Morzine
Morzine is at the foot of the Portes du Soleil and its being close to Geneva makes it a good shorter ski break.
Popular with British, Dutch and Belgians Morzine sprawls across the head of the Vallee D’Aulps with Avoriaz dominating the Hauts Forts peaks to the East. It’s a hot spot for the French during school holidays, and has lots of bars, restaurants, accommodation and facilities of all budgets.
Skiing in Morzine
There are 3 ski areas in Morzine; Pleney, Super Morzine and Nyon-Chamossierre. Pleney is the main mountain which is popular with beginners as it has nice long blues that meander through the trees into Morzine. A little tougher runs can be found at Nyon-Chamossiere, where you can connect from Pleney summit and take a lift up to Nyon Plateau. From there many blues and reds slope back to Morzine or around to Les Gets but for a tougher test you can head up to the Pointe de Nyon. L’Aigle starts out red zig-zagging from the summit and then ends with optional black bumps – it often has bumpy patches following a line straight down. From the Plateau you can also ski across to Chamossiere – a single peak with one chairlift but a great bumpy black under the chair and a stiff red on the other side. In good conditions there’s a lot of good just-off-piste to the sides of both.
In contrast, Super Morzine is mainly a route to Avoriaz but on sunny days it’s a great place for beginners and intermediates to practice their turns on wide, open pistes.