One of the most popular summer activities in Morzine is mountain biking. With the existing infrastructure of lifts in the resort, leading up to mountains that descend through the trees, it's the perfect way to take advantage of the mountain when the snow has gone.
As the sport of mountain biking began to increase in popularity, Morzine was the first place in Europe to begin offering lift access to the trails on the mountain, with special hooks to attach bikes to the chair lifts. Locals had already been building trails so everything was in place for the town to begin attracting mountain bikers.
When Does The Mountain Bike Season Begin And End?
The lifts in Morzine begin to open up in early June when the Pleney opens up, with a number of slopes on that side of the mountain as well as providing access to Les Gets and the slopes on that side. The lifts close again in early September.
How Much Is There To Ride?
Morzine links up to the rest of the vast Portes Du Soleil area, crossing the border between France and Switzerland. The Portes Du Soleil is the largest bike park in Europe, with twelve villages, nineteen lifts and over six hundred kilometres of runs. There is something for everyone, from cross country runs to explore the area to downhill runs for those looking for excitement. There have previously been UCI World Cups held in Les Gets and Champery, and riders can still ride the course over in Champery.
The area offers an eighty kilometre enduro or e-bike tour and fifty downhill tracks.
Morzine attracts many international World Cup racers who spend their time in between races practising on the challenging terrain of the area. As it has continued to bring these world class riders to the resort, the reputation of the area has grown so that it is now one of the most well known and popular bike parks in the whole world.
The vast area has different terrain, from the loose rocks at the mountain tops through the woods at lower altitude where the roots provide their own challenge!
Pass'Portes Du Soleil
To commemorate the opening of the full area every year the PassPortes Du Soleil event is held over the opening weekend. This annual event challenges riders to travel eighty kilometres around the Portes Du Soleil area in a day, crossing the border to Switzerland and back again and using fifteen of the areaís lifts. This event sells out every year as mountain bikers come from all over Europe to see how fast they can get around the course.
Even for families visiting the resort who have never tried mountain biking before, it is a great activity to try out to see the mountain in a whole new way!