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Morzine, Alps.   Well... I'm back from Morzine and still in one piece.  The weather wasn't great for the start of the holiday but quickly picked up to make for some very dry trails.

Was a bit disappointed with the lack of maintenance to the main Trails;  But most of them seemed to have a lot of work done by the end of the week.

The Chattel area seemed to be where the smoothest and best maintained riding was to be had.  We all came away agreeing that 'Super Chatel' blue run was probably the most fun.

The Swiss Downhill was fast and furious which cooked brakes and led to a few offs, but it was great if a little scary at times.  The crossettes blue seem in need of some work... with a HUGE new dirt jump at the start - we didnt see anyone do this jump in the two days we went there.

In Les Gets the Mont Cherry rode really well.  With only the last steep section being a bit ripped up but the top sections were really sweet.

The Chavanne had some work done on the top section...especially out of the berm in the the double... but the second section after the first road crossing really needed some work...but was still fun.

The bike park had been 'tamed' quite a bit.  The video above is from us the previous year. To get a picture of how it is today check out the unedited new video at the end of the Blog. Today the infamous ladder drop has been changed;  The run in along the ladder is a lot shorter and then the drop itself has been made pretty much Muppet proof.  Although one of the guys i was with forgot to brake after the drop and end up in the brush off the back of the berm.

After the drop the course rides well down to the jump area.  The shed jump has been made a little easier with a ladder to help out those that come up short.  The 2 sets of doubles and 2 sets of table tops have been replaced with 2 sets of table tops.  Which seemed to ride OK.

In general i get the impression that the French are neglecting the mountain biking in the area.  They also seem to be cracking down on mountain bikers.  Posters are up informing riders that breaking the laws of the road (riding on pavements, riding the wrong one on one way streets etc.) will result in a fine and confiscation of lift passes. So be careful.  I heard one story about the police stopping a lift to apprehend some lads who road the wrong way on a one way street!

All in all i really enjoyed myself... had a great time with some great people.  Some good footage was caught on camera with some entertaining crashes.

However... if i am honest.  I will be looking elsewhere for my biking holiday next year.

Here's some more sweet stuff  from Ian and I from previous years which covers lots of Alps riding (and a little from the UK)

This is the unedited video from this week.