South Tyrol - Merano: Facelift for the Rabland quarry trail - enduro becomes a flow hybrid

The "Stuanbruch" trail in Rabland, south-west of Meran, down the slope of the Vigiljoch, is high-percentage, rough and, in sections, overgrown to the width of a railway track. Ten kilometres and 1200 metres in depth. For ambitious enduro bikers, the trail on the Nörderberg in South Tyrol is a gently starting and increasingly wild, varied key section festival (with S3 sections according to the signposting).

First cool, then dangerous: the quarry trail near Merano

However, those who were entrusted with the maintenance of this trail at the Aschbach cable car had less fun. For example, the local Rabland tourism association, which has to pay for the annual repair work, or Boris Frei from the Bike and Design Hotel Tyrol, who maintains the trail himself with a shovel: "Steep passages are great for a maximum of one year. After that, they are mainly worn out and dangerous."

For all those who haven't seen the trail before, here's a Gopro recording from two years ago:

As a biking hotelier, Frei himself has been travelling the quarry trail for ten years. Also with his guests. And this experience has shown him: "Our guests are good mountain bikers, no question about it. But they are not downhillers at World Cup level. So it was high time to give the quarry trail an extraordinary overhaul and completely rebuild some sections."

And professionals have been brought on board for this conversion: F-Tech, the offshoot of the Swiss company Velosolutions in Italyhas its registered office in Merano and environs and took over the entire planning including the approval process. They also found an innovative financing solution.

Financing: Who paid for the trail conversion?

The responsible Partschins tourism association called for trail sponsorships for the individual trail sections to finance the renovation. In this way, companies that benefit from the steadily growing mountain bike tourism in the Merano and Venosta Valley region were able to participate in the project: For example, the South Tyrolean Bike Hotels, but also Etzis Bikeshop and, of course, the Parcines Tourist Association itself. A concept that has proven its worth, as other flow trail sections on the Nörderberg have already been realised in this way. For example, the Milla Trail in 2020 and the Jumpline, which opened just a few weeks ago.

And what has been changed on the Stuanbruch Trail?

As before, you take the cable car up to Aschbach in Rabland and pedal along the gravel road for around two kilometres to the start of the trail. You can still enjoy the view of the white peaks of the Texel Group until you finally reach the start of the new quarry trail. The old hiking trail still winds its way down the wooded quarry scenery for almost ten kilometres. The already flowing passages have been left as before.

Shovels and ice axes were only used where the trail was particularly steep or too narrow and close to the slope. In these places, high berms, jumps and waves are now to be added, which will complement the "old" quarry trail perfectly. The trail will be maintained and kept in good condition by the members of the Algund MTB club Tricky Riders (trickyriders.com).

We haven't yet ridden the converted trail ourselves, but it's at the top of our list as a course for one of the next BIKE tests. We will then report on our riding impressions.