Any of you that made the trip out to Morzine this year for your mountain bike holiday will know that it has not been the best summer since records began and in fact it might well have been one of the worst in terms of the weather. In July we had 24 days of rain, yes you read that correctly, 24 days of rain in Morzine in July; it was wet to say the least. HOWEVER it has not all been bad and the developments that were made this summer are looking good to set Morzine back on the Map as the best Mountain biking destination in Europe for the 2015 summer MTB season here in the Portes Du Soleil.
The new Pleney lift has been brilliant this summer taking 900 people per hour to the top of the Pleney MTB trails and walking tracks. They have worked it very well at the lift station also where the majority of the cabins are for the mountain bike tourists but certain percentages are kept solely for the use of walkers, these cabins remain mud/water free and provide a great experience for both the MTB tourist and summer family tourists to Morzine. On a reliability note we also do not think we saw the Pleney lift closed for more than an hour or so during the whole season so far, unlike the old lift where most days it would have a mechanical fault.
Trails development in Morzine and on the Pleney slopes got off to a very good start this year with a €15000 investment for new and existing trail development, the works started in early June and was finished ready for the opening of the Pleney lifts on the 14th of June. We had a new and revised Black main line, and a Green + Blue family track built to offer a more rounded variety of trails on the Pleney. However the sheer amount of rain that fell on freshly made trails during July did cause some extensive damage to the new Pleney mountain bike trails. For next summer the trails will be developed in October/November really ensuring they are compacted and solid for the start of the summer 2015 season in Morzine come rain or shine!
Lift dates, this season the Pleney lifts opened for Mountain bikers on the 14th of June and were due to close on the 31st August along with the super Morzine lift, this closing date was then moved to the 5th of September after some good pressure from local businesses who still had a huge demand for holidays and actual bookings in that last week of August into September. For the 2015 summer season we are looking to try and get the lifts open from the 9th of June - 15th September with some other special opening hours in there also.
With the summer season nearly drawing to an end out here there are just over 2 weeks to go and attentions are starting to turn to winter bookings, the mornings are getting fresher and the evenings shorter. A full season recap will come in September and we hope to have some new announcements regarding future developments in Morzine for you then also.
It’s still not too late to book that last minute trip to Morzine for the weeks 23/08 – 30/08