Beginner
Beginners have wide nursery slopes down in the village and access to higher runs by the gondola if snow cover is ever a problem at each end of the season.
There’s also a choice of ski schools including a British ski school (unambiguously named the British Alpine Ski School) if you’d like to be taught by your countrymen.
The ubiquitous French Ski School (ESF) is, however, by far the largest operator. Once you've mastered turns and stops, this is a good area for progressing. There's plenty of lovely green and blue ski runs to move on to in the pretty wooded slopes above the village.
Intermediate
A wonderful resort for intermediates with the hundreds of miles of piste opening up on three sides from the village providing the best of all worlds. On the one side you have the long, wide, tree-lined pistes of Pleney between the village and neighbouring Les Gets with the quieter, but more challenging, slopes of Mont Chery beyond.
The slopes of Nyon and Chamossiere have more runs up above the treeline. The third option is to head up to the higher slopes beyond Avoriaz and continue on in to Switzerland and resorts like les Crosets and Champery, all on your lift ticket, for a nice Swiss lunch before heading home.
The runs in this area come in all shapes and sizes and with a choice of more than 240 easy to intermediate ski runs in the whole region, you're spoilt for choice! If your legs can take it, the longest run is 12km (seven miles) so there is something for everyone.
Advanced
Although not renowned as a resort for advanced skiers, the locals can show you plenty of challenging runs on and off the marked piste. Closest to Morzine, the Chamossiere/Nyon sector is best known for its steeper terrain and where you’ll find several of the eight local black runs. It’s also one of the best sectors for off piste skiing close to Morzine, the local Mountain guides office (+33 (0)6 86 95 43 74; http://www.bureaudesguides.net) or one of the ski schools will be happy to show you more.
The mountain guides also lead ski touring trips. Further afield, there are far more opportunities in the Portes du Soleil with steep runs near Avoriaz including the infamous 'Wall' run. For the fearless and highly skilled skiers, the three kilometre long Creux run is a great challenge and is popularly regarded as the toughest in Morzine.
Snowboard / Freestyle Skiing
Morzine offers a great deal to snowboarders at all levels, there’s the huge variety of terrain enjoyed by skiers, there’s a small terrain park locally, and then access to bigger parks and much more terrain in the wider Portes du Soleil. One added bonus is that along with the snowboarding divisions of the five ski schools, Morzine also have the Mint snowboarding school, a team of enthusiastic young Brits who concentrate 100% on boarding.
Morzine’s own small snowpark in the Nyon sector may seem a little less than adequate for such a major resort, but there are bigger terrain parks a little further off, including one on Mont Chery on the other side of Les Gets and on the other side, world class facilities at Avoriaz – one of France’s top snowboarding destinations.
Cross-Country Skiing
Cross country skiing is popular in Morzine where there are 95km of marked and groomed trails in the valley and at altitude above the resort. The terrain divides up to being 60km of relatively easy trails, 20km of moderate difficulty and 15km of challenging terrain.
The French ski school (ESF) have a cross country ski lessons programme for first timers or improvers. The Manche valley is a particularly popular area for cross country skiing.
Morzine average Snow And Weather Conditions
Morzine clocks up more than nine metres (28 feet) of snow each year but the village itself is at the low end in the modern era for a ski resort however there is access to a huge Portes de Soleil area so the options are almost endless!
There is extensive snowmaking on these lower slopes however, so that when temperatures drop, large volumes of snow is accumulated on the slopes, which usual sustain skiing down to resort level through small to medium periods of thaw, even if the village itself is no longer white.
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