INFO ABOUT THE ROADTRIP SUPERTRAILS
The Western Alps
The Western Alps no longer have much to do with the tidiness of the Eastern Alps. Here, the mountains are not only higher, steeper and more impressive. Old military tracks climb above the 3,000 metre mark and are sometimes even impassable. Sliding and carrying passages are therefore always part of tours in the Western Alps - both uphill and downhill. You have to reckon with rapid changes in the weather, but not with huts to stop off at. So don't forget a snack and plenty of water!
Route and trail information
Starting in Munich, this road trip covers a total of 1635 kilometres. That sounds like a lot at first, but it is not ridden in one go, but spread over at least a week as you progress from trail to trail. However, the transfer time in the car is used to recover, which is actually quite useful after one or two trails. Our route starts with the Brazilian. Approach from Munich via the A96 and A1 to Chalais in the Swiss Valais: approx. 600 kilometres.
The complete Western Alps article is available as a PDF in the download area below. You can also find the free GPS data for the five super trails here
Info: the Brazilian
By cable car from Chalais to Vercorin (all year round), single journey with bike: 7.70 euros. By bike to the Cret du Midi cable car (mid-June to end of October, 9-17:30), ticket price incl. bike: 12.50 euros.
Information and detailed operating times: www.rma.ch
The alpine landscape at the Col de Cou was declared a nature reserve a few years ago. However, as you have to push the last 300 metres up to the pass anyway, the bike ban is not a problem on this variant.
Car transfer from Chalais via the A9 and E27 to Aosta, distance: 118 kilometres.
Info: Malatrà Trail
Cranking up the entire ascent from Aosta to Col Malatrà would be a tough undertaking. It's better to rely on the trail and shuttle expertise of the Aosta Valley. So the still tough remaining ascent of 1336 metres in altitude only starts at Arp de Joux. On the way back, you can also be picked up by the shuttle in Courmayeur for the last 40 kilometres back to Aosta. Info: www.aostavalleyfreeride.com
Car transfer from Aosta to Fenils in Piedmont: fastest on the A5 and A32 motorways via Turin (195 km).
Info: Mont Chaberton
The absolute peak of the road trip is the 3131 metre high Mont Chaberton. There is no shuttle and no lift, but a super steep gravel monster up to the summit. This means you will have to push a lot on the way up and sometimes on the way down. There are also no refreshment stops along the way. The scenery is magnificent, but the tour is only recommended for really fit bikers with alpine experience.
Car transfer from Fenils on the SS24 over the French border to Montgenèvre: only 13.8 km. You wouldn't even have to change your sleeping place here.
Info: Lago di Sette Colori Trail
For this cross-border tour, you use the two chairlifts of the Montgenèvre bike park up to Fort du Gondran. This saves 700 metres in altitude. The remaining 403 metres in altitude on this tour are barely noticeable. Except for the 100 metre ascent up the Col Saurel. Chairlift open from 23 June to 9 September, 9:30-16:30. At the start and end of the season only at weekends. Info: www.montgenevre.com
Car transfer from Montgenèvre to Rivera (Ticino) via Turin and Milan (A4): 305 kilometres.
Info: Monte Tamaro
The gondola on Monte Tamaro saves 1000 metres in altitude. Summer season: April to early November, daily 8.30 am - 6 pm (low season until 5 pm), single trip incl. bike: 20 euros. Info: www.montetamaro.ch
Car transfer from Rivera back to Munich via A13 and A96: 403 kilometres.
You can download the GPS data for these five super trails in the Western Alps free of charge from this article. The link leads to the Delius Klasing online shop. There you have to register once, then you can add the GPS data (free of charge) to your shopping basket and receive it for download or as an e-mail.
The Brazilian
38.6 km - 543 metres in altitude - 2232 Tm
A 2000 metre downhill trail that Canadian freeride icon Wade Simmons once dubbed "The Brazilian" - you'd expect nothing less than fire. This never-ending wonder of bends above the Val d'Anniviers in Valais has been one of the top ten descents in the Alps for many years. And, unfortunately, the trail has come to realise this. Countless bikers accept the somewhat arduous ascent with its final 300-metre elevation gain to the Col de Cou (2529 m). Because at the top, only a few cows stand in the way of the 2000 metre descent. The trail begins wide, steep and unfortunately quite rutted. Melt water has torn furrows in the path. The bumpy trail continues into a slope crossing. Only below the tree line is the trail able to retain its dust-sweeping temperament. Nevertheless, this trail is a must because of its length alone!
Malatrà Trail
93.5 km - 1336 metres in altitude - 2646 Tm
Col Malatrà towers 2936 metres above the Aosta Valley. First you ride on gravel through flower meadows, then into a tough pushing passage - this wave of spray solidified into black stone blocks the horizon. You crank along the trail that cuts through this monster until the track is swallowed up by a rocky outcrop - and suspect nothing good. And rightly so! The last 70 metres in altitude can only be managed thanks to a safety rope. The reward: a breathtaking view that is topped later on. The downhill trail starts with a test of courage in the form of a steep step, after which the mountain flank just flows along. A right-hand bend around a rock - and suddenly the Mont Blanc glacier towers up close in front of you. A sight that accompanies you through Val Ferret to Courmayeur.
Mont Chaberton Trail
32.3 km - 2295 metres altitude
No lift, no shuttle - you have to work yourself up to the King of the Alps. 2,000 metres of steep and, in some cases, meanly rough climbing pile up to the highest fortress in the Alps, Fort Chaberton. During this ordeal in the Cottian Alps, you ask yourself more than once how cars were still able to drive up this old military road in the 1980s. Today, it is even narrow for bikers on some of the slippery slopes. The fort with its striking eight turrets was built by the Italians in 1898 to position themselves against the French. However, it was Mussolini's troops who actually fired from up here during the Second World War - and they received a devastating response just five days later. The trail descent starts at an altitude of 3131 metres and the first third requires a spirited riding technique. After that, you head towards the Val di Susa with almost no obstacles.
Lago di Sette Colori Trail
23 km - 354 metres in altitude - 1017 Tm
Just opposite Mont Chaberton, the Monti della Luna are home to the Montgenèvre Bike Park. From the latter, however, this tour only uses the chairlift service up to Fort du Gondran. At the top, a path immediately leads into the lonely, hilly high plateau of these mountains of the moon. A winding up and down on non-slip soil. There are no rocky steps to break the rhythm, no trees to push their way into the panorama - six kilometres of natural trail that you might expect to find in the American Fruita, but not in the otherwise rugged Western Alps. Shortly after the French border, the trail circles the pretty Lago di Sette Colori. Or "Lac Gignoux", as the French call it. The ramp up to Col Saurel is less pretty, but it is the step to the mega trail back to Claviere.
Monte Tamaro
39 km - 588 metres in altitude - 1582 Tm
A panoramic mountain between Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano - with a cable car! It goes without saying that Monte Tamaro in the Swiss canton of Ticino resembles an anthill. As a biker, you join a long lift queue at the bottom and fight your way up the remaining 350 metres in altitude in a slalom through a caravan of hikers. Past the Capanna Tamaro, behind it up one last ramp - then the hikers finally turn right towards the summit. To the left, however, is the downhill section. And on a trail that you wouldn't have expected up here: as far as the eye can see, the ribbon of path cuts through the lonely, steep slope. Rough and winding at first, then increasingly gentle around the first trees. It flows along with no end in sight. Behind a gate, the trail follows the potholes of cows through a meadow, and suddenly there is plenty to do again: Roots, steps, stones, sometimes very close to the abyss. Via the villages of Arosio, Cademario and Cimo, this extremely varied descent finally ends after 20 kilometres in Agno. Here you can take a dip in Lake Lugano before making your way back to the car.
You can find the complete road trip including tour descriptions and GPS data in BIKE 1/2019. 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:
Downloads:
Gitta Beimfohr
Editor
