INFO
The precinct
The charm of Santa Caterina in the Lombardy municipality of Falvurva clearly lies in its high alpine ambience. The highest peaks around this small village rise above the 3500 metre mark, and the highlights for bikers start at an altitude of 2500 metres. It is therefore not uncommon to scratch the 3000 metre mark on tour. Various shuttles and cable cars help you up into the thinner air that prevails there, but you have to bring your own experience and bike skills for high alpine terrain. Not only do you often have to deal with blocked trails here - you should also always keep an eye on the weather. The possible escape routes are often long, and a thunderstorm can force you to bivouac in some passages. Therefore, one thing is clear: Santa Caterina is not suitable for MTB beginners! However, those who feel confident in their riding technique will find the perfect area here for a full, long weekend. Santa Caterina's tours have the potential to be remembered for a long time.
You can find the complete area guide and the GPS data for the three BIKE tours in the download area below.
- Passo dell'Alpe (23.8 km | 1400 hm without shuttle)
- Gavia trails (46.2 km | 2040 m altitude difference without shuttle)
- Forni trails (50.7 km | 2310 m altitude difference without shuttle)
Best time to travel
Santa Caterina itself is located in Lombardy at an altitude of 1734 metres. As already mentioned, the tours lead up to the 3000 metre mark. The bike season is correspondingly short, as Santa Caterina is known as a real snow hole in winter. You can hardly hope for good conditions on the trails before the beginning or middle of June. In shady areas, such as behind the Passo Zebrù, snow fields can still be expected well into midsummer. The best time for extended tours is therefore late summer. The weather is usually at its most stable until the middle/end of October.
Guided tours
Guide Andrea Panizza from E-Motion has his bike point in the centre of Santa Caterina. He knows all the biking options in the Stelvio National Park like the back of his hand. He does not work to a fixed programme, but arranges tours individually. You can also hire high-quality (e-/fat) mountain bikes from him. Info: www.mtbemotion.com
Shuttle
The Gavia Pass is still easy to climb in a normal taxi. But for all the other climbs around Santa Caterina, there is little to be done without an off-road vehicle. Simone and Corrado from Alpintaxi Cola, tel. 0039/333/4706865, offer such a service: www.bormiobike.it
Ropeways
All cable cars with summer opening times around Santa Caterina also transport bikes without any problems. However, the operating times are limited. They usually only run from the end of June until after the first weekend in September.
More tours
Tour author Andreas Albrecht has dedicated himself to the Alta Rezia region in particular. His "Alta Rezia GPS Trailguide" (price: 21.99 euros) contains numerous rewarding tours, although they are relatively scattered. The "Hotel Sport Santa Caterina GPS Trailguide" is limited to the tour options in the immediate vicinity. Info: www.gps-bikeguide.com
The guide "Dynamite Trails Volume 2" by Ralf Glaser focuses on tours in the historical environment of the mountain war and offers a lot of background information. A chapter with six tours is dedicated to the south side of the Ortler. Info: www.trails.de
Accessibility
The access road from Bormio to Santa Caterina was closed for a few days in summer 2019 for safety reasons due to the threat of a rockfall. As a result, the planned Trailtrophy event unfortunately had to be cancelled at short notice. The slope in question has been known for years to be fragile and is basically nothing unusual (the Alps are eroding). In 2019, however, several factors came together: a very late, heavy snowfall, followed by rapid snowmelt caused by heavy rainfall. As a result, the slope in question became unusually soaked and started to move. The slope is now under constant geological observation. However, the connecting road to Santa Caterina below has been open to traffic again for a few weeks and is only closed at night for a limited period of time.
SCENE HIGHLIGHTS
Trail Trophy
The first edition of the Trailtrophy in Santa Caterina, originally planned for 2019, is also on the series' calendar for 2020. The exact date is not yet known, but the plan is to hold it at the beginning of July 2020. info: www.trailtrophy.eu
Giro d'Italia
The Giro is also a regular guest in Santa Caterina - the Passo Gavia is one of the legendary highlights of the Tour of Italy. In 2019, the Giro had to take a diversion as the Passo Gavia was still covered in a thick layer of snow and there was even a risk of avalanches due to a weather front. The exact route of the Giro 2020 is not yet clear. However, if the Passo Gavia is on the agenda again, spectators will be able to experience a real cycling festival there.
Winter fatbike
If you don't let bad weather and cold weather stop you from biking, you can even bike in Santa Caterina in winter. Tour guide Andrea Panizza regularly gets on the saddle of his e-fatbike and knows the most fun routes in the snow. The absolute tour highlight leads to the Rifugio Branca at an altitude of almost 2500 metres!
You can find the complete area guide including tour descriptions and GPS data in BIKE 11/2019. The PDF version of the area guide costs 1.99 euros. Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the area guides in BIKE. We don't charge for them, but the opposite is the case: we do charge for them - hundreds of thousands of euros every year.
You can read the entire digital edition in the BIKE app (iTunes and Google Play) or the print edition in the DK shop reorder - while stocks last:
