Snow Show - Les Gets Bike Park to Reopen This Saturday
There I am, staring into the abyss that is Facebook with this startling headline staring right at me, 'Mont Chéry to open this week for mountain bikes'. I thought I was seeing things... It is December after all. Perhaps the fresh air down here in New Zealand was affecting my mental state or perhaps this bewildering message had somehow become lost in translation as it made its way to me on the other side of world? Was Facebook lying to me or had I gone in to a coma and woken up in June? Surely not the former at least?
It was 1997 and the construction of the now infamous 'Le Pleney' downhill track, which put Morzine on the map for mountain bikes. Add to that six World Cup downhills to have graced the slopes flanking Les Gets between '96 and '03 and who could forget Peaty's heart stopping crash at the 2004 world championship? All of these elements and more, marked a flying start for the French resorts, but then something happened. A virtual plane crash of sorts because in the last 12 years, there has been minimal investment compared to that of other resorts in Europe and beyond.
For example, in that time Whistler has built an empire and Queenstown, New Zealand - who only opened their gondola for bikes four years ago - is already turning into one, becoming a prime destination covering a breadth of disciplines that aren't seen in any concentration in the Alps. On top of that, other resorts have sprung from nowhere all over the world.
The French season is - on the most part - only a meagre eight weeks long, although some resorts around Grenoble as well as further north have stayed open most of the autumn this season. Similarly the French resorts of Morillon and Samoens have already resorted to allowing bikes on during winter as well, but why not on the iconic slopes of Les Gets? The Pleney telecabine in Morzine, which is just down the road from Les Gets, and a few other lifts may open a few extra weeks and weekends here and there besides the main season, but resorts like Chatel, Morgins and Champéry feel disjointed without the entire Portes du Soleil lift network opening in harmony. The season is too short, and the offseason is too long, which often has better weather than the summertime. Receding snow reveals trail, but only a "no" is heard when winter lift lines are approached upon a mountain bike.
Les Gets, Morzine and the surrounding area have continued to grow thanks to a few key factors: reputation, seasonaires and industry growth. Many riders continue to come to this area based purely on reputation and familiarity, but are often disappointed upon arrival and wish they had spent their hard earned days of respite somewhere with a higher quality of trail, wider variation and a reliable maintenance schedule. The scene of 'seasoning' riders brings a good vibe to any resort town, even if the official riding isn't of the highest quality. Braking bump boredom and a prolonged off-season sees this core group of passionate 'locals' take to the hill armed with mattocks and shovels - I'd take a guess that 95% of the edits you will have seen from Morzine and Les Gets, were on unofficial piste.
The huge growth in the entire industry over the last decade has allowed bike based tourism to grow steadily here as well. Despite the percentage of riding on offer, visitor numbers are decreasing as more people venture elsewhere to find downhill gold and trail bike treats.
I asked some locals and long term friends to chime in with their thoughts on the region. Has it improved, has it failed to keep up with the joneses and grow from its tiny acorn in to the mighty oak it could be?
James McKnight - Catering at Dirt Magazine
I first met James on my second visit to Morzine and he was already seasoned to the area. We quickly became great friends, travelled Europe together on a constant search for fresh trails and competition. James loves these Alpine towns and returns every year. After living there for a couple of years, he's made his way back to the hills of Monmouth for his year round residence.
I first met James on my second visit to Morzine and he was already seasoned to the area. We quickly became great friends, travelled Europe together on a constant search for fresh trails and competition. James loves these Alpine towns and returns every year. After living there for a couple of years, he's made his way back to the hills of Monmouth for his year round residence.
 | When I first visited Les Gets/Morzine a whole world of mountain biking became apparent. I was 14, (maybe a little spoilt) and it was the early days for Alpine, resort-based riding. The place was an age ahead of its time: there were dozens of lifts open to bikes in the larger Portes du Soleil (PDS) area, rideable terrain on every hill and a vibrant and booming summer scene. It became an annual pilgrimage for myself and many British and European riders. But, in my opinion, the area rested on its laurels in many ways and has been slow to adapt to the changing face of mountain biking. Trail bikes, a growing novice sector and a swathe of European resorts opening with better mapping, maintenance and longer opening dates are issues slow to be addressed by the PDS. While it's still massively popular and will probably never struggle to get two-wheeled tourism, for those who have lived in and by it, the PDS's apparent lag in embracing the sport's boom and progression has been frustrating at times. With the current lack of snow - and their opening for bikes at a time of year that would normally pay enough into the system to afford a nonchalance to mountain biking - 2015's poor start to winter could be the reality check the area needed. Having said all that, Crankworx will be in town for 2016 and that could be a sign that the area has already got serious again and that we are about to witness the rebirth of the Brit's favourite summer riding destination. |
Steven Ponting - Les Gets Bike School
Steve was also one of the originals to migrate to this biking heaven. His first business was helmet cam rentals, back when a helmet cam took a few days to set up and a backpack was needed to lug around the full size camcorder that was wired to a lense that was double the size of any of todays all in one units. Since then he has had many jobs, integrated in to French society, is the only Brit to complete the French bike-guide diploma and now is the co-owner of Les Gets Bike School
Steve was also one of the originals to migrate to this biking heaven. His first business was helmet cam rentals, back when a helmet cam took a few days to set up and a backpack was needed to lug around the full size camcorder that was wired to a lense that was double the size of any of todays all in one units. Since then he has had many jobs, integrated in to French society, is the only Brit to complete the French bike-guide diploma and now is the co-owner of Les Gets Bike School
| I've been living in Morzine and working in Les Gets for 11 years now - it was only supposed to be for one summer season after I finished Uni! During this time, the resorts have advanced, but not as quickly or as much as I would have expected or liked. I've been told that the No.1 rule in business is having passion for what you're doing, and it's a lack of passion that's been holding things back, and the unwillingness of resorts to hire people with the passion to make a difference. There is also a lot of politics with the local councils being involved in the running of the resort, but at the same time the land which the resort resides, is owned by countless private individuals. People love the area, I don't think there is anywhere else in the world that you can cover as much ground going from station to station, valley to valley in a single day using the lifts. There is also such a variety of trails on offer here. From machine built BMX style downhills to hand built local tech. But in general it's still too geared towards hardcore bikers and needs to cater for novices like skiing does. Making it more accessible to families and your average joe. |
Jason Marsh - CEO of Marsh Guard and Greg Minnaar's mechanic
Around town rumours suggest that Marshy came here for a week's holiday from New Zealand and never left. It was so long until he visited home again that his Mum came over to work in a chalet as a seasonaire just to see him. The creator of Marsh Guard mudguards and mechanic to Greg Minnaar.
Around town rumours suggest that Marshy came here for a week's holiday from New Zealand and never left. It was so long until he visited home again that his Mum came over to work in a chalet as a seasonaire just to see him. The creator of Marsh Guard mudguards and mechanic to Greg Minnaar.
| I've been coming here since 2000 - back then there were two official tracks in Les Gets. One on Mt Chery and another on the Chavanne side. Morzine had one downhill track and there were no official tracks on Super Morzine. The same in Chatel, just a gravel road to help you on your way to Morgins and Les Croset, which had one track a piece. In total there were eight dedicated mountain bike tracks in the whole PDS area. Pretty special at the time, but most of the riding was down gravel roads and old goat tracks. Now there are a couple of downhill tracks on Mt Chery and twleve on the Chavannes side, where they have also opened another lift. They've since built a dedicated MTB park in there but the tracks there are very badly built. They have no flow and you need to pedal like f*** to make any of the jumps. They have built a new track on the front side this season and it's not too bad, so things are getting better. Morzine has four mountain bike tracks, one of them brand new for 2015, as well as five new tracks appearing on Super Morzine in the last year. Chatel, Morgins and Champery have more trails and the infamous World Cup track. So as you can see the area has grown a lot since 2001, but sometimes it seems like as many tracks have disappeared as have been built. Everyone seems to compare things to Whistler and A-Line, but even those tracks have not really changed in several years. Also Whistler is quite flat compared to Les Gets, so the track designs have to be a bit different. Les Gets does not suffer from the lift queues that you get in Whistler. With all the bike park tracks finishing in the same place at busy times its not uncommon to only be able to get 8 lifts in a day, at least in the PDS you can go to the other side of the valley and get on another lift when its busy. Getting in 30 runs in a single day is not uncommon. I do think they need to re-design some of the tracks in Les Gets, they seem a bit too proud to admit they might have built something that does not ride well and instead of changing things, they tend to stick with them. It's not really a fun place to ride on a DH bike either, but riding shorter travel bikes there can be fun. Hopefully with Crankworx being there this year they will build decent tracks with input from someone else. |
Jillian Tindale and Johnathan Turnbull - Riders Refuge
I met Jill and Jono on their first season in Morzine where Mcknight and myself stayed in their chalet for a few weeks. We returned home to the UK, decided we preferred the alpine summer and drove back the following week to live on credit cards for the rest of the season. Jill and Jono were part of more than a few Mutzig fuelled nights on our return. Shortly afterwards the couple decided to make Morzine their home and started their homely feeling Riders Refuge - a catered holiday business. They are still going strong and one of the few chalet company's that have seemed to make it work long term.
I met Jill and Jono on their first season in Morzine where Mcknight and myself stayed in their chalet for a few weeks. We returned home to the UK, decided we preferred the alpine summer and drove back the following week to live on credit cards for the rest of the season. Jill and Jono were part of more than a few Mutzig fuelled nights on our return. Shortly afterwards the couple decided to make Morzine their home and started their homely feeling Riders Refuge - a catered holiday business. They are still going strong and one of the few chalet company's that have seemed to make it work long term.
| We set up Riders Refuge in June 2008 for mountain bike holidays after we spent a summer season here in 2005, having initially come to the Alps to do winter seasons we quickly realised the plus points of living in Morzine where we could make the most of both seasons and run an all year round business. People love Morzine and the Portes Du Soleil, which is great for us as our chalets see a large rate of returning guests each year. Having started with one chalet, we now operate six in the winter and five in the summer. Our guests in the summer come to ride downhill mostly, but we have seen the trend change over the years to more enduro and trail styles of riding - the resort is now embracing the fact that they need to work harder to manage the trails, improve facilities for mountain bikers and we have seen a huge change in the area in the last eight summers. With a slow start to this winter across the Alps and with the opening of Mont Chery to bikes this weekend, we hope this will encourage the Portes Du Soleil to extend the summer and invest more in the area for biking. |
Benjamin Mugnier - Les Gets Tourism Office
To get the official line on what's happening here and the opening of the Mont Chery lift this coming weekend, we approached the Les Gets tourism office for more information on the subject. Benjamin Mugnier is the sales and marketing manager for Les Gets, France, which proudly calls itself a Ski, Golf and Mountain-bike resort. It can only be viewed as a positive that the tourism office is welcoming the potential of mountain biking revenue in to its arms. With Crankworx making the move to Les Gets in June 2016, this can only mean more tracks, more riders and more diversity. The biggest off road cycling event to visit in twelve years, probably the biggest ever, is coming to town...
To get the official line on what's happening here and the opening of the Mont Chery lift this coming weekend, we approached the Les Gets tourism office for more information on the subject. Benjamin Mugnier is the sales and marketing manager for Les Gets, France, which proudly calls itself a Ski, Golf and Mountain-bike resort. It can only be viewed as a positive that the tourism office is welcoming the potential of mountain biking revenue in to its arms. With Crankworx making the move to Les Gets in June 2016, this can only mean more tracks, more riders and more diversity. The biggest off road cycling event to visit in twelve years, probably the biggest ever, is coming to town...
| We wanted to provide an additional activity for the people who will be on holidays in Les Gets as the ski activity is not in full operation at the moment. This will run until we find good ski conditions again on the Mont-Chery side. We will open only a few easy trails (still to be defined which ones) with XC and DH so that people could ski in the morning and MTB in the afternoon. Just to be clear, this move is intended initially to propose additional activity to the destination, people who cannot ski and we don't talk about a reopening of the full Bikepark for the MTB hardcore riders community. We don't have, for example, the resources to open and secure the black trails. As far as the other PDS resorts are concerned, I have no information at the moment. |
If you think I am ranting, I am, and it certainly isn't without reason. I have been to Morzine every year since 2003, spending the majority of each summer there and even lived there for a continuos five years. I've seen the growth and the change and I have also seen many people, including myself, fall in and out of love with the area. Visiting Whistler in 2011 changed my view and I have spent much less time in these French towns since that summer, and when I have been there, the volume of trail time has been limited. Why did I leave the Alpine dream for Canada? The number one reason was the elongated season across the Atlantic - five and a half months of lift accessed riding. If you hadn't guessed, I'm now in Queenstown. Why I hear you ask? Its summertime down here and the Skyline gondola is open for the best part of nine months. That's nine months! If I suggested a nine month long bike season to the Remontées Méchaniques a defibrillator may be called into service. But this beautiful daydream is just sitting there, waiting...
Everything is in place for the ultimate, long season European bike resort. Maybe this is the beginning? I predict that if one gondola opened year round, the following snowball of trail carving, residing riders and touristic inundation would turn this area in to a contender for the ultimate, year round bike destination, rather than clinging to the last step of the podium as it currently does. If not, I feel, it's set to continue in its fall from grace.
I still have a soft-spot in the back of my hardened heart for the Portes Du Soleil. My childhood was not here, but my biggest personal growth was rooted here. Friendships were bonded and skills solidified. I would love to see it thrive, not just for my benefit, but for the greater good of the sport. If you're in the area, go and vote with your coins and lift tickets, thank the liftees, show them how stoked you are and show your support for bikes by getting up there for a ride.
Les Gets mountain biking trails
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Going to Whistler or New Zealand is very difficult for most Europeans, for various reasons. BUT imagine if you could get the same quality and variation anytime between say, May and November, only a couple of hours on the plane from the UK.
The PDS is great as it is, but I feel it could be THE ultimate destination for bike holidays, as well all year-round outdoor sporting location.
- Les Gets make 400,000 lift rides per summer, the biggest number in Europe. Could explain why there might be some time to time issues with maintenance on a few trails.
- Land ownership do not allow to make as many trails as the resort would like as they don’t “own” the mountains. Certainly easier for North-american resorts.
- Les Gets is one of the first major resort in Europe to open its Bikepark (end of May), only a month after closing the Winter trail operations. With lifts to be equipped and trails to be built and secured, this is quite a good performance.
- For a Fall opening, there is the same work to be done, to put the trails and lifts in Winter mode. One has to take into consideration the cost of operating the lifts (staff, bikepatrols, energy). If this would be a viable business, be sure all the resorts would be opened all year round!
Again certainly easier for the North American resorts where they can make money on tickets, rental, lodging, bike schools and restaurants as they own all of those. Not to mention the lift pass price, lot cheaper in France.
Anyway, the good news is still that a resort is flexible enough (and open-minded) to be able to open some lift/trails quickly in Winter, don't you think ?
One thing I always consider in the 'private land' argument – A ski piste may be 20 metres wide and cover multiple kilometres. It requires a complete deforestation of this area, then a machine to destroy any natural features to make it smooth enough to ski on. Then why is it so hard to build a bike trail through the forest which requires minimal maintenance and destruction?
Of course it seemed like a statement of intent but of course you are being very quick to dumb it down. You have an opportunity to lead the world, it'll take a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears to get you back where you used to be. Crankworx is an amazing start and you have been putting in the efforts for many years on the trails. However for as many years people have been saying the trails don't ride well, they are poorly shaped. I'm sorry to say it (again).
The entire mountain bike community and many hundreds of local riders in the area would help, standing behind you should you wish to pull the trigger on progression.
Why put down the biking community by saying you aren't open for the 'hardcore bikers' when they could be just the people you need on your side?
You made a good point of revenue streams in North American resorts coming from rentals and shops that the resort own. Well, do something about that, I got one would happily pay more for a lift ticket for longer opening hours and a greater variety of trails. I'm also sure that if you teamed up with the right people in town, extra revenue could be found.
I'm sure you'll say it's not that easy. Well, it is. There are many in your town that you could sit down with, brainstorm ideas and find solutions to any one of your problems. Beyond that that same community could help you construct and maintain these trails (we already do on unofficial trails). All we'd need to do is unsure and legalise it.
We've been on the same line of conversation with Morzine for many years, but you seem to be taking more positive steps. Let us help you make them.
The lift company here will happily sell you a lift pass, then tell you you're not allowed to ride any of the south facing trails in july and august because they want them left for walkers.. There are 2 dedicated bike trails in the valley, les touches and la tour, that's it, everything else is natural (which i love) BUT the walkers have priority and it seems to be out of the question to have dedicated walkers and riders trails...
The potential here for the valley to draw bike tourism in is there, but the locals just don't seem to be able to grasp it..
PDS have such an incredible area for MTB but they stay way too much on their laurels. I also had the chance to go to Whistler last year and I no longer have the same look on these Alpine's tracks. Attitudes concerning moutain biking are struggling to change in France... I live in les Vosges and the situation is exactly the same. So frustrating.
Interesting points on the park and couldn't agree more. Decided to take a year our, Ski in the winter and ride in the summer - the European Ski Resorts are on par with the North American/Canadian in general, but MTB does' even feel close, hence the plan to Whistler it for the user (visa dependant, ha).
Such a shame, they have so much potential.
Concerning the lack of passion and motivation the station is blamed for.... I don't know the exact figures but I talked with the man behind the "Mondial du vtt" at Les2Alpes in 2010. Not the smallest event out there. He reported the station earned as much money during a full summer season as it had in 2 days of the winter season. What do you think they invest in????
I want to believe resorts do as much as they can to attract people in summer. Unfortunately the winter season is still way more important. Whistler may well have done things better than the other competitors, as a customer/rider I'm still happy with the way things are evolving in France.
Been coming to PDS for years now and I understand the criticisms above. In the past we'd spend 2-3 weeks out there a year, but nowadays Chatel and Les Gets are our warm up week before heading off to ride other places. The PDS has so much potential in the area, I understand the landownership problems but hopefully with Crank Worx next year and a shitty winter season it might start to reach its potential.
My main gripe has always been the lack of trails further afield in the PDS to make the slog over there worthwhile.
They have an awesome asset and should have more joined up thinking, then it really would be a the stellar no.1 place it could be, however France moves at it's own pace... (paperwork certainly).
Have since started road tripping around other alpine resorts, it's way more of a pain in terms of accommodation and creature comforts but the riding is leagues apart. Admittedly they don't see anywhere near the traffic of Les Gets but the places are better set out. Vallnord is genuinely fun and has a load of different trails, same with Verbs.
I think people feel annoyed about les gets because it could be so much more, the potential is massive. Admittedly it's not easy to build new stuff, but (as noted above) some of the stuff gets built wrong and then left.
I went back a couple of years ago to see what had changed and rode the same red egg trail I had done 7 years earlier, with braking bumps in the same places.
I am the biggest fan of the PDS, I got married in Morzine two years ago and have ridden there every year since 2005.
However, the romance of this area is no longer about the tracks. Investment is: let the snow melt and reopen for 8 weeks then close the door last day in August. There was an amazing article a few years back when Fabien Barel himself was talking about a time when he had it out with a lift attendant over laughing in French at the Brit sheep who flock back every year for sub par tracks. Barel said 'don't forget they are paying your wages'
This needs vision to follow current trends and this area can go wherever it wants, literally the sky is the limit. But, if it continues to see this as a summer that makes as much money as 2 days in winter then it won't end well with the amount of forward thinking resorts popping up. Finale, Ainsa, Madeira etc......
All I can recommend is to visit Austria!
Ride Schladming (no comment needed), Leogang and Saalbach (which has sick trails for Trailbikes) all within 2 hours of driving!
I was surprised in Tignes when I tried the easy tracks, even those were too straight and required continuous braking in many portions of the track. Then PDS (Les gets) also surprised about braking bumps (early August) everywhere.
I went through chatel quickly during the Tour des PDS, it was better.
The trick is to create trails that aren't very steep. In Portugal there are a bunch of trails with little gradient which you can ride flat out and NOT be on the brakes much. Finale Ligure also has trails like that. Never ridden in Whistler but I think their trails follow that philosophy.
www.pinkbike.com/video/412371
2 hours join the plane 45 min transfer pds rocking,
More braking bumps the better its a european thing same as the yanks have there mx tracks graded after each moto,
Ride the rough untouched dirt its the best
The fact that you can get a job for only a few months each year and the government (well EU subsidies anyway) will pay your wage for the rest of the year, if you're going back to it.
I wouldn't be that bothered if I had a job like that and a government that would fit the bill.
Well, that is a slap in the face to the "hardcore riders community"
We're just S of Whistler / Blackcomb so IDK what's happening up there. ::shrug::
It's also interesting to me that the overwhelming majority of the people you interviewed are expats.