Technically it’s still the ski season and we should be out on our snowboards making the most of the good late snowfall. But a whole winter spent out here in Morzine has meant that we’ve missed biking. Noticing some snow-free lower slopes in early April we felt that it was worth a try.

The first expedition had a lot of U-turns as too much unrideable snow was discovered, but was also a lot of fun. I discovered that riding on snow-covered trails (and here it’s a good few inches, not a light dusting!) could be great fun and not nearly as hard as it first seemed.

Some of our summer favourites tucked away in the forests that we thought would be OK were still covered in too much snow as the trees had prevented it from melting. But others had long patches of clear ground and proved great fun. We discovered more routes that we may never have found in the height of summer, many that will be good to return to even when the lifts are accepting bikes.

As for the riding, it’s as varied as you like. One day a nice trip round by the river with a mix of twisty rooty singletrack and doubletrack, and no challenging gradients. The next, a leg burning climb up Super Morzine with a fun, fast descent back down.

After a winter off the bike it was tough on the legs, but so much fun to be back. It was also a great reminder of how bikes are the perfect way to get to know a place. Taking you to areas you otherwise may never reach, and making you find more out about places you know, but haven’t properly explored.

Most people think of Morzine as a place for biking in the summer, with a short biking season when the lifts are open. What we’ve discovered is that there’s great biking to be had well outside of these dates. Hey, we can board in the morning and bike in the afternoon!