#PLENEY4EVER Campaign 

The PLENEY brand makes a return, to partner with Atlas Ride Co to mark the continued push of our campaign to move Pleney and Morzine into the future. Shirts are available to buy in select Morzine stores now, and from our HQ Chalet Atlas in Morzine.

Profits from these shirt sales will be going towards tools and equipment for the first of our protest dig days. These functional, productive protests are aimed at providing constructive feedback to Le Pleney and Morzine authorities. We are aiming to reshape Le Pleney's classic single tracks one trail at a time. Starting with the iconic Potato, we'll run shovels, rakes, pick axes and saws through the line, bring back the OG features, input drainage and markings and start to show what can be achieved.

While we are well aware that nothing we do can be considered permanent or official yet, we can't simply sit back and wait. The harder we push, the quicker we'll get results.

Our first dig day is scheduled for August, final date TBC.

PLENEY4EVER TEE

Pleney, the Truth & the Future

Le Pleney — arguably the greatest single hill in downhill mountain biking. Its official trail, Mainline (known as Le Noire), is famous among riders around the world and is largely responsible for putting Morzine on the map. From World Cup pro's to downhill novices, it's a symbol of Morzine, one of the first trails everyone rides on their pilgrimage to the European capital of mountain biking. 

There have been rumours of Le Pleney off piste areas being shut down, closed off, and by riding on them you risk fines, having your bike impounded. Rumours that the trails that made Morzine what it is, the Pleney steeps, are gone forever. Rumours suck. Morzine is and always will be the home of European downhill. There is some truth to areas being shut down, and some misunderstandings. It's time clear them up and clarify what's going on in Morzine.

First, a little history on how we got here;


Around 2006/7, "off-piste" trails began emerging from this main run. These steep, woodland lines—cut in by locals—had names like Club Tropicana, Pedro’s, Potato, ATM, Step Up, and Step Down. Characterful and raw, they were a testament to Morzine’s underground trail-building culture.

Over time, these unofficial trails became central to Le Pleney’s identity. Riders would warm up with a few laps of Mainline before heading into “the singles.” While none of these were officially sanctioned, they weren’t disrupting the official trail network or crossing problematic land boundaries, so local authorities largely turned a blind eye.

The Rise — and Oversaturation — of Lines

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, more trails began appearing, often ending at the road between Morzine and Les Gets. Though never formally shut down, these trails were flagged—they crossed multiple private land boundaries and began raising eyebrows.

Post-COVID, mountain biking saw a massive boom everywhere, and Morzine was no exception. With more tourists, seasonnaires, and global riders than ever before, the pace of trail building, of cutting in lines, exploded. From 2022 to 2025, any semblance of structure among the unofficial trails was lost. Pleney became saturated with lines—many straight down the hill, others dropping riders out onto the road below, sometimes on blind corners. Multiple near-misses, serious injuries, and even a fatality have occurred in recent years. Rescue operations here are nearly impossible: there’s no vehicle access, and the dense forest blocks helicopters.

So why were these trails built? Because they were fun and easy to do, the dirt is one of the best things about Le Pleney. A couple of laps can see a line put in, for the most part more recent trails are literally the fall line of the hill, the easiest way down, hence the drainage issue . But also, and more importantly, because Pleney’s official trail offering didn’t meet rider demand, especially for those looking for something steep, fast and technical.

The best hill on earth

A Turning Point


In recent years, during heavy mountain storms, mud from Pleney has flooded the streets of Morzine. Those newly cut, fall-line trails act as drainage channels, funnelling dirt and water into town. This is the primary ecological argument against these trails and their impact is no longer ignorable. Now, it's important to state that while the damage caused by illegal trails is generally negligible in the face of ski piste development and logging, though this is an argument mountain biking will struggle to win.

In 2025, trail management was handed over to a new organisation, with a new opportunity to grow the area. While the lift infrastructure remains with Le Pleney’s original operators, the new appointment of the 'Morzine DLM' marks a fresh start for development.

Their vision? New official trails. Expanded terrain. Lift upgrades. A network that finally meets the scale of MTB tourism demand. The Pleney lift itself is one of the fastest in the world, taking just minutes to move four riders and four bikes uphill, and a trail network that meets these demands is what is needed. The disconnect in communication and then action between the Mairie, the tourist office and the lift companies over the years has been a real problem and is the primary reason we are where we are today, cohesive action was needed years ago, but now is the time.

What's different now? The absolute need for change and the energy of the mountain bike community, which is bigger, more committed and more educated than it's ever been. The resort desperately needs to come together not just on this particular task but for many others. This is not a unique problem, parallels exist in riding areas everywhere, you've no doubt heard some this before in your local woods.

What's The Catch

For this vision to be realised, a line has had to be drawn—literally and figuratively. Certain zones, particularly those that end at the main road between Morzine and Les Gets, have to be under closer scrutiny. These trails were never official in the first place, so there is nothing to close as such, but the difference now is enforcement. The Mairie (town hall) has issued a decree allowing the police to issue fines to anyone caught riding in these areas, and a campaign to promote trail awareness.

While we do not agree with the messaging on the signs for this campaign, they are ambiguous, at worst condescending, and they are still not clearly visible in areas that are problematic, there is information out there, the piste map does clearly show where these zones are. Their wider goal, to promote better cohabitation of the mountain and town, is getting lost, which is a shame because riders would agree that taking care riding through town and being respectful of hikers on the few shared link trails that exist is a good thing to do.

But here’s the truth: signs and fines have never stopped riders before—and likely won’t now.

What should work is losing sight of what the vision of the future is.

If we—locals, seasonnaires, and tourists—respect this request and leave these high-risk zones alone, we could finally get what we’ve always wanted: steep, techy, sanctioned trails maintained by the resort. The lift companies want to deliver this, they've expressed as much. However, they can’t while the current situation continues, politics.

These are two separate issues, one being the illegal trails, which must be resolved now, the other, new trails, will take a little time but the journey starts now. There are big hoops to jump through, largely with land owners and insurance. Whatever way you look at it, this is the future of Le Pleney, or at least the most positive version of it. While it's impossible to eradicate trails built and ridden outside of the park, there will always be secrets, it's certainly possible and to be honest, needed to bring it back into check.

There are some amazing creations across some areas of Le Pleney that really do increase the probability of issues. While some are on land owned by the very people that build, others are not. The trails are what people want to ride, technical, natural in parts, crafted in others. But though they are the vision of what Pleney could be in the future, they are being built without permission from the landowners. They are being built without knowledge of the ecological impact of drainage and forest sustainability. 

Yes, it’s frustrating. One could argue that new trails should be built before 'shutting' other zones down, but politics doesn’t work that way. These trails were never legal, so this isn’t a “closure” so much as a correction. One huge issue here is the communication from official channels, it's still not clear without researching, even to locals, where these areas are, where they start and where they end, it should be clear.

New 2025 Morzine Map

Le pleney map 2025

Where you can ride

You can see the areas on the map which are restricted; in reality, they always have been, only now it's different. You now not only risk fines for riding in the zones you also risk the future development of the trail network. There are some classic areas which have some of the very best freeride lines that are not restricted and which are still possible to access. These areas have great potential and these are the areas that are looking to be developed in the future with more engagement in deeper conversation with the new lift operator and management team going forward.

In the meantime, Pleney still has huge areas of off piste trails that can be ridden, in reality it's a winding back of the off piste clock to pre-covid times, with the exception of Step Down and Step Up, 2 of Morzine's classics. There is a plan developing to rejuvinate some of Morzine's original steeps, Club Tropicana, Swissy's, Kenny's, Potato and Kovarik's, these trails are areas that are in bounds, so to speak.

Why are we writing this

We can't sit back and say or do nothing, the communication from official channels on this has been poor, and rumours help no one. Infact, we would say so far this is one of the biggest marketing own goals in the history of mountain bike tourism. We've sat down with Le Pleney and Mairie on multiple occasions over the years, advocating for new trails, better maintenance and to gain more understanding of what the future of Le Pleney will be. Nothing was ever really achieved. We were not the only ones to do this, there is a long list of people that have been pushing the same message over the last 2 decades. However now really does feel like progress is being made, mentaility is shifting, so it's time to push on, now or never as they say.

We hope that riders will respect an area being deemed out of bounds if they understand why, and if they know that in doing so there can be a positive, an unclear, try hard sign isn't going to change that, this article and positive news spreading from rider to rider might. This issue seems to have struck a chord with the powers that be and many locals, from those who ride and those who don't. It's time to make a change and use the passion surrounding the resort right now to turn this into a positive, and Morzine will go to the next level.

So Are Pleney Steeps Finished - Absolutely not!

We’re simply reverting to a pre-COVID map. There are still steep trails. The essence of Pleney remains intact. Nothing meaningful has been lost. We've been shredding since the lifts opened and it's still incredible up there.

This isn’t about saving frogs or birds. It’s about saving the hill itself. Unless we allow the ecosystem and the management plan to catch up, we risk losing more than a few raked lines. We would all love endless loamers and fresh terrain to cut in, but the reality is we can't have new loamers forever. It does not mean Pleney steeps are dead, the areas we have can absolutely be developed into natural, steep lines just as they were when they were created, the dirt on Le Pleney is so good at coming back round, it's going to take some hard work and vision but it's all very possible.

If we want sanctioned steeps, legitimate progression, and a long-term vision, we've all got to be part of the process and lean on officials to move forwards. We have to do our part by respecting land boundaries, remembering we share the mountain and town with other tourists, be generally good human beings with some common sense. In doing so we put the power back in our hands and can hold those officials accountable for that progression.

To help, here is what you can do:

- Avoid areas marked out of bounds on the trail map
- Walk your bike through the centre of town (The pedestrian area around the Tourist Office square)
- Walk your bike on the Super Morzine (Passarelle) bridge
- Take care when riding both on the hill and in town around pedestrians and vehicles

What is happening now?

We need a mediator and project manager, in the shape of an organisation to drive the project forwards everyday. To talk with landowners, push planning forwards and bring the community together. The Mairie, trail builders, locals can talk forever, but we need progress, and fast. We've searched for a company from outside of Morzine that understands what Le Pleney really is, someone who understands that groomed flow trails are not what Le Pleney needs right now. Someone who gets that those new controversial jumps on Mainline needed to be on another trail, someone who understands that what makes Pleney great is steep technical, natural downhill tracks that evolve over time. If we can push forward on this, we'll start to see other goals realised beyond some new trails. We've seen their plans and they will be put forward this week.

Meetings have happened, wheels are in motion, the future is looking good. For now, Morzine really has not lost what makes it special.

*UPDATE 24.07.25*

Several meetings and emails have taken place in the last month. Emails back and forth between the various stakeholders in Morzine and the trail crews have shed light on what is needed, and what the future can look like. It is both enlightening and frustrating. Because so many people understand what can be done, but become bogged down by what is essentially bureaucracy. 

Our campaign for a protest dig day has pushed things forwards. We are now moving ahead with proposed GPX routes of the original singles, so that Morzine can better understand and plan what we (and you) have in mind for the future development of Le Pleney. We are planning, via Strava to map out lines such as Kenny's, Kovarick's, Worrall's, Potato and Swissy's to show what can be done.

In the meantime, the ONF (French Foresty Commission) have been engaged to help plan what can be done in terms of land ownership and ecological impact. 

We continue to advocate for a new organisation to come in and drive this forwards, and for communication from Morzine's various authorities to shed light on what is the truth in Morzine, where you can ride, where you cannot, and what the future will be.

Fines have been a subject of much debate recently. With rumours of a €1500 fine being issued to a ride on Super Morzine. This is not entirely true. Yes, a mountain biker faces a fine of up to €1500. Why did he get this? He was on a pedestrianised steep on the way in Montriond, he was known to the Police after having being caught and warned previously, upon being stopped he was abusive and violent to the police, who then took his bike, and asked him to come to the station if he wanted it back, so they could verify his details in order to get the bike back. He now faces a court appearance.

The exact same thing could happen to you walking down the street if you are stopped by the police. Unfortunately, rumours like this do not help anything move forwards.

 

*UPDATE 18.06.25*

A more general meeting with local business owners, the Mairie, Forestry, Gendarmerie and the tourist office was held, with plenty of passionate debate about the subject of Pleney's off piste. While it is not important to go over the many suggestions and complications in this article (it would be a long read), it is important to look at the solutions that have potential.

The idea at present is to form a working group of locals that can decide on what it we think will be a good, sustainable and achievable future for Le Pleney. The Mairie want to start this in Autumn, which we all feel will be too late. We feel we should start this now, so we are going to.

As a community we will bring together riders and trail builders to map out what we think will make a solid starting point to good, official, technical, steep downhill trails on Le Pleney. We'll run these routes through mapping systems so they can be accurately presented to the Mairie, lift companies and tourist offices. 

At the same time we will look to find people we think should lead this project, because it will take time, energy and focus. As business owners we can push for change, new energy and help communicate, but we need one voice to open the doors and walk through them where it really matters.

These actions are being done with the blessing of Morzine, while they gather themselves for this project. We do not think they expected the energy that is now behind this, but they realise it now.

We'll share these plans as soon as they are available and realistic.

Keep the faith, in the meantime, Pleney is not dead.

*UPDATE 16.06.25*

A meeting has been called at the Palais du Sport on the 18th June. Prior to this meeting which will have many local figureheads, fellow tour operators, business owners, landowners etc in attendance, we were invited to the Mairie to discuss our ideas for communication and what we feel is needed both on the trails and in the town to help this situation.

The meeting is not the first of it's kind by any means, we and other locals have had them before, but we've never been invited in such a humble way as were today. Everyone understands the genuine need to clear this up as soon as possible, and to push for progress, which by the way, is something Morzine has wanted to do for a long time but just hasn't been able to do on the Pleney, because of, you guessed it, politics.

As we've said those politics are shifting. It's not happening quickly enough though and that's where we're really pushing to say that there is too much grey and too much negative misinformation, that's damaging the resort.

So, what's positive?

  • Morzine clearly understands the problem, they are not blind, they know what needs to be done, it's not a case of no, or maybe, it's a case of how can we do it.
  • There are clearly still large areas of 'off piste' that can still be ridden. Le Pleney, the Mairie etc just can't say that, because of insurance reasons. The map makes these areas very clear.
  • A focus group of locals, the locals responsible for many of the off-piste lines over the years, is a clear goal, that can help shape the idea of the new Pleney. The aim is to get this group together as quickly as possible.
  • Signage around town and on the trails will be made clearer, less ambiguous and frankly less partonising than it is now. We are helping with this.

The next meeting, a larger one, to be held on the 18th June will likely be heated. But out of this heat we hope some action can be taken.

#ONEPEDALAHEAD #PLENEY4EVER

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