).

Bookmarking this

The Serrausaix chair below Avoriaz is pretty perfect – green/blue options from top to bottom so you can start nice and easy and include more of the blue sections as confidence increases. New sections mean much of it is in great condition, none of the braking bump hell found elsewhere in PdS. Short too, so younger riders get a regular rest on the chair back up. Family Tyred spent much of yesterday there with a few runs under the Zore as well, nobody was out of their depth yet Tyred Jr the elder found enough options to keep himself from whining about it all being “too tame” for most of it, which is what usually happens when he’s made to ride with his family.

Payoff for he and I was the descent to Verchaix from the Bourgeoise.

The younger one’s 9 and capable but I think les Gets Chavannes side would be a waste of time for him. Much better over at Lindarets/Plaine Dranse next I reckon.

Stoner – Member
when the chemin du reynard comes out on the road at erigne, continue up hill for just a bit further (but not as far as where it really pitches up towards the lac du mine d’or) and there’s a nice café on your right for a cold beer

Good shout. Sitting there right now. Most pleasant.

The ride up from morzine was tougher than I expected. Uphill all the way albeit fairly gentle but quite rough. Missus managed it fine though and the run back down should be great fun

the run back down should be great fun

Depends how many Mutzigs you’ve had

The ride up from morzine was tougher than I expected. Uphill all the way albeit fairly gentle but quite rough. Missus managed it fine though and the run back down should be great fun

bravo. I do it with Stoner Jr to get him to stick some effort, then we can have a laugh going back down. By the time we get to that café he’s usually out of gas though.

The Serrausaix chair below Avoriaz is pretty perfect – green/blue options from top to bottom so you can start nice and easy and include more of the blue sections as confidence increases.

+1

We had an ace time (thank you Stoner for the advice). The grading was hit and miss, our first morning we all headed up the lift and down a blue above Les Gets – only to find later in the week that the blue was diverted, so they had simply used a bunch of red and red+ for the blue. 😯 I had pre-warned the kids this may happen, so thankfully a tantrum was avoided and they all took in in their stride.

I would also say that Les Gets lake (Lac des Ecole) is SUPERB – freshwater swimming, a slide and (pay for) inflatables. So worth doing, and free on a Multipass. Perfect for mid or end of ride dips – its just off the jump park area above Les Gets.

Some pics for you all…
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Wjzm3u]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

Even the ‘non biker’ in the OAB household was happy:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WH9zov]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/VCN9UL]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Wjzk9L]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WH9zjx]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WDSTb5]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WDST4w]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WjzkME]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WjzkME]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

The lake
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WRj9vm]Les Gets, Geneva and Paris 2017[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/WjzWMQ]Les Gets lake[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

nice shot, you can see my place from there, just about!
But I cant work out where it’s taken from. Is it on the northern end of the tour of mont chery? Do you have a grid ref?

Glad you had a good trip. Am itching to get out there, will be arriving Tues 2nd I think. Havent been out since Easter and miss it.

That’s the GR5 above Lindarets, first down bit after the lovely corrie lake with cafe/refuge.

Out yesterday.
Wee man enjoyed the greens around the top of zore and ventured onto some of blues.
Then headed down to lindarets as suggested but he found that quite a step up from the greens and blues in terms of rockiness and steepness in places.
Ended up just going back up lindarets chairlift and mucking about on the avoriaz trails gain.
Top day!

@matt lovely photos 🙂

matt – of course. Im such a dufus. I was fixated on the Nantaux in the background and got it orientated wrong.

Did you get a chance to do any high level walks on your own?

Too much riding! We didn’t do any high walks at all. 😳

(I wanted too, the others resisted…)

The Les Gets Chavanne side green is a real mess. Definitely not recommended for beginners anymore. Some mad braking bumps and big root sections. The very end bit to the lift is particularly bad now. Zero maintenance

They re-surfaced half of Chavannes 10 days ago…
It is brutal. And I was on steel h/t…

Oops – just reread your post. That trail is actually an old red, they just have closed off some and moved the markers. At the track halfway down you can ignore the obvious markers that are left/ahead, and turn right back on yourself. There’s a trail entrance marked red almost immediately, it’s only last two turns that are steep. The rest is ace 🙂

Main red run is the same as it’s always been. Full of holes!