Panoramic views and exhilarating rides in Avoriaz and La Chatel

The Avoriaz and La Chatel bike parks have the most spectacular scenery of all the bike parks I had the pleasure of visiting, maybe Queenstown in New Zealand is at the same level. When you head here for a ride it is easy to focus on the trails and miss the wonderful environmental setting around you, so for me, taking time out during the day to just absorb the views and beauty is such an important part of the days here.

My personal Gremlin took quite a low profile on this trip, and most things went according to plan, but it made a late bid to ruin my day. When I got back to the car, I found the zip pocket where my car keys were living. Now I clearly remembered pulling the zip up after my coffee break, so the despicable Gremlin went for a big one late in the day, so I got away with one there.

On my original visits to the La Chatel Bike Park I headed up the Super Morzine lift and either pedalled up the gentle slope along the ridge to the Avoriaz or did a couple of runs and used the lift system. The problem with this route is getting back in time for the last lifts back.

On most occasions it was down to my numpty mates deciding not to follow instructions and to take a different route thus losing time, but on another occasion, there were lift issues out from Lindarets as well. If you are staying in Morzine that is still probably the best route but this year I’ve driven a bit further to the Ardent lift to remove the risk, though just not having my mates with me was probably enough anyway 😊.

To be fair, when I was last here on my own, I still had lift issues because in my life nothing is ever simple. After the exhilaration of flying down the Serpentine run I found myself in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm which had two dramatic impacts.

Firstly, it ruined the trails as they became instant rivers and the berms became mud slides, and secondly, they shut the lifts because of the lightening. I sat for an hour wondering how long it would take me to push the bike up the fire trail to the top of the mountain in the absence of motorised transport. In the end the lightening passed, and they opened the lift to let us back out of the valley.

La Crosets ridge

In the excitement to get to La Chatel it is easy to miss a very special route that takes you to the Mossiettes lift up to the La Crosets ridge. It provides an unbelievable 360-degree views into Switzerland and back into France, in the winter, skiers use this route for the Swiss Wall.

The thing that hits me each time is the altitude and rarified air which speeds up my heart rate, but it could just be the vertical drops down the side of some of the paths. The ride back is old school cross country and involves a climb out of a valley, so you need an enduro bike for this spectacular ride back along slate trails inhabited by giant cows who assert priority when they feel like it!

Avoriaz Bike Park

Whether you arrive from Morzine or the Ardent lift you are almost certain to do the Avoriaz Bleu des Brochaux run, you head up on the Prolays lift out of the Lindarets valley and gives you a great warm up before heading over to the Chatel Bike Park or you peel off on the bottom part of the trail to get to the Mossiettes lift.

The top section is very exposed to the sun, so it was very hard baked with tons of big berms and steep drops before you reach the lower section that takes you into the forest. I had the pleasure of being overtaken by the Swedish downhill racing team in the top section, which didn’t help my Strava time, but I guess I should see it as a privilege.

Avoriaz Bleu des Brochaux run top section

The lower part of this big run takes you into the forest and runs you back into the Lindarets valley and down to the lift up to La Chatel. The lower section takes you through the trees and is protected from the sun, so tends to be a bit softer and certainly wetter. It’s a great run but in the middle, there seems to have been some work that has damaged the trail, so it is easy to run into a bog and lose the best line through the berms. If you decide to go to Mossiettes watch out for the branch off in the woods.

Avoriaz Bleu des Brochaux run bottom section

The final run down to the Chaux Fleurie lift is fast, so if that is your thing you will love it, but there are lots of trenches across the trail so make sure you are ready to jump, or alternatively, take the little bridges.

Panoramique is an amazing trail. It starts out being a green at the start where all the spectacular views down the valley towards Lac Montriod, I never get bored looking at it.

La Chatel Panoramique Trail

After that it you need to get the speed up and pedalling legs on to get over the ridge to start the mighty blue that takes you into the La Chatel bike park, after you come around the bend you get another eyeful of views down towards La Chatel and all the infrastructure in the valley.

La Chatel Berms

These La Chatel berms are bigger than anything I’ve seen elsewhere and are mixed with a good helping of table tops, drops offs and various other obstacles along the way, consequently you need to do this run two or three times to get used to us, if your arms can take it!

You will need to use your legs to keep your speed up to keep the momentum so it is more Enduro than pure downhill and at the end you get a fast and nasty run over lose gravel that lands you at the gate into the bike park.

After a breather in the café/bar at the top of the park, which is a good place to get your head and arms together before the next challenge. Now it’s time to enter La Chatel bike park,

When you go through the bike park arch People is the first blue run you come across, for the Serpentine you just keep going along the ridge, and I’d suggest you do exactly that while you’ve got the energy.

La Chatel Serpentine run

The ride along the ridge starts with a nasty little tabletop that has a real kick to it if you aren’t prepared and throws you up. You pass a few red and black run entry points on the right and then you need your pedalling legs on to get over a couple of ridges, but after that it is downhill all the way. You pass through a jump park area with lots of options for leaving planet earth if that’s your thing, and if it’s not, then they are just big and fast rollovers.

Once that is out of the way there is an endless series of big berms that have you snaking your way down through the valley with lots of trees and rocky outcrops to negotiate on the berms and loads of fun. This is probably the best run for everyone unless you’re a black run snob.

It feels like the run is endless and it is a bit of a relief to get to the end and do the run down to the lift, so you can go back to the top and do it again!

When you get back to the top of the lift, it is time to go through the gate again and give People a go. Initially it feels a lot more rugged and more like a red. It steep and it is probably the first blue run you will do on your first trip (unless you take my advice). There isn’t much difference between the blues and the reds, it normally means there will be some additional technical challenges to negotiate, probably a few more drops offs than you get on the blues.

La Chatel People trail

Unfortunately, the lower People run was shut for maintenance which spoiled the run so I took the Fluid trail is really good but runs beside a red and a black, and to be honest, I just got confused and ended up back on the fire road with no option other than to run down to the lift.

There are only three blues, the other one is called the V Line Blue, This is a shorter trail and runs from the car park near the lift, it takes a different scenic route down the edge of the steep valley and lands at the same spot as the People blue. As with all the runs it is getting a bit battered at the end of the season but it is still a fast and exciting alternative, at the bottom you can join the lower People or Fluid blue runs or pick up the V Line Green.

La Chatel V Line

With the lower People run closed the V line green is the only option to get from the bottom of People or V Line to return to the lift without using the fire road. Being a green, I had expected it to be a gentle roll through the valley, but this is La Chatel, and it was nothing of the sort. It was a really fast flowing set of berms and table top roll overs which were loads of fun, in fact, I have no idea why it is a green and not a blue, maybe it didn’t have the very steep berms, but in every other way it was great fun.

With the runs at La Chatel bike park done, it is a long run back down to pick up the car at the Ardent lift. Arriving out of La Chatel there is a run under the Chaux Fleurie lift which doesn’t seem to have a name, and yet it is probably the longest run in the Avoriaz bike park. It is mainly in two sections, the top section is exposed and meanders around the mountain with a range of challenging sections and takes you down to the a plateau, the main problem coming down is keeping on the berms because a few short cuts that have been worn into the turns so you can lose the line if you aren’t concentrating.

The bottom section is pretty good as it carves along a ridge with plenty of tabletops and humps to get over as well as providing some steep drops to navigate. The problem with this lower section is that about half way down you pick up a very steep fire road back into the Lindarets valley, if you like going at break neck speed on lose gravel with culverts across the road you will love it, but I don’t.

On the way back to the Ardent lift you pass through the Lindarets village, it’s famous for it’s goats, which seem to live in, around or on the houses so it is a bit of a tourist attraction, there was also a local copper on a bike, who seemed to be chasing the goats, but that’s life in France I guess.

La Chaux Fleurie trail

There isn’t actually a path down to the lift, so sensible people go back down the road. I thought this seemed dull, so I picked my way down a mountain pasture that acts as a red run in the ski season, to be fair it wasn’t much fun either but at least I did it.