A HISTORY OF GUIDING IN MORZINE

Since the start of mountain biking in Morzine many British run holiday companies have offered guiding in the area as an integral part of their holidays. We did the same for many years and recently always employed SMBLA mountain bike leader qualified guides. Unfortunately the French do not accept our qualifications as valid and all mountain bike guides working in France should hold an appropriate French mountain biking qualification.

Because of this our holidays no longer have an inclusive accompanied ride or guiding service.

ENDLESSRIDE 'IN HOUSE' GUIDING SERVICES

Endlessride now has the first British qualified mountain bike guide who is legally allowed to work in France. Gareth has been granted 'equivalance' for his combination of International Mountain Leader and SMBLA MBL qualifications. He holds a 'carte professionelle' issued by the local governing body and appropriate insurance.

GUIDED WEEKS

In 2010 we are running two guided weeks from our chalet Berger in the centre of Morzine. These weeks are aimed at experienced and confident mountain bikers who want to get out and explore for a full day and cover as much of the area as they can in a week.

Course dates: July 3rd - 10th 2010 (full) and Aug 21st - 28th 2010

Course cost: 200 Euros pp including: 

• 4 full days guided riding tailored to the group
• 6 day Portes du Soleil lift pass

N.B. Course numbers are limited to a maximum of 8 riders and we reserve the right to cancel either course if the minimum number of 4 riders is not reached.

Guided weeks for group bookings can also be arranged at other times during the season. Please contact us for further details.

SUMMER SEASON GUIDING PROGRAM 

At other times in the season Gareth will be guiding a couple of days each week. The route, type of ride and ability level will be set according to the requirements of the guests that we have with us at the time.

Maximum cost 40 Euros pp per day (depends on group numbers). Max group size 8.

For more details of the program for your holiday week, speak to our bike staff on arrival in Morzine.

There are many local French guides who offer their services in the Portes du Soleil. We recommend just two of them, Joseph Pauly who runs RideAbility, MTB guiding and coaching in Morzine and Lionel Reymond who runs Synergie VTT.

They are both extremely competent bike riders and speak fluent English. As well as guided rides they provide skills instruction to help you get the most out your riding in the mountains. We can book them for you and help you finalise the details of your guided day(s) once you are in Morzine.

GUIDE SHARING

We know that the cost of booking a French guide for the day can be quite prohibitive for individuals or small groups so we are offering a guide sharing scheme. Send us details of your riding ability and the sort of days riding you would like to have and we will try our best to match you up with like minded riders who are staying with us at the same time. Just give us a call or drop us a line by e-mail with your requirements.

OUR IN HOUSE SERVICE AND SELF GUIDED RIDES

We will have two bike staff on hand in our chalets to help you plan your days out on the mountain. Our bike staff have worked with us now for many years and they know the area extremely well. They can point you in the direction of the best routes to suit your specific needs.

We have a good stock of waterproof maps that we will mark up for you at the start of each day. Couple that with a detailed route card and a GPS unit (if you need that back up) and you are on you way for a great day out. You can have a look at some routes here.

Finding your own way around is one thing but an accident or mechanical failure in a remote part of the area can be difficult to deal with. All of our guests are issued with emergency contact cards and we provide an on the mountain Emergency back up service. Just one call to us and we can help you call in the rescue services or send out one of the bike staff with spare parts or tools to get your bike back up and running again.

PASSPORTES DU SOLEIL

The summer 2010 Passportes du Soleil mountain bike event will most likely be held over the weekend of June 26/27 2010. Registrations normally take place in February and there are limted numbers of entries so you need to get booked in within the first day or two to secure your place. As always though we will have 20 or so places reserved each day for endlessride guests. Full details to follow as soon as we have them.