It was at the beginning of the 20th century that Morzine had already started a tourist and sporting activity. In 1934 the opening of the ski lift Pléney, the third in France gave new growth to the resort. The opening of the ski lift Nyon in 1959 accelerated the development.
Jean Vuarnet, the Olympic ski champion of the 1960 Squaw valley games, came back to Morzine with the idea of opening new skiing areas on the Avoréaz plain. The first slopes connecting Switzerland by ski were opened in the winter of 1963 and the resort really started to take shape.