A year ago, these tours would not have been possible. Back then, the law in Trentino still applied: trails with a gradient of more than 20 per cent or a width of less than one bike placed crossways were not allowed. Unless they are explicitly authorised by a sign. However, it has now been recognised that this law makes much more sense the other way round. Since 2015, all trails in Trentino are also permitted for mountain bikers - unless there is a reason to close them with a sign. Like the Friedrich August Trail. There are so many hikers on this panoramic trail that biking is no fun here anyway. However, trail scout Ralf Glaser has found a much more exciting alternative anyway.
"Call me ignorant. But if I have to choose between a good book and a good map, I read the map. Maps still tell me the best stories. This one says "Val di Fiemme". And the story it tells me is called "Trail 62, then trail 63". From Pampeago, a dashed red line winds its way down into the valley, curving around the western flank of Monte Agnello and then dropping quite straightforwardly through forests and along rock faces back down into the valley. 800 metres down, roughly. How long? Eight or nine kilometres for sure. Maybe a little more."
"For me, a red line on a map like this is simply unbeatable in terms of excitement. I study contour lines, calculate gradients and slopes, search aerial photos for clues. Maybe I'll find the answer to the big prize question in advance: "Epic trail or epic fail?" Because that's the difference to a novel: you can't just flick to the back and see how the story ends. You only find out whether the trail on the map is any good when you get there.
But now I'm sitting here in Panchià and have no ear for Diego's stories. I only have one imperative left for my local guide: "Please tell me that this trail is possible!" Diego's gaze follows my finger as it strokes the map demandingly. He grins: "And I thought I was going to be allowed to ride round the Latemar for the hundredth time tomorrow." The local now scoots his chair closer with interest. "That's a good plan! I don't really like riding the 63 with my customers though," Diego adds warningly. Overall, the trail is flowy, but some parts are also exposed. You can't afford to make a mistake there.
At first, Diego's warning doesn't elicit much more than a shrug of the shoulders. Well, Diego runs a bike hotel. So it seems understandable that he is reluctant to decimate his own clientele. "In any case, we have more than enough good trails in Val di Fiemme even without the 63." Diego grabs the map and pauses for a moment. Now I scoot my chair closer. "There are loads of trails through the forest right here behind the village. They're not all marked on the map. I'll show them to you tomorrow." Okay. But first the 63!
Let's get ahead of the story. You can only envy Diego a mountain like Monte Agnello, practically in Panchià's backyard. We play trail yo-yo for two long days. With cable car and shuttle. Pines, rocks and trails. Sometimes flowy, sometimes narrow, sometimes steep, sometimes rooted. A lot of fun. Diego offers free beer for his signature hairpin bends. "A beer for every hairpin bend! But you have to do all four the first time, otherwise you get nothing!" Diego already knows how to motivate his clientele. But unsurprisingly, I have to pass. "Don't worry about it. Nobody's ever done it the first time," Diego consoles me with a grin as I heave my bike back onto the trail. No matter. With the menu that Diego serves me in his backyard, every metre is worth it, even without a winning beer. But one thing is bothering me: Why am I only finding out about this now?
It's not as if I've never been to Val di Fiemme before. On my racing bike, I struggled over the Lagorai chain on the Passo Manghen. On my bike, I have at least touched the Val di Fiemme on the Latemar circuit. And it's not as if mountain biking has never been exposed here. Six years ago, it joined forces with the neighbouring valleys of Val di Fassa and Valsugana to form the "Dolomiti Lagorai Bike" mountain bike region. San Martino di Castrozza was added a little later. Tens of official tours were designated and, as I now realise, signposted in a pretty exemplary manner.
I actually knew that. But I still never flinched. In 1998, an American military jet clipped the suspension cable of a cable car in Val di Fiemme during an accidental aerobatic manoeuvre. Twenty people fell 100 metres to their deaths along with the cable car cabin. I remember that like it was yesterday. But apart from that, for me Val di Fiemme was just the valley you cross on the way to the Dolomites. Epic fail! "Well, so far we haven't been able to actively promote our trails because of the legal situation in Trentino," Diego seconds in my defence. Yes, the people of Trentino and their mountain bike law. The regulation may have been well-intentioned. But it wasn't well thought out. Or how were you supposed to check on the spot whether a trail was "steeper than 20 per cent and/or on average narrower than a bike placed crossways"? Above all, how should you have checked before entering a trail? Even for topo map nerds, the question "legal or illegal?" often enough boiled down to map reading. History. The people of Trentino soon realised that they had shot themselves in the foot with this regulation. This is why the government, tourism experts, the Alpine Association and mountain bikers sat down at a round table back in 2012 to find a practical solution. After three years of work, the cards have now been reshuffled. The new regulation is on the table, and it contains a clear core message: "Mountain biking is a growth market. We want a big slice of this pie in Trentino!"
What the beautiful new biking world in Trentino could look like one day can already be surmised in Val di Fassa. "We've been discussing here for almost a year which tours we should include in the new Trentino mountain bike network," says Willy. And will this network of trails also include single trails? Willy looks a little surprised. What a question. As the founders of the "Fassabike" bike school, William Basilico from Milan and his local partner Stefano Davarda had already positioned themselves in the freeride sector when freeriders still had rather exotic status in the bike scene. The first fruit of their endeavours was the bike park at Belvedere above Canazei. When it opened nine years ago, it was the first bike park in the Dolomites.
Good references for a negotiating team. In Val di Fassa at least, the chances are good that not only hiking organisations but also bikers will like the new bike trail network. But what happens to the non-official trails? The new regulations are clear on this point. In future, every trail in Trentino will be legal to ride a bike on as long as it is not explicitly prohibited. However, only the official trail network will be communicated and advertised. In this way, it is hoped that the "mountain bike" phenomenon will channel itself into harmless areas. Bans should only be imposed in certain areas, for example if a trail is heavily frequented by hikers. And here too, the new regulation gives local authorities the freedom to impose bans for a limited period of time, for example only during the high season. But what if a tourism association simply banned all local single trails? Stefano waves it off: "Apart from the fact that there is no basis for this - why would anyone do that?"
In the summer of 2015 at the latest, the national enduro championships in Canazei acted as a kind of catalyst for a rethink, says Stefano. "Most of the athletes travelled to Canazei a few days before the competition to train and booked a hotel room. By then, even the last person had realised that you can earn money with bikers." And finally, it is already clear that channelling the bikers via designated trails works. We are by no means the only bikers in the cable car up to Col Rodella. Most of them are doing their laps on the Sellaronda, on which the huge Sella massif can now even be circumnavigated on a trail variant.
Shortly after the mountain station at Col Rodella, even I have to admit to myself that some bike bans make perfect sense, at least temporarily. Exposed, narrow and with a killer panorama, the Friedrich-August path below the Sassolungo massif leads over to the Sassopiatto hut. The last time I was here, at the end of September a few years ago, there were only a few marmots scampering across the meadows. Today, the high trail resembles an ant trail on the way to the Zwetschgendatschi. There's no need for a prohibition sign to look for an alternative here. Fortunately, Stefano already has an alternative trail ready. Right next to the no-entry sign for the Friedrich August Trail, in the immediate vicinity of a giant wooden cow, an inconspicuous ditch branches off into the high alpine meadow. The trail only becomes clear after a hundred metres and then soon becomes much steeper than 20 percent. On average narrower than a bike parked crossways? "A point of honour," says Stefano and takes me on a trail rollercoaster that is rarely found even in the Dolomites. The trail is prosaically called "529". I christen it the "Gran Muca Trail" after the wooden cow at the start. And there is a good chance that this trail will be included in the official trail network. As far as this book is concerned, the last chapter has not yet been written. But the maps of Trentino are overflowing with exciting stories."
Here are his five freshly tracked trail laps in Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme:
The best MTB tours in Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme:
Slavin trails / 17.2 km / 810 m elevation gain / 3 h
One of the many fine trails on Monte Agnello in Val di Fiemme. The first section runs along the aforementioned trail 62, but where the exposed sections begin (trail 63), this tour branches off towards the valley floor and follows a much less serious, but no less flowy combination of creamy trails.
The GPS data for this MTB tour can be found here: http://trails.de/tour/slavin_trails
Fassa Bike Classic / 49.9 km / 2120 m elevation gain / 4 h
Italians love bike marathons, and marathon riders love steep climbs. With three sweeping bends
this route circles the valley floor around Moena and Pozza di Fassa and offers plenty of opportunity to test your current fitness level. If you want to save yourself the toughest part, take the cable car to Col Lusia.
Cresta Rodella / 7.5 km / 980 m / 1 h
A killer panorama between the Sassolungo, Sella and Marmolada, flowing trails, but also very challenging key passages and tight bends characterise this top freeride trail.
key passages and tight hairpin bends characterise this top freeride trail. A dream for experienced riders! However, some sections, especially before the tree line, are very susceptible to erosion. Please ride very defensively!
You can download the GPS data for these two MTB tours at www.trails.de download.
Sassolungo trail / 37.2 km> 1270 m / 1950 m / 5 h
A mountain massif like the Sassolungo is too tempting not to go round it on a mountain bike. Even if a large part of this tour takes you into the neighbouring Val Gardena. The cheater interlude via the Ciampinoi cable car saves metres in altitude and energy. With Val Duron, the ridge passage Auf der Schneid and the Steinernes Stadt, a few real bike classics await to compensate. And the finale is the Gran Muca Trail. The trail branches off directly before the Friedrich-August-Weg, which is forbidden for bikers, and is a perfect alternative to the already very crowded hiking trail.
Pampeago Enduro / 24.9 km / 270 hm/1400 hm / 3:30 h
It takes a while for this tour to let the cat out of the bag. There are more eventful routes than the valley cycle path through the Val di Fiemme, the cable car ascent to Passo Feudo or the subsequent gravel descent to Pampeago. There, however, a never-ending trail of the very finest awaits via the combination of trail 62 and trail 63 mentioned in the text. But beware: even if the trail itself is not extremely difficult (apart from a few short technical key sections), it does have some very exposed sections. Ergo: This tour is reserved for bikers with a very confident riding technique!
You can download the GPS data for the Sassolungo trail and the "Pampeago Enduro" MTB tour free of charge below.
INFOS VAL DI FASSA and VAL DI FIEMME
The precinct The Avisio river has its source below the Marmolada and flows through the Val di Fassa in a southerly direction. From Predazzo, it bends to the west and the valley changes its name to Val di Fiemme. This is mainly for cultural reasons - the Val di Fassa is one of the four Ladin valleys around the Sella Group. In terms of tourism, both valleys could be seen as one large holiday region. What both valleys have in common is a backdrop of picture-perfect Dolomite massifs. However, Val di Fiemme is bordered to the south by the Lagorai group. This is where the granite base of the Dolomites comes to the fore. Both valleys work closely together when it comes to mountain biking. Numerous bike routes are marked and signposted throughout the Avisio Valley. The steep climbs and descents make the Val di Fassa a rather challenging area; beginner tours can only be found in the Val di Fiemme.
Travelling by car: Route planners usually send you from the north via Val Gardena and the Sella Pass. In most cases, however, travelling via Bolzano North-Welschnofen-Karerpass-Moena is the better route.
Maps and tour information: Tabacco sheets 06 "Val di Fassa" and 014 "Val di Fiemme/Lagorai", both at a scale of 1:25000. Official bike tours with GPS download are available at: www.dolomitilagoraibike.it
More tours with as much singletrack as possible: www.trails.de
Accommodation A complete list of all bike hotels and accommodation can be found at www.dolomitilagoraibike.it and www.bike-holidays.com
Bike shops
Val di Fassa: bit.ly/bikeshops-fassa
Val di Fiemme: bit.ly/bikeshops-fiemme
General information Information on accommodation, lift facilities and tour maps can be found here: www.visitfiemme.it/de/sommer and www.fassa.com
FIVE THINGS NOT TO BE MISSED IN VAL DI FASSA AND VAL DI FIEMME:
1. rafting
The Avisio River flows through both Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme and offers ideal white water terrain for beginners. The rafting tour starts in Masi di Cavalese near the chairlift and ends in Molina after around three hours. From May to September. Registration from the age of eight. Info: www.avisiorafting.it
2. via ferrata
The Dolomites are even more famous for climbing than for mountain biking. Those who are not confident enough to tackle the sometimes very challenging climbs on the big walls will find a good alternative in the numerous, usually very well-secured via ferratas on site. A mountain guide will help beginners reach the summit. bit.ly/klettersteige-fassa-fiemme and www.fassa.com
3. climbing
If you know how to use ropes, carabiners (and crampons), you'll find a paradise in the Dolomites. In Campitello del Fassa, there is an artificial climbing wall at the valley station of the Col Rodella cable car. Natural rock can be found in the Stone City at the Sella Pass: around 200 equipped routes up to 30 metres high from 3rd to 9th level of difficulty. Sella and Sassolungo are an Eldorado for alpine climbers. With tours ranging from sport climbing with bolts to brittle alpine routes. www.avisiorafting.it
4. high ropes course
Climbing in the high ropes courses requires no special previous experience and is therefore also possible with children. In Val di Fiemme, there are a total of two beautifully situated courses of easy to moderate difficulty. One is located on the road towards Passo Manghen, the other on the banks of the Torrente Avisio near Ziano di Fiemme. www.adventuredolomiti.it and www.avisiorafting.it
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Gitta Beimfohr
Editor
