Mountain Layout — Snowboarding

Morzine/Avoriaz has everything a boarder could want: few drag lifts, quality snow parks, endless off-piste opportunities and well-groomed trails for all caliber riders. Les Portes du Soleil also devotes five or six runs every year to boarder cross courses.

The Portes du Soleil stations are well connected; there are few cat tracks and no tough traverses. You will never have to take your board off to hike. As a boarder, you can go all over the area without having to worry about time spent “getting there” because wherever you go, you will be riding good slopes the whole way. If you are looking for some good tree riding, hit the open forests under the Prolays, Brocheaux and Lindarets lifts in Avoriaz, or, when there is enough snow, much of the lower runs in Champery in Switzerland. For backcountry riding, hire a guide to take you down into La Vallee de la Manche, the valley between the Avoriaz 1800 and the Morzine mountain masses. After a little hike from the top of Pointe de Nyon or from Col du Fornet, above Avoriaz 1800, the descent is remote and fresh tracks are easy to find. Either way, the beginning of the run is one big powder field, and the end finds you bouncing through open forests. Don’t go without prior preparations for a ride back waiting for you at the bottom of the run.

Riders now have a new boarder cross course at Nyon near Morzine. Most snowboarders will head to the wide-open snowfields above Avoriaz where there are three snowparks as well as halfpipes to keep riders very busy. Snowboarders also have a special pass for Avoriaz allowing access to the snowpark and the cablecar.

For anyone looking for riding through trees, the place to head is the region above Les Gets where trees drop down to the town.