A short
trip to the Alps
In June 2005 we got
two
weeks
of unexpected holiday and took the
opportunity to drive down to the Alps, a long drive for just two weeks.
We went to some of the spots where we liked the mountain
biking best in
2000, Engadine, Livigno and Lago di Garda.
Loading up the car
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Puttgarden
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Ronnie & Inger
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Lichtenstein
|
We camped for the night
in
Puttgarden, next to Ronnie and Inger from Uppsala, again in a rainy
Lichenstein, and made our first real stop in Sankt
Moritz. There we
rode som of our favourite trails from 2000. The weather was splendid
and the riding good. The first day we rode the steep uphill to
Alp Surlej.
Camping Olympia |
Heavy upphill to Alp Surlej
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Slow going
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Almost there
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The view
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The second day we rode the winding singletrack to Maloja,
following the
southern shores of the lakes there and riding a high traverse on our
return. It was a splendid outing!
Assembling the bikes in the morning
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Passing a waterfall
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Along the valley floor
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High on the meadows of Isola
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Switchbacks
|
|
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The next day we crossed the
passes to
Livigno. Heavy clouds were
hanging over Livigno, giving the place a melancholic autumnlike
feeling, so we
only did
one ride, up and across the Alpisella Pass, and decided to head for
Lago di Garda the next day via the Stelvio Pass and Maddonna di
Campiglio.
Camping in Livigno
|
Bridge on the trail to Alpisella
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Large switchback
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High altitutde lake
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A break
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On the crest of the Alpisella Pass
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Passo Stelvio
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Dramatic road
|
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The Brenta Towers
|
At Lago di Garda we stayed
in
the
Camping al Porto in Torbole and rode in the mountains on both sides of
the lake. Our first day we headed up to the Segalla Hut via Molina and
joined the Tremalzo trail for the best bit, the only real singletrack
on it. There were some obvious differenences since we last
were riding it. The lower parts of the trail on the old tunneled roads
outside Riva have been spruced up. The no access sign were gone,
replaced by signs with mountain bike ethics.
Camping al Porto
|
Strenuous ascent from Molinas
|
Joining the main trail from Tremalzo
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Singletrack at last
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Stunning views
|
Passo Rocchetta
|
Switchback
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The old road from Pregasina
|
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Approaching Riva
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The second day we did the
Dossa
Spirano trail on the steep slopes on
the east side of
the lake, a strenuous ascent of almost 1200 metres followed by a steep
technical singletrack with plenty of baby heads and staggering views
down to the lake.
Climbing
|
Singletrack at last
|
Water bar
|
|
Baby heads
|
Traverse
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Overlooking Lago di Garda
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Switchbacks
|
|
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The third day we took
the
shuttle up to Tremalzo. It costed us 15
Euro each and allowed us to coast for hours back down to Riva and
Torbole. Most of the Tremalzo ride consists of fire road but there is
also a nice section with fine singletrack beyond the Segalla Hut.
Stoving the bikes
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On top of Tremalzo
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Setting off
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Tunnel
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Swtichback
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Great fun for a fire road
|
The road ahead
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Another tunnel
|
|
Singletrack
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Above Lago di Garda
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Passo Rocchetta
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Garda is windsurfing Mecca
|
Cold even in late June
|
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When Lago di Garda felt too
hot for us we
bet on driving to Nauders in Austria,
over the Timmeljoch. However, when we arrived the camping place
appeared half deserted and uninviting; and we could not find fuel for
our
kerosene stove so we decided to go back to Sankt Moritz and do the
Suvretta Pass, an epic ride which involves crossing a 2615 metres pass
pushing and carrying some bits. One ascends through the Bever
Valley, beyond the Suvretta Alp it is singletrack, some of it is just
nice
twisting undulating alpine path but there are also some
hairy sections with rock
gardens.
Assembling the bikes
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Engadine landscape
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Ascent in Bever Valley
|
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Pushing
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Fine singletrack
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Crossing a stream
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It does not get better
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Bridge
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A few metres of carrying
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Crossing another stream
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Snow on high elevation
|
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Lake, Bernina Alps
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Descent
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Keeping the cattle in
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Too interested
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The next day we set off on
the
long drive back to Sweden, crossing
first the beautiful Albula Pass, going on to Davos and Klosters before
we hit the autobahn. On the drive home we spend midsummer night in
Rottenburg and a second night in Sönderballe on the Danish Baltic
coast.
Disassembling the bikes
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Albula Pass
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Port of Lindau Insel
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Midsummer in Rottenburg
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Our neighbours had a miniature midsummer pole
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Rottenburg
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Sönderballe, scandinavian midsummer day idyll
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Aacross the bridge back to Sweden
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We had some excellent
singletrack and saw some really beautiful land,
it was a splendid holiday. The major drawback was all the driving.
Sankt Moritz and Lago di Garda is far, we winded up spending as much
time driving as riding, if we would do it again we would make sure to
have more time so we could drive less and ride more.
Home
Travel with MTB
This page was mounted 30 of June
2005 by Per Löwdin.