Morzine Ski Pass Advice Please

A snowHead

Hi,

A group of friends and I are heading to Morzine in February and were wondering what the best lift pass to get would be as we've had conflicting reports; one person says we'd be better with ‘Portes du Soleil’ lift passes which I believe covers the whole valley, another person recommends the Morzine/Les Gets pass. There’s a large difference in price, €200 vs €150
There are 11 of us going, half of whom have skied for one season and are fairly comfortable on Blue runs (at Les Houches) but decidedly ropey on Reds. The other half haven't skied before, we'll all be taking lessons, probably with ESF as we found them to be very good last year, however, if you know of any better ski schools in Morzine I'd be interested in hearing your views.

Any information you have on the above would be greatly appreciated,

G

A snowHead

Welcome to SH
What do you mean by 1 season?
If 1-2 weeks on skis and the rest of your group are beginners i would go for the Morzine/Les gets only.
Don't miss out Mt Chery in les Gets which in feb may be the most uncrowded slopes.

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greido, I never made it over to Avoriaz and Chatel when i was there in March but to be honest, I was maybe about the same level as you and found the cheaper LG/Morzine pass more than adequate.

LG itself has a huge amount of 'motorway' runs, especially in the La Rosta area into the bowl, and combined with Mont Chery (which is a mix of blues and open reds - lots of powder too) it's a brilliant area. Then you add on Pont du Nyon and Chamoissere above Morzine and it's easily enough to keep you occupied for the whole week, especially if the beginners among you are just getting used to things.

I know a few people staying at our hotel who were familiar with the area said that getting over Avoriaz wasn't everything, especially with the Super Morzine lift apparently taking a fair bit of time to get you over there. Plus, you have to set off failry early to make sure you get lifts back to take you into Morzine/LG. Avoriaz is supposed to be great though when the weather's right.

Deffo get yourself onto Mont Chery in Les gets - up early and on the bubble first thing and you have a whole mountain literally to yourself. We went at Easter and on some days there were less than a dozen people on the mountain. Amazing powder and the black off the back is really fun because it's steep but not dangerous at all.

Watch out for the runs coming down into Morzine in the afternoon (the Pleney area). The ESF instructors seem to have a million and one kids with them and were having to navigate big snakes of kiddies. The slopes also go into shadow and get really icy, shich isn't great because they're narrow tree-lined runs.

The runs off Nyon and Chamoissere are amazing. There's a red of Nyon that is truly breathtaking (it zig-zags down the mountain face) and the red off Cham is steep but amazing. plus you have views of Mt Blanc). The blues at the bottom of Cham are nice and fast without too much of a slope and going through the trees is great on the piste.

Can't comment on tuition. ESF instructors are everywhere. I've been with them in La Plagne and they were good value and very professional. Taught me how to board in an hour basically Smile

Never went down into Morzine town on a night but I'm advised it's good. Les Gets is much quieter but has that cosy feel and has some great eateries for the daytime. L'op Traken in the centre opposite the ice rink is great; €12 for a mahoosive pizza and the beer is pretty cheap also.

You'll deffo love the area and for your group you'll have a blast because there are so many nice runs.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

greido, everything Specialman says. Definitely Morzine/Les Gets passes for your group, plenty to keep you busy snowHead

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greido, as above, but look into someone other than ESF for lessons. There are a few small British-run ski schools in Les Gets and Morzine who are worth checking out, or Ecole 360 International are pretty good and better value than ESF. Search the posts for contact details, but special mention should be made for Tim Scott's and Joe Beer's set-ups although you might be pushing your luck to get lessons in Feb.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

andyph, I agree with 360 but not if staying in Morzine as would mean coming at least as far as the Yeti to meet up. Yes greido, Feb is very busy so book lessons asap.

After all it is free

I went to morzine for a week last year as more or less a complete beginner.

We (girlfriend and I) had tuition through ESF. Our instructor (Alex) was excellent and really brought us both along more than we could have hoped for in a week... although as all the other blokes in our group dropped out over the week it did get a tad tiresome spending lessons with six swooning women.

We opted for the portes du soleil pass and only made it over to Avoriaz for half a day... I can say its a great place to ski and the run back down to the Super Morzine is great fun!

I would say that there is plenty of scope in the Morzine Les Gets lift pass. I reccomend a blue at the top of the charniaz express, I think its called something like the cheveaux you essentially turn right off the lift and then head back under the line of the lift keep right and head on down. Its not motorway wide but its a lovely tree lined run that lasts for ages and wasn't too busy when I was there... I reckon after a day or two of tuition there should be nothing in it for beginners.

I echo the sentiments about the runs down in to Morzine... busy!

Bambi on ice, Choucas is the blue you mean. Lovely stop for a chocolat chaud, at the Blanchots half way down Very Happy

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Hi thought I would add a few comments here, I first started skiing in Morzine about 10 years ago and have been back 6 times since love it there! I would say a full portes du soleil pass is worth the xtra money (when you think how much youve already spent!) the blue runs on pleney are good but they get very busy in febuary and if it warms up they soon get slushy aswell.

Avoriaz is much higher up and the conditions are generally much better its well worth exploring up there and skiing across into switzerland although your probably better off taking the lift down the swiss wall! I went with 4 friends last year who had never been skiing before and I spent my first year on a snowboard and the time spent over in avoriaz was the best, you can pack alot more skiing into your day there.

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greido - another vote for the Morzine/Les Gets pass in this case.

snow reports

We go in a large mixed age and ability group and the first year some of us paid for PdS passes and never got beyond the local pass boundaries. The ability was there but I think the key is in the size and friendliness of the group - none of us with the extended pass had the desire to split from the rest for whole days and for parts of the holiday. There was more than enough terrain locally to satisfy us all, including a very advanced skier and two ditto boarders, all powder hounds, and we had a great mix of skiing/boarding and a relaxed and leisurely week. If some are dedicated to going off early in the morning and just challenging themselves then go for the PdS pass but with a large mixed ability group I'd say the local pass gives you more than enough, with the save money pooled and spent in the delightful restaurants in Morzine.

I'd agree with the gist of the above. If you're having lessons in the mornings (or in the afternoons, for that matter) there won't be time to get too far afield in the other half of the day. I had lessons with the British Alpine Ski School (BASS) which are more expensive, but perhaps better value. In February, in ESF, you are likely to be in very big groups whereas BASS have a max of 6. Being in ski school will be a very good thing because of having priority on the lifts. Les Gets is a great place to learn to ski. snowHead

You know it makes sense.

Thanks very much to everyone who responded; your advice has been extremely useful and I really appreciate everyone's efforts.
We'll definitely go for Morzine/Les Gets pass now and I'll send off a few emails tomorrow to the ski schools mentioned above.

Thanks again,

G

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

greido, Another vote for the Morzine/Les Gets pass. I'm off down to get mine this morning wink

It seems that an Avoriaz extension for the day costs about €30, so a local pass plus a day extension will cost save you about €20 on a full PdS.
That's what we're going to do.
CW Happy

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Morzine Ski Pass Advice Please

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