Team Simply Morzine try mountain biking!
By Ashleigh Hawthorne, Simply Morzine summer Chalet Host.
Summer in Morzine is all about fun in the sun. For many, lots of the good times come from action sports like mountain biking. This is a MASSIVE summer activity in Morzine (if you’re that way inclined!) So, one of the things the Simply Morzine staff just had to do on one of our days off was give the sport a try to see for ourselves what all the fuss is about. Check out my video and see how team Simply Morzine got on!
Mountain Biking in Morzine, France
I hope my short video gives a little taste of why mountain biking is such a hugely popular summer alpine sport in Morzine. It quickly became clear to me that this is one of the world’s leading MTB destinations. It’s also pretty cool as well! Thousands of keen mountain bikers from across the world descend on Morzine in the summer to try out some of the best MTB terrain in the world. Day in day out in summer, skiers make way for mountain bikes, with bikers of all levels hurtling down the tracks and trails from late June until early September.
To add to the atmosphere there’s an array of mountain bike events and competitions taking place throughout the summer in Morzine. Within a couple of weeks after I arrived to work my summer season in Morzine, we were lucky enough to watch the brilliant global festival Crankworx taking place over in Les Gets. This really got the ball (or mountain bikes) rolling and kicked off the MTB season with a bang.
Morzine for mountain bike holidays
Watching Crankworx inspired us to muster up the courage to join the bikers at the top of the mountain and give it a try for ourselves. So myself, along with the rest of the Simply Morzine crew, decided to give it a go. After all, if we’re recommending mountain biking in Morzine to our guests, we’d better see what all the craic is about!
We hired equipment from our partner summer shop, Activities Morzine. When Guillaume Rosset and his team brought out the protective gear and strapped us into our knee pads and helmets, we looked pretty hard core – but admittedly – I was very apprehensive.
Myself, along with the majority of our group, had only ever ridden a mountain bike recreationally and definitely not in any extreme downhill manner. With this in mind, we listened hard to the demonstration on working the breaks and headed out to the lifts. One thing was for sure… We all looked the part, and that’s half the battle isn’t it?!?
Mountain Biking for Beginners in Morzine
With the alpine sun shining, the nerves slowly eased as we ran rampage over the Morzine valley on a variety of beginner green tracks, attempting burns and whizzing through the trees. I slowly found myself picking up speed and attempting (what I thought) were more daredevil moves. I even managed to stay on the bike for the full session – success! In our heads, we all thought we’d be the next big thing, invest in all the kit and spend the summer becoming pro bikers. That never quite happened but at least we dared to dream!
Looking back on the video of our afternoon mountain biking in Morzine, I can’t help but laugh at our wobbling attempts to get down the mountain. The next step would be to book in some lessons and maybe even enter Crankworx next year (she says in jest!)
Morzine – the perfect Mountain Bike holiday destination
There’s no better beginners’ activity to help you blend in with the locals than this. If you’re looking for a thrilling summer family adventure holiday and consider yourself quite the daredevil, then this is most certainly the sport for you. We had an absolute blast and I now understand just how addictive mountain biking in Morzine can become!
Ashleigh Hawthorne
