eMTBs in Morzine on Lifts

[Interpaul]

I am driving down to Morzine this summer, taking the bikes in the van for 10 days.

Will be with 2 non ebike riders so will be using lifts. I no longer own a self powered MTB so wanted to know how good the bike hangers on the chairlifts are and if they will be ok for a 24kg bike. Realise the Cable cars are no issue so going up Pleney or Super Morzine will be cool with an eMTB.

Anyone used their ebikes on lift served chairs, if so how was it hanging them on?

 

[RoJo]

Plan to do the same with a Kenevo. Does anyone know if 2.8 tyres will fit?

 

[StuR]

Taken Ebikes to Morzine and surrounding area last 2 yrs
No problem with lifts
Some hang bikes via front wheel . Others roll on and sit upright
Some lift operaters help you out . Some are a bit grumpy
Either way it's no drama
Took a Kenevo with 2.8 tyres last yr - all good

 

[Interpaul]

Plan to do the same with a Kenevo. Does anyone know if 2.8 tyres will fit?

Same, I have 2.8 plus tyres but guess I could put a narrower tyre on if width is an issue for the time I am there.

 

[Interpaul]

Taken Ebikes to Morzine and surrounding area last 2 yrs
No problem with lifts
Some hang bikes via front wheel . Others roll on and sit upright
Some lift operaters help you out . Some are a bit grumpy
Either way it's no drama
Took a Kenevo with 2.8 tyres last yr - all good

Awesome, thanks. That's what I wanted to hear!

 

[TheBikePilot]

Can you advise best places to go/ride? I fancy a trip down there myself

 

[StuR]

Can you advise best places to go/ride? I fancy a trip down there myself

So much choice !!
If you want a buzzing busy DH resort type atmosphere then Morzine/ Les Gets is a good choice
Loads of great tracks
Also pretty easy to find your way to other areas via some quality trails/singletrack
Zore ,Avorioz, Linderet, Chatel, Montriond all accessible within 1 -3 Hrs
Can even get to Morgins and Champery in Switzerland and back , riding the other resorts , before the lifts close
Piste maps are FOC at the lift stations and are accurate
So not really essential to have a guide but first timers might find one useful

If you want it a bit quieter but with killer trails then Les Arcs is awesome
Some manmade DH runs and the ridiculously good 10km natural techy singletrack Black 8 are easy to find
Stunning hidden singletrack aplenty but a guide would be really useful to get the best out of the area
Bourg St Maurice is at the bottom of Black 8 if you want a busier town and a bit of nightlife
La Tania is across the next valley and is accessible and awesome

Verbier in Switzerland is another belter
Proper steepsville DH trails all easy to find
Loads of singletrack .
Recommend a guide for that

Definitely recommend getting out to the Alps.
It's ridiculously good
Expect to get your pants pulled down financially in every bar and restaurant but the pain is eased by the spectacular riding

It's not just DH runs , its all manner of singletrack . From flowing meadows to butt clenching scary gnar

Get out there if you can .
Make it happen !!

 

[Interpaul]

So much choice !!
If you want a buzzing busy DH resort type atmosphere then Morzine/ Les Gets is a good choice
Loads of great tracks
Also pretty easy to find your way to other areas via some quality trails/singletrack
Zore ,Avorioz, Linderet, Chatel, Montriond all accessible within 1 -3 Hrs
Can even get to Morgins and Champery in Switzerland and back , riding the other resorts , before the lifts close
Piste maps are FOC at the lift stations and are accurate
So not really essential to have a guide but first timers might find one useful

If you want it a bit quieter but with killer trails then Les Arcs is awesome
Some manmade DH runs and the ridiculously good 10km natural techy singletrack Black 8 are easy to find
Stunning hidden singletrack aplenty but a guide would be really useful to get the best out of the area
Bourg St Maurice is at the bottom of Black 8 if you want a busier town and a bit of nightlife
La Tania is across the next valley and is accessible and awesome

Verbier in Switzerland is another belter
Proper steepsville DH trails all easy to find
Loads of singletrack .
Recommend a guide for that

Definitely recommend getting out to the Alps.
It's ridiculously good
Expect to get your pants pulled down financially in every bar and restaurant but the pain is eased by the spectacular riding

It's not just DH runs , its all manner of singletrack . From flowing meadows to butt clenching scary gnar

Get out there if you can .
Make it happen !!

I know all these places on Skis, I do a lot of ski touring and had a great trip based in Bourg this year - St Foy (close to Bourg) I reckon will also have loads of good single track. The ski guide we had also does MTB guiding. He says there is loads of good stuff into Bourg accessed from roads, they do drop offs with a bike trailer plus the trails from Arc 1600 back to valley are pretty epic.

If you are in Morzine, Pila is not far - just a quick journey through the Mont Blanc Tunnel and you are in Italy - but you have to watch timing as queues (for tunnel) can be horrendous.

The Chamonix Valley and surrounding area also has loads of awesome single track but you need a guide, and a lot of the trails are closed to bikes in summer so you need local knowledge.

One of my ski associates lives in chamonix and writes an awesome bike blog Chamonix Bike Blog take a read and get some ideas. Cham is super close to Morzine.

I plan on a day in Pila and Cham when I am out...

 

[RoJo]

Can confirm that Kenevo w/ 2.8 Eddy Currents fits all the Morzine & Les Gets chair lifts without any issue, and that the bike absolutely rips (despite the odd looks that you'll get for riding an eBike on DH trails).

 

[Swissrob]

We have booked a week in Les Gets and Livigno in summer my boys are keen and a bit older than the photo so fat dad is in serious training mode! We did a week in Livigno two years ago and it was truly scary to see how my young one progressed in a week riding a 20" hardtail. I must commend the riders in Livigno for giving us room, trail manners and fist bumps for the little guys, I hope it has not changed. Looking for some fast flowy red trails, any tips?

 

[Kernow]

Just back from a week in Morzine , 4 of us on ebikes some with 2.8 tyres . No issues on lifts or anywhere else , didn’t even experience the usual comments like that’s cheating etc from anyone .
Saw lots of ebikes there , although an ebike really isn’t necessary as riding is mostly downhill .
Earlier in the week June 22nd to 27 only the lifts in the Morzine les gets area we’re open , tons of well made mainly green red blue and black runs to session but trail riding was hard to to navigate . Then Last Friday the passport du solie mtb tour event began , all the lifts opened and we followed the signposted route over 80k into Switzerland and up and down so many lifts and mountains I lost count . We all said it was the best day we had ever experienced on two wheels .
We’ll be back next year for the same event booking our week a few days later to take full advantage of all the open lifts and easy to find routes associated with this event as we prefer trail riding over a distance to sessioning mtb park type runs
I would highly recommend the passport du solei , it’s not a race but for the newcomer a perfect way to get the best guided tour with a choice of difficulty level on lots of the decents .
Just start with new brake pads and upgrade your brakes if you don’t already have a fairly heavy duty enduro /dh level set up .

 

[Kernow]

We have booked a week in Les Gets and Livigno in summer my boys are keen and a bit older than the photo so fat dad is in serious training mode! We did a week in Livigno two years ago and it was truly scary to see how my young one progressed in a week riding a 20" hardtail. I must commend the riders in Livigno for giving us room, trail manners and fist bumps for the little guys, I hope it has not changed. Looking for some fast flowy red trails, any tips?

View attachment 15340

Morzine had a kids club riding out one day , I shared a chair lift with one of their instructors , over 100 kids with a number of instructors in small groups , it was awesome to see so much ability . and so many kids free and loving the riding .iam sure it would be easy to join that for a day
Head up any of the lifts and you’ll have a choice of dozens of trails ,and lifts linking all the resorts from Les gets you can ride into Morzine the family blue was an awesome long decent ending in the town with lots of reds along the way to session . Then cross the town to super Morzine side and you can keep riding trails and lifts as far as you want As you probably know lots of the runs split part way into a higher graded section so just beware to read the signposting on your first run or you could easily end up heading into a black split off from a red with a large jump etc .

 

[TheBikePilot]

I defo fanncy Morzine for sure. Have skied there twice and always thought it would be a lovely place to bring the bike.

So are all the lifts open usually or was it only for that event??

 

[Kernow]

I defo fanncy Morzine for sure. Have skied there twice and always thought it would be a lovely place to bring the bike.

So are all the lifts open usually or was it only for that event??

I understand all the lifts open for summer mtb at end of June which begins with this event . Until then there’s a limited number open which allows lots the graded runs to be used but prevents as much travel into other resorts . It was easy to travel between Les gets and Morzine via lifts and trails and a great trail ride and decent via Lindarets ending back in Morzine . That alone gave us 4 days riding without repeating too much .

 

[Dax]

So are all the lifts open usually or was it only for that event??

Lifts are open June - September

 

[TheBikePilot]

Thanks for the info guys...! I might well get planning

 

[Swissrob]

One week to departure so I am trying to decide on bike choice, I might try a bit of old school with the lifts.

Or am I just going to destroy an antique, I didn't realise in 2005 that slack head angles were going to become a thing!

 

[S D]

Take both ?
I if your sticking with Morzine and buying a lift pass then the ebike is as good as useless.
I spent my days in Morzine les gets etc with mine switched off cursing the extra weight when loading it on the lifts.
I also spent them missing my analog bike ?

The days we spent exploring the mountains away from the lifts were awesome on the the ebike though.?

 

[Swissrob]

Take both ?
I if your sticking with Morzine and buying a lift pass then the ebike is as good as useless.
I spent my days in Morzine les gets etc with mine switched off cursing the extra weight when loading it on the lifts.
I also spent them missing my analog bike ?

The days we spent exploring the mountains away from the lifts were awesome on the the ebike though.?

I think I will, it's been a couple of years since I rode this in anger, damn light and agile. I forgot how good that old 66 soaks up stuff.

 

[Swissrob]

Well we are about to finish our week here, I am glad I bought both bikes, it's given me a new appreciation of my old bike. Emtb on the lifts fit but pigs on the flow trails and I love my Levo! I used it one afternoon for a cross country trail which was crap as trail markings away from the parks are shit. Les Gets seems to have better maintenance on trails than Morzine but were getting pretty cut up by the end of the week. My boys were shredding it after a day and proud dad moment as my 9yo did his first run on a black trail today-on a hardtail! Comment of the week why do you fix your bike every day dad? well it's 17 years old and still faster than yours so don't be too cocky!

 

[Swissrob]

Jaff Vtt in Les Gets is a great little bike repair shop, the guy knows his stuff and nothing is too much trouble.

 

[S D]

Well we are about to finish our week here, I am glad I bought both bikes, it's given me a new appreciation of my old bike. Emtb on the lifts fit but pigs on the flow trails and I love my Levo! I used it one afternoon for a cross country trail which was crap as trail markings away from the parks are shit. Les Gets seems to have better maintenance on trails than Morzine but were getting pretty cut up by the end of the week. My boys were shredding it after a day and proud dad moment as my 9yo did his first run on a black trail today-on a hardtail! Comment of the week why do you fix your bike every day dad? well it's 17 years old and still faster than yours so don't be too cocky!

I read your post and started to think I’d written it?
You definitely notice the extra weight of the ebike both on the lifts and on the trails.
Yes weight DOES make a difference !

 

[Swissrob]

One week to departure so I am trying to decide on bike choice, I might try a bit of old school with the lifts. View attachment 15922

Or am I just going to destroy an antique, I didn't realise in 2005 that slack head angles were going to become a thing!

We went to Livigno after Les Gets for another week of punishment and didn't even ride my Emtb. Being a tight ass, I never considered renting a bike but given the amount of lifts in both places and availablity of rental bikes and difficulty of battery transport if you fly I would leave the Emtb home. For me getting back on my old bike was the best thing for a long time. The fitness, strength and skills I have gained on a Emtb over the last year meant I could (with the help of lifts!) ride like I did 10 years ago. Emtbs on the flow trails are like a monster truck in a supermarket carpark!

After getting a suspension service the old bike was surprisingly good but as a treat I rented a Santa Cruz Nomad on the last day as I have wanted to try the Fox 36es, they were good but not a world better than the Zoki 66es. With all the talk on here about upgrading, renting gives you an opportunity to try before you buy.

If doing it again I would head for Livigno over Les Gets as a place to ride for a number of reasons although weather can be a bit more changeable. There are more and varied trails in Livigno as there is a new lift on the mountain opposite Motolino and you can get a ticket to cover both. The trails are better maintained and jump parks offer more options. As my wife is a walker not a rider the walks in Les Gets are crap and very poorly marked. Bike rental is cheaper but lift tickets are a bit more in Livigno but you can rent a Scott Emtb for about 75euro a day from a hotel and get a spare battery thrown in with some sweet talking!

The best part was seeing my boys progress over the weeks, my 9yo did his first black run and airbag on his hardtail.