France Mountain Biking
The Portes du Soleil – Morzine, Les Gets, Chatel and Champé ry – is considered to be the spiritual home of mountain biking. Even back in the day when bikes were heavy, rigid, had v-brakes and front suspension was a luxury, mountain biking here was phenomenal in the summer. Following a huge rise in popularity, chairlifts and cables cars were installed in the late 1980s. Since then, millions of euros have been invested into what is now one of the best mountain biking experiences for all types of riders in the Alps.
Now there are over 600kms of lift access mountain bike trails to explore. Downhillers revel on The Pleney in Morzine, tackling jumps and berms on the black down to the village. Mont Chery above Les Gets has hosted a few rounds of the UCI World Cup downhill – while over on the Swiss Side the UCI World Cup run down to Champéry is ferocious. From the top of Mossette, downhillers can drop over 1400 vertical meters back down to Champéry without barely pushing their pedals!
For us, the area is all about exploring. The lifts enable you to gain height so you can pedal a little, and push yourself on the odd climb to explore even more of the area. The trails are fabulous for taking in Morzine, Les Gets, Avoriaz, Chatel, Morgins and Champéry.
Col du Cou is another favourite – after a lung busting climb up the switch backs from the Swiss side, either drop down to Champéry right underneath the Dents du Midi or back to Morzine via Vallee de la Manche.