Fabian Gleitsmann heads to the Venosta Valley and discovers a real MTB gem nestled between the borders of Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Big mountains and lots of amazing trails are just waiting to be found, check it out right here!

Ahhh, Italy - la Dolce Vita! Pasta and pizza, red and white wines, grappa, the best coffee on planet earth, apples. Wait - apples? Yes, apples! Within the northern part of Italy lies the largest growing area of apples in all of Europe. No matter where you look, there's apples, nothing but apples. Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Pinova, or Granny Smith - they all grow here up to an altitude of more than 1000 meters. September and October are the months for apple harvest: the local farmers collect more than 1,000,000 tons of apples and transport the harvest to nearby warehouses on funny-looking little tractors. The roads are blocked, and all car drivers go crazy.

Fortunately, as a biker you can perfectly avoid the roads. Blessed with more than 300 days of sunshine every year, and an ever-growing network of trails, the Vinschgau area in the Venosta Valley is wonderfully suited for biking and has become a popular destination for Austrian, German and Swiss mountain bikers. Within a few years, accommodations have adjusted their offers towards bikers, bike stores have popped up, and new trails have been built.

We learn all this from Peter, our shuttle driver for the day. During the 1-hour-drive up the famous Stelvio pass, our gaze shifts between the Ortles, the area's highest mountain, and the narrow road. Painted with the names of the world's best road cyclists, who tackle this climb every year during the Giro d'Italia, we count the famous 48 turns on the way up the top of the pass.

For us, this is not where our tour ends, but where it starts. A short push to the beginning of the Goldsee trail, and off we go. Perfectly groomed by the feet of thousands of hikers, we try to focus on the trail and not the breathtaking scenery that surrounds us. Every once in a while, the clouds open up, granting us a view towards the Ortles mountain range and we already start daydreaming about possible adventures for the winter season.

At around 2000 meters, the trail drops into the deep forest and ends just before the small village of Trafoi, where we hurry to catch the last gondola that will take us back up, for the start of the second half of our descent.

At least, that’s what we hope for. Instead, the trail turns out to be a seemingly never-ending mix of up and down, up and down, up and down. A tough piece of work, before we finally reach the beginning of our final descent towards Mals. Sharing the last of our supplies, we’re incredibly glad that we decided to take the shuttle up, because this trail is definitely not something you want to ride after climbing more than 2000 meters.

While it is never too fast, never too difficult, it still demands our full attention and rewards us with a never-ending descent. Taking different lines and passing each other, it's hard to wipe the grin of our faces and despite the arm pump after 30 minutes of non-stop downhill we feel a bit sad that it's over. Close to starving, we hurry back to our accommodation for some fantastic traditional dinner. The stoke is still high and we immediately make plans for the next day.

With such a good shuttle experience, we opt for the same means of transport on the next day. However in a slightly different setting: the border to Switzerland isn't far, and we've heard stories that the official post buses offer room for bikes and take you high up into the Alpine. Arriving at the bus stop in Santa Maria, the rumors prove to be right! A bunch of bikers are already standing by, and with the support of the super friendly bus driver we load the bikes onto the specially developed hanger – it’s unbelievable, how forward thinking some countries are towards bikers! The drive up turns out to be a bit nerve wracking, with tight switchbacks on incredibly narrow roads above deep gorges.

However, the driver could probably do this in his sleep, and we arrive at the highest stop without any troubles. We’re at 2500 meters, and there’s another 500 meters to climb to get to the summit of the Piz Umbrail. Easy at first, it soon becomes quite technical and even exposed at times, but together we have no problems carrying the bikes up to the summit. Still, we’re happy that our descent will take us down on the other side of the mountain.

Arriving at the summit, we’re greeted by strong winds that almost blow the bikes off our shoulders. Besides us, there’s only a handful of hikers and we can’t help but feel a bit sorry for them – being here, at more than 3000 meters above sea level, with an endless trail ahead, an no bike…

We spend a bit of time enjoying the breathtaking scenery and refueling our energy reserves, but despite or warm down-jackets we’re starting to get cold and quickly get ready for what lies ahead. The trail starts with some patches of snow from a recent dump, and even though it’s not that difficult, we still find it quite challenging – cold fingers don’t really come in handy when you’re trying to find your flow.

The further we ride down, the more we warm up and start to really enjoy our descent. The trail itself is incredible – crossing a moon-like landscape, it always seems to have the ideal gradient and we can let go of the brakes and cruise down towards the “Lai da Rims”, an incredibly scenic mountain lake. How cool would it be to go for a quick swim here? Well, maybe in summer…

All of a sudden, the trail becomes steep and technical. The tight switchbacks remind us of the way up, where our bus driver had to navigate around the corners with millimeter precision. Here, the only thing that helps is the infamous “euro-turn” – enter a corner, pull hard on the front brake so your rear-wheel is lifted off the ground, shift your weight and flick the rear-end of your bike around. A technique that is often laughed at, we can’t imagine riding this part of the trail without it and enjoy switchback after switchback.

Eventually, the trail takes us to a wide gravel road and we start to think that this is already the end of our adventure. However, Switzerland wouldn’t be Switzerland, if there wasn’t another trail to take us even further towards the end of our adventure. Easier now, we can again let go of the brakes and enjoy the final descent back to Santa Maria. Wow! What a day it’s been, and a trail that really offers everything from slow and technical to fast and wide open. And the best thing? When the trail ends at the world’s smallest whiskey bar – but that’s another story…

By Fabian Gleitsmann

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