Morzine off piste, more natural routes and GPX

Hi,

Off to morzine tomorrow. Never been and posted before and the feedback seems to be there is mainly bike park stuff (unsurprisingly!) and lots of less obvious non marked more natural stuff. Morzine was picked as it has loads of kid friendly activities beyond biking. Always done whiteroom guided holidays in the past.

So what are the best marked routes to go for! Looking for more single track, flow and techy sections. Fine with steep and a bit tricky, just not full on wheel destroying rock gardens.

Beyond that can anyone suggest tracks I can find on Strava (names etc) or gpxs for the more natural/off piste stuff.

Cheers

Loads to ride but you may need a local to show you some of it.

if you have non-riders, get the multipass. Non-riders get use of lifts, some tennis, swimming etc. 2€ per day per person.

https://en.portesdusoleil.com/activities/multi-pass/my-multipass.html

It’s really easy to find your way around and all the marked trails are mostly smooth and bike parky. As for the off piste stuff I don’t even know where to start. It’s everywhere.

Look for the main black run on the Pleney and you can basically ride any offshoot you see and they all end up at the same place. Also starting from the same place but taking the route to Les Gets there’s stuff that drops off to the right and will lead down to the main road straight back to the Morzine gondola.

Look on Youtube for Jack Moir and Troy Brosnan. They’ve both been posting loads of videos of the steep, gnarly stuff.

There are some bigger off piste rides like Samoens (need to organise a lift back) or col de cou (iirc some of this has been closed to bikers now) but as above there’s heaps of extra little trails off the main runs. Because of the layout of the valley it’s hard to end up far from a lift. Very little that is very rocky. Lower down is mostly roots and ruts. I’d start with the marked trails though. There are loads and you can link them up to make some huge loops.

Just to add. It’s worth doing the ppds route. Takes in some nice bits of single-track and some epic scenery. There’s a bit of climbing but it’s mostly lift assisted (double check what is open and closing times). If you start early and are reasonably fit you can squeeze in some extra little loops in morgins and champery. And there’s the downhill track in champery if you don’t mind steep. The great thing about Morzine is that it is downhill from loads of the riding spots. You can head off in any direction, ride for miles, and once you are back to the top of the valley you’ll have an easy ride home. It’s actually quite a nice night ride too. We occasionally have some of the group drive up to linderettes, have a family picnic then some drive back the rest night ride down

With few exceptions, the pleney off piste stuff is pretty mental. Is it your first time in the alps completely? If so, the on piste stuff will take a bit of adjustment. Add to that the fact it’s rained all summer in and around Morzine, means the off piste stuff will be even more lethal than normal. As mentioned above, take a look at Jack Moir’s recent stuff from Morzine on YouTube.

For a slightly less mental off piste day out, I recommend this (ignore the last few runs down the pleney)

https://www.strava.com/activities/2661805353

Over to Les Gets, up Mont Chery lift, push/ride up the fireroad to the summit, drop down into L’Encrenanz, have a wee beer at the bar there, push/ride up to Col De La Basse, brilliant woodsy singletrack all the way down to Essert Romand, ride back to Morzine

Thanks. Not my first trip to the Alps but first time to morzine. Will just try stuff that looks interesting. Sadly bug days out are off. Here with family.

Haven’t done anything in Morzine. Is there much XC type stuff, or all DH.
how comfortable would my Epic Evo be on some of the flowy singletrack?

You regularly see whole families riding the marked trails including kids on small wheels and people who look lost on supermarket bikes.

I’m not sure about XC routes (I’ll be looking out for them next time) but most of the stuff that is lift accessed and heads downhill isn’t exactly DH as we know it. The blues and reds are mostly flowy berm trails.

I’d say run what ya brung and don’t worry about it. Then tap into some local knowledge because I bet there’s some incredible riding out there, away from the bike parks.

It may have been mentioned already but as I can’t remember any of the names I’ll describe a fantastic ride I did in 2012. Hopefully someone with a memory will recognise and clarify (BoardinBob’s route sounds familiar but this one definitely started in Morzine) All the way to the top of the hill at Morzine, and then across on the walking trails
Into Switzerland. There was a tiny cowshed/mountain hut there serving £20 omelettes and with a great view of the Dents Blanche / Dents du MIDI. Then from there i remember a ride/push up a big hill with a Jesus statue on the summit (unless it was a cross) and handy ice cold cow troughs at the side.
From there it was downhill through forest all the way back to town and a riverside trail from there into Les Gets where I was based.

Thanks @sharkattack added to my to do list

One I rode a few years back that was pretty easy to get to was the ridge above Lindarets. Take the lift north east from the village and go along the ridge underneath point-de-lens, it’s technical in places but nothing scary…keep going and you get to dreamy alpine meadows. The last bit is jeep track back down to Lindarets but still good fun. Its probably a couple of hours if you take it easy, and you can pretty much roll back to Morzine too.

Another fave of mine is the Morzinette trail but that’s a bit more hike a bike. Its only about 2-3 hours though, starting from Avoriaz. Harder and steeper in places though.
The long xc loop out the top of Les Gets is ok, great views of mt Blanc too. Nothing difficult at all but still great fun.

Will take a look at some of the above. Stuck to the blues and reds today. And some of the orange (pds?) Which seemed much harder than the blue/red marked trails? Daughter enjoyed the greens and some of the blues,not some much the orange! She had a lesson with a company called ride ability, seemed good and catered well for and 8 year old.

And bear in mind, that a family “green” route in Morzine is the same as our red. They must breed the kids tough over there! I’m looking at you, Serpentine trail…(chatel).

There is a good route back to Morzine from the top of the Chauvannes [sic] lift (I recall) that opened a couple of years ago, saves the trail and road back from Lac Montriond.

Love Morzine, such a good vibe for a family holiday.

Edit, Rideability provided out first guiding trip there, Jo is a real good lad. The kids summer biking school made me yearn to be a nipper in the alps.

Vtopo guidebook (you can get it locally) is a worthwhile purchase. Along with a map for marking out.

Boardinbob’s route above is a good one, forest descent to Essert from the Col du Basse? is lovely.

With children, don’t forget to visit Lindarets for the goats.

The first time I was in Morzine about 10+ years ago I did a long XC route starting from Les Nauchets lift over in Les Gets. Bit of a climb to start, but heads over to La Rosta, I did it on a 110mm xc bike, and two of the guys I was with were on hardtails, from what I recall wasn’t a bad route or overly challenging for my first alpine trip.

Also from Les Lindaretes you can comedown the road to the lake, and back into Morzine again.

Also from Les Lindaretes you can comedown the road to the lake, and back into Morzine again.

Or you can cut onto the ski piste and ride down it to the lift station. Its a blue piste for skiing but pretty steep on the bike. Nothing too challenging, just a bit of heavy braking although it does get a bit loose and stoney at the bottom. From the lift station there is a track to the lake. Its not an official track and there are sometimes walkers on it so go easy.