Morzine Activity Review: 3rd August 2011

This last Sunday we decided to go on a nice easy cruise around the route of the Passportes du Soleil event. The sun was out which always helps the motivation and we got going relatively early to take advantage. Basically the route is via Avoriaz, Brochaux, Mossettes, Morgins, Champoussin and back via Les Crosets, Linderets and finally Montriond. It’s an easy route to follow; the easiest way is to get the VTT map from the tourist information office in the centre of town. Obviously there are lots of good routes on the map and you can use it to find the Les Gets and Chatel bike park areas along with a few more off piste style cross country loops.

The PassPortes route is relatively straight forward but maybe not suitable for absolute beginners, for everyone else it’s fine and gives a good insight into the area as a whole, you cover a lot of ground which fortunately is lift assisted, there are no grueling pedaling sections – predominantly downhill all the way!

I guess the only slight downside was that in contrast to the sun bathed Morzine the weather in the Swiss resorts; Morgins, Champoussin, Les Crosets and Champery was a little cloudy, sometimes the Grand Conche ridgeline between France and Switzerland seems to trap cloud on one side or the other.

This was not really in detriment to the riding, it just meant dragging an extra layer form the back pack and postponing the food stop to nearer the end of the ride in Montriond. Not a problem as we treated ourselves to an ice cream whilst admiring the cliffs above the lake.

After that little warm up we got a little more adventurous yesterday heading for the Swiss town of Monthey at the end of Lac Geneva. Initially we headed for Chatel and the Super Chatel lift then pedaled out the back to the peak above Monthey. From there it was a scrabble down some scree slopes into a deserted valley and onwards into the forest where we got onto a slightly better defined walking trail.

The latter was all roots, rocks and loamy soil, mountain bike heaven. The gradient was steep making for some vary technical high consequence riding. Occasionally the view to the right would open up to reveal the fertile farm land around Monthey, it was like looking out of an airplane window!

Gradually the terrain became a little less scary but none the less entertaining as we could really push on a little harder with the riding. Eventually after some 1700m of descending we popped out into a little village just before Monthey - a 5km flat ride into town has us at the train station.

We scanned the timetable anxiously as we needed to get the train to Champery, get the telepherique and get to the Mossettes lift before 16:45 to avoid having to pedal over the Grand Conche ridge via the Col du Cou - a little grueling to say the least.

We cut things fine, made it onto the 16:30 telepherique, dashed downhill into Les Crosets and were relieved to make it onto the Mossettes lift. Needless to say there was plenty of smiling about that and even more when we got into Linderets and the express chair to Avoriaz was still running at around 17:20, I thought it would be long since closed. We took full advantage and then, as time was getting on, opted to have a free wheel race all the way back into town via the main road and a few well earned beers.

As another un-expected bonus it was the fete on Rue du Bourg, I’d forgotten, every two weeks the street is closed to traffic and people set up stalls, restaurants and cafes spill onto the street and everyone gets into the party. We opted for hog roast at Mama’s and beer outside Chez Rogers and listed to the Dj spinning mellow tunes – perfect.

Bon Route!