Morzine based MTB Holiday company - we also run trips to the Megavalanche, Morocco, The Pyrenees and Italy.
Col de la basse loop this morning. lovely stuff :)
Sun is shining - just got back from a 2 hour ride (was solo so bear in mind that it'll probably take longer with more people!).
Headed up the Pleney lift and over to Les Gets (via the 4X course - always fun) - Then over to the Mt Chery lift and up to the mid station. From there there's a fair bit of pedaling as this route heads up to the ridge line of Mt Chery before descending down to Encrenaz. You can avoid the majority of the climb if you just pedal round to Mont Caly but then you'd miss the ridge line singletrack! There's a cheeky bit of singletrack I took in stead of riding the ridge to Mt Caly - it's a bit steep / narrow / switchbacky so not for the beginner!
Once at Encrenaz you climb up and away from Mt Chery towards the Col de la Basse. It's a 200m climb over 2k - just winch up and enjoy the views. The descent from there is some great rocky trails taking you down to La Praz before the last little fireroad climb. Then you head into the woods for some rooty loamy fun - watch out for some fallen trees (I tried to move them, but they were too big for one of me!) on the way. A wet, fast, rocky fireroad then takes you into Essert Rommand where you turn right and ride back up to Morzine and you're done. (It's all pedal power from about 7KM in)
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New MTB trails in Chatel
The Bike Park team have been working hard to make sure everything's ready for the opening of the Chatel lifts at the end of the month.
The green graded 'Panaramic' has been completely remodeled to make it more playful and fun to ride - this should be great for beginners and more experienced riders. Lots of last year's flowmtb guests loved it so we\'re keen to see what changes they've made. A new blue has been created, 'fluid', a flowing track with lots of (optional) jumps. There's also a new black, 'coup de fouet' - whiplash!
And lastly Steve Romaniuk has been working with them to reshape the Mountain Style Face. This is 300m long, 100m wide with 160m of vertical drop, full of crazy jumps for the Mountain Style contest on the 3 and 4 July.
It's been a busy few weeks for the Chatel Mountain Bike Park team and will continue to be so as they put the finishing touches on their new trails, and get the old ones back into shape for the new mountain bike season.
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New mtb season in Morzine
Press release from the Morzine tourist office:
The Pleney lift in Morzine opens on Saturday 6th June, kicking off a new mountain bike season in Morzine.
From this weekend riders can access:
- the permanent DH track at Pleney, created in 1996, one of the first DH tracks in France. For over 10 years this has brought amateur and professional riders to Morzine.
After hosting International Championships and the Avalanche Cup (from 1997-2001) Pleney remains an influential track. The Pleney DH is 3300 metres long with 560 metres of vertical descent that’s both playful and technical. For the less experienced there are chicken runs round all the toughest sections.
-
a new
Bike-Park at the foot of the lift, with North Shore
sections at different heights, berms and turns, plus an impressive wall ride.
There are easier sections to enable beginners and children to have a go at
freeriding.
-
a new
link to Les Gets, getting you onto Chavannes.
This opening weekend sets the tone for a summer where Morzine offers more to mountain bikers than ever:
· on the last weekend of June more than 3900 participants will be riding the Portes du Soleil for the yearly event, the Pass’Portes du Soleil MTB. This year Morzine is hosting the exhibition.
· from July there will be a new green graded track, starting at the top of the Pleney gondola, and ending in Morzine, after passing the hamlet of Fys. The gradient is gentle, with sweeping turns rather than tight switchbacks and a magnificent view of the Valley. This is a perfect introduction to mountain biking, or a good warm up run!
· this summer also sees a new free MTB guidebook, available from the Tourist Office, this is full of information on mountain biking in Morzine and around.
*Opening hours for Pléney : from 6 to 26 june, 9am to 5pm / from 29 june to 22 august 9am to 5.30pm / from 23 august to 6 september, 9am to 5pm.
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New Les Gets trail pics
I took a ride up to, and (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone!) down the new trail currently under construction in Les Gets - under the Naunchet chair lift (due to open on June 26th). I have to say that it’s quite possibly the best trail in Les Gets / Morzine right now. It’s super bermy, there’s so much flow. You can cruise down without braking or pedalling - just using the berms to keep you going - or with a bit of effort you’ll be clearing the gap jumps with ease. We have to hope that they keep a good eye on it in the wet - it’d be a shame that something this nice gets destroyed by lack of maintenance…. We’ve heard that there’s going to be three runs under this lift this year - one built last year, this one, and an as yet un-started third one. They also hope to build a jump ‘bike park’ at the bottom. Should be good if this trail is anything to go by.
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Bling bling ka ching.
Got some bikes and bits today. Including my lovely new red bars - got so nicely with the green Nomad :)
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