Skiing guide for beginners in Morzine

Beginners Circuit

Lindsey made me put pen to paper and come up with a beginners circuit for you all (I much prefer to be on my feet that pen in hand, but she is such a slave driver heehee!)  This circuit could be done by intermediate skiers looking for a warm up circuit on their first day back on skis, or alternatively a beginners circuit to do towards the end of the week. Please ensure as a beginner you do not attempt this until you’ve done at least 4 group beginner lessons. You will only scare yourself and put yourself off this great sport!

Starting point: Top of the Pleney cable car.

Approx time: 2 and half hours.

Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate.

Note: All pistes mentioned below are blue runs.

To start, ski down a little from the Pleney and take the new Belvedere chairlift. Once off this chairlift, follow the blue run ahead and take a left down the Blue run ‘Les Granges’.

Thierry’s top tip: After about 1.5km down this slope, you will veer right into a schuss (a straight downhill run at high speed). This becomes a mellow part of the piste and so you will need some speed to help you get to the end. Knees bent well, arms straight out in front of you, weight forward!

Restaurant! If after the warm-up run you need a quick pit stop, Les Deux Criquets, run by Fabienne and Jerome is a lovely family restaurant and is also one of our recommended restaurants on the slopes, due to its great accessibility. Call ahead to reserve for lunch: 06 48 32 82 38

Next, take the Charniaz express chair lift. Turn right at the top and then right again down to the “Choucas” run.  This is a long (6km) easy blue. It takes you right down through the forest to the bottom of the Charniaz chair again (so if you didn’t have a chocolate the first time, now is your chance to stop at the 2 criquets). Take the Chairlift des Tetes and follow ‘La Freux’ piste, then ‘Raverettes’ piste down to Nyon.

Restaurant! On the left towards the bottom of les Raverettes is Chez Nannon, a real favourite of ours. Homemade tartiflette, vin chaud, a real local atmosphere and fantastic savoyarde food. A must-visit lunch stop during your stay we’d say. Call ahead to reserve for lunch: 04 50 79 12 15
Just a bit further down on the left is the Restaurant La Cornette. This is the family of the blind skier, Anthony Chalencon who has won gold in the Olympic games so you can see all the medals and accolades in the restaurant.  A great place for a pit stop!

After the restaurant La Cornette, take a left down la piste ‘Lievre’. This will take you right down to the Nyon tunnel… get a good schuss on going down before the tunnel… don’t be scared, just go for it and it will give you speed to get to the top of the hill before the little tunnel. 

You then have a choice of returning directly to Morzine via the easy green run ‘le retour des nants’. This will bring you out at the bottom of the Pleney cable car, handy if you need to pick the kids up from ski school or want to go back up the cable car. Also very good if you fancy some lunch/Apres ski at Le Tremplin!

An alternative, instead of going down ‘Le Retour des Nants’ you could take the chairlift Des Fys which will take you back up to the Vaffieu Restaurant. Another great place for lunch or an apres ski. Then just a short blue run back to the top of the Pleney cable car. Either take the cable car down or ski down the ‘piste B’ back to the chalet!

Is this as clear as a sunny day in Morzine? If not, then don’t worry as we can have these routes highlighted on piste maps here at the chalet for you on arrival. Or even better, one of us can talk you through it. If you are unfamiliar with the Morzine ski area you can download a piste map here.