Previous post had incorrect title hence the re-post

HI all,

I’m in Morzine (again) for a week this summer and have in mind to ride some of the usual single track routes. Based on articles in this forum I’ve found a few but had some questions on them with regard to the best options:-

1, Col De Cou / Arrete Berois – I’ve ridden this before.
2 questions – is it worth riding / walking up to the actual col or should I skip the last part of the climb (which i did last time) and traverse over just before the top.
Also, at the end of the ridge after the steep switchbacks where you hit the car park. Last time i went right down towards Barme then took the fireroad under the Cliffs. I see at the car park that you could go left instead crossing over one road then presumably taking the next one into Champery. Is this route any better than the Barme route?

2. Samoens descent / Le Bourgoise
These seems to be mentioned a lot but I am a little puzzled, unless i’m mistaken whilst you can descend on the ridge until the road, crossing over the hairpins there appear to be a few options which eventually land you in Cessonex, it then looks like a bit of road trip across to Chantemerle before the last off road section into Samoens. The other alternative i have seen is descending off the main ridge (Bourgoise pt1 on strava) and ending up in La rosiere and then road it down to Chantemerle for the last off-road section. The latter seems to give more off-road riding but I don’t see it referred to as much.

3.Col De La Basse to Essert Romand
The map I have shows 2 routes. Descending North East from the col, through Les Prez, you hit Sur Lachaud. At Sur Lachaud is it better to go North to Le Plan de Criou or continue East along the ridge and then descend NW to hit the path between Le Plan de Criou and Essert Romand

4 La Morzinette.I recall seeing a short video of this descent from Avoriaz. On the map it looks like a short climb out of Avoriaz followed by a traverse and descent to Morzinette. There appears to be fair degree of climbing in places before the descent. Has anyone ridden this route. Would be interesting in your views.

Obviously if anyone has other suggestions they would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Carl

1. not done it myself yet

2. route goes on down the ridge past Sur les Chables, briefly on road at la Chemossaz again, then off road below the road to Cessonex.

3. Descent from C de la Basse as far as Les Paquis, then double track climb towards Sur Lachaud.

Dont go north to Le Plan de Criou, instead continue along ridge and descent to the next left marked on the IGN (under the N of les Bois Noirs)

4. Ive walked to Morzinette from Avoriaz (as part of a loop taking in Les Hauts Forts 2466m). Im not sure which route the video takes, but Id not want to take a bike on the route I took via La Chaux. The lower route via les cótes may be more appropriate.

Thanks Stoner.

Would still be interested if anyone has ridden the other descent to Samoens. as per your kindly posted map there appears to be a route down the face of the bourgeoise which ends in mouchallaz. I thought I saw a vid of this route posted in one of the Samoens threads

Thanks

I would hazard that that is a really steep section off the ridge.

Nothing showing on strava heatmap or http://www.vttrack.fr/ for anyone having recorded it.

You never know, you could be the pathfinder! Do video it though, wont you?! 😉

Sorry to hijack the thread slightly, but I’m heading out to Samoens in August for a week, and I’ve seen some plans online that show quite a few trails are closed from the top of the Samoens 1600 lift and above this summer? Anyone have any idea what extent is closed and whether the Chariande Express lift is running this summer for bikes?

I was planning on trying a loop from Samoens using the lifts over to Flaine and then from the top of the Grandes Platieres down into Sixt. Anyone done a similar route at all?
Cheers
Dave

Does anyone know of a good taxi service from Samoens back to the top of Les Gets bike park?
Fancy doing Le Bourgoise, but dont fancy the ride back up>

1. We didn’t push up as we where knackered 😳 I would say its worth it for the view and to know you’ve done the very top, its a singletrack straight roll down as far as I recall. Note at end of Arete (roughly 1619m point here) turn left to Planafranche for best final descent option imo. map to follow, upload taking ages 🙁

2. I have only done the route in Stoner’s post (which I like very much). I found this website the other day and it shows the steeper option you mention off the top. The route I’ve done is a mix of these two

Taxi – we booked one via our Morzine hotel with a trailer (3 of us) and organised it for the end of the day (6pm) so we could ride descent after a full day and then have a beer in the nice Samoens town square.

If anyone want to guide show us round Samoens next week please get in touch.

Col du Cou / Arete Berrois map (from excellent Swiss Mobility App)

@warrend / godzilla if you contact Bike-Alp and ask nicely they may be able help you. They ran guided holidays in Samoens for years before moving to Brianacon last season.

Warrend, I guess the closures are while construction is under way fro the Club Med?

For guiding, Jamie @Ride the Alps in Morillon.
Tom Ward-Lee who runs Alps Accommodation in Samoens may be around/able to assist otherwise.

I’ve done the Samoens decent a few times now and the route we take goes pretty much straight into the town centre. I’m rubbish at remembering directions as I’m usually hanging on for dear life and not taking in where we are going! I do remember heading off the peak toward Samoens and heading left after 100m or so. The trail takes you under a bent tree (scar to prove) and then into switchbacks. It follows the road down pretty much and crosses a few open gardens at the bottom. As mentioned above, Steve from bike-alp maybe able to give you some directions but had moved away or Jamie from Ride the Alps is still local.

We had a few trials closed last year, but it’s only the start of them. We spoke to the locals who gave us directions on how to join onto them. We rode all of them with no problems. This is due to Club Med building a hotel Just below the mid lift station. The Blue and red trails had a slight diversion and the top of Steepy Black and Chicken run were closed, but only the start.

From Flaine, you need to traverse over to the top of Morillon and ride the 3 black runs to the bottom to meet the road. It’s about a 25min ride ride back to Samoens.

We’re heading out on the 15th for hopefully another awesome week. This will be our 6 year and still not bored!!

Watching this thread with interest.

Arete du Berroi is Ok, but I’ve only ridden the ridge as far as the col at 1816m and then down the farm track. Down from there is absolutely beautiful but not even slightly technical. However, going up the Col de Cou, after all that climbing I prefer the blast back into Morzine, sometimes via Les Mines D’Or and then on the Dranse track. Pure fast fun.

Stoner and Jambalaya speak the truth about La Bourgoise. I’m avoiding it in the wet this year.

Col De La Basse to Essert Romand is great fun. I haven’t heard of the first variant you mention. The second is in the the VTopo guide but seems little used. It is rooty fun and frolics, steepening to a loose 4X4 access track down to Essert Romand. The wooded upper section from where you drop off the forest road into the trees is very reminiscent of the descent down from La Chapelle Janquicourt but steeper and longer.

There are details of the Morzinette descent in the vTopo guide too. I’ve never done it myself though.

Have done both Arete du Berroi and Col de Cou. Once to do the ridge, the other to drop over back in to Morzine. If I was doing the ridge, I’d probably skip the corner again.

For Essert Romand, I vaguely recall quite a bit of a fireroad ride but the descent thru the woods was ace.

Morzinet was a bit of a push. I’m not convinced we went the right way. Was a good run thru the trees though. I’ll have to compare my GPS track if I still have it with the vtopo book.

Thanks for all the replies so far. They are much appreciated.

I have the vtopo guide English version but don’t recall seeing the Morzinette route in there. Will double check this evening. I found another vid of the route last night and whilst some parts are clearly a push and there is likely to be much getting off the bike, some did look like fun.

got a link to the vid?

If there was a lot of hikeabike, then it’s quite possible its the higher route via La Chaux that I referred to. Still would rather walk it than ride it even though there’s obviously some fun sections.

jambalaya – what is the app name please? I cant find it

alexxx – this is the webpage for swiss mapping.
you might find a link on here somewhere.

looking at jamba’s screendump it looks like an Apple Stor app, so I cant help find it as Im android only.

https://map.schweizmobil.ch/?lang=en&bgLayer=pk&resolution=20&X=552016&Y=116544

EDIT: found it, link on the homepage of the mapping site: http://www.schweizmobil.ch/en/gratis-app-schweizmobil.html

The website is here:
MountainBikeLand

The app is called SwitzerlandMobility (on Android)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pgc5UJxj08%5B/url%5D

Stoner …this should work…

Also read some brief info on a singletrack called Pachorey Trail (looks like it goes down from Col De Joux Plane towards Morzine)

Re Morzinette –
The original video I saw was on the Bike Magic Trail Guide website – entitled Autumn in Morzine. It does talk about a hike over boulders..

I’m afraid I’m unable to get the link to copy over and work

Hopefully this works..

<p>Bike Magic Trail Guide TV – Reset Films – Alex & Loic Hidden Morzine a Mountain Biking video by resetfilms</p>

just starting watching that youtube vid carlos, and yes it is the same route I have walked,

As you can see in the first 2 minutes upto where he goes under the ski lift TS des Grandes Combes, its pretty much unrideable for most of it.

Morzinette is visible at 4mins. Then the route hits the woods.

As second link says:

After considerable effort the ride proper begins, with flowing, fast open meadow sections that eventually enter the tiny hamlet before dropping into the forest for a loamy, technical and fast finish

very tough first section, but I can see the attraction of the later sections.

@alex the others have it. FYi its quite useful to switch on suggested walking paths (green) I have found the vtt trails (yellow) generally more fireroad xc

That’s me in the youtube video. The route ridden is the one that goes via La Chaux and has a fair proportion of getting on and off the bike up until you go under the Grandes Combes lift. There’s a very rocky and exposed switchback section almost immediately after you leave the piste above the Prodains lift, which isn’t in the video. I played cautious and walked these as I was out on my own and no-one in my group knew where I was riding. Some of the following sections of singletrack feel like it starts to get going and then you’ll encounter a really tight rock pinch or similar.

As to whether it’s worth doing – the meadow singletrack and the stuff through the woods is fun once it gets going. I enjoyed it as a bit of exploration in a holiday which was mainly riding the bikepark and off piste DH trails (I had my downhill bike out there as well that year).

This track down to Ardent was really nice except we got chased by one of those Polar bear like dogs.

Ardent Descent

tomtomr – gotta give you credit for doing the route on your tod, Quick question..at morzinette it looks like there are 2 route options either passing the hamlet on your right, and taking a right turn almost doubling back on yourself eventually ending up at les Ray…or you can pass the hamlet on your left and take what looks like a shallower descent to the left which eventually ends at Chalet de l’Acquy. Do you recall which one you did.

BTW -there is a route in Vtopo but this one sits below la chaux and doesn’t make it to morzinette. Potentially more readable tho from what I’ve read

Just watching that Morzinette vid. Looks familiar.
I vaguely recall riding up a ski piste and hanging a right on to a walking trail. Quite a bit of on/off bike carrying over rocks etc. for what seemed like a long way at the time, but might not be in reality. And then it’s all flowy meadow. I just remember being in a bit that’s not really rideable convinced we’d gone the wrong way, wondering if there’s a 2nd path, but the map, my GPS, and the instructions given by Carl+Sian all tied up, and we could see where we were supposed to be getting to and realising that if you’re half way thru, it’s easier to keep going.
Ace day out though, off the beaten track (I think we saw a person).

At Morzinette, we went sort of left and kind of zigzagged down thru the trees. Not via Les Ray.

As Andy says it’s not down to Les Ray but the track that zigzags down via Chalet de l’Acquy. From memory after doing the steeper bit that goes straight down the fall line I then turned left and traversed round to Crepet.

It’s very quiet out that way – I didn’t see anyone after leaving the piste. The Prodains lift wasn’t running that year though, so that might have contributed to the lack of walkers.

There’s a small section on the video which isn’t on the correct trail (around 50s to 1m19) where I took a wrong turn up the hill – that section is descending back down to the correct route.

That Video Looks like a trail I’ve ridden. We came out here when we did the route.
[/url]

Just as an fyi here is the col du cou / arete berrois map with walking routes on showing my preferred option ( on an stw mag route) of turning left at 1619 elevation. IME in Switzerland these green routes tend to be decent biking. eg many of best Verbier trails are marked this way

Do you have any suggestions for an app for offline French maps on Android?

I’ve not yet found one.

This works in browser if online though

http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/ign_france_maps/france.shtml

I use viewranger. Works really well for offline maps. You need to pay if you want proper ign maps though. Worth it imo and you only have to pay per tile so only a couple of quid for the whole PDS region. Easy to import and overlay gpx files too. Also compatible with android wear so you can ping a tiny map to your watch to save getting the phone out at junctions.

turning left at 1619 elevation.

Magic bit of trail

[video]http://vimeo.com/223602087[/video]

@Boarding a very happy 2 minutes spent watching that, brings back good memories 🙂 TBH the Arete itself I can take or leave as I spend most of it being worried about falling off one side or the other 😐

I use viewranger. Works really well for offline maps. You need to pay if you want proper ign maps though. Worth it imo and you only have to pay per tile so only a couple of quid for the whole PDS region. Easy to import and overlay gpx files too. Also compatible with android wear so you can ping a tiny map to your watch to save getting the phone out at junctions.

Viewranger is excellent. I didn’t realise the IGN map tiles where so cheap – a couple of quid or is that a bit optimistic ? In the old days I just used to use browser access to the geoportal.gouv.fr site but detailed IGN maps have gone now.

Thanks stoner I’ve got it thanks to your link but it’s only switzerland how did it show france ?

I may have managed to sort a lift from Samoens back to the top of Les Gets bike park.

How long roughly would the Le Borgeouise take?

If anyone is up for doing the more technical route I’m here all season and haven’t done it yet.

Can probably sort vehicles either end too.

@alexx SwitzerlandMobility app does not show France. The Col du Cou/Arete ride is mostly/all (?) in Switzerland

Yes I may be up for the steeper / more technical one in mid August

@leth its about a 1000m of descending but there is a ride in to the cross at La Bourgeoise with a bit of climbing and path is rutted by cows at start. Also on a clear day you’ll spend a while staring at the view of Mont Blanc. 2hrs total should cover it inc a bit of time to check navigation

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/sheldona/9278090046/in/set-72157634618088251/