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I’m planning a month in the Alps this summer to do some road biking, hiking, climbing and mountain biking. Probably Austria but not committed yet.
I ride an Orange P7 hardtail, currently setup 27.5+. I find it perfect for the trail centres in Northern Ireland, where I’m happy pushing myself on Red XC routes.
I don’t like crowds, would rather do the majority of climbing myself rather than getting lifts but at the same time don’t particularly want to ride up and down fire roads all day.
Any tips on what to Google or where to look for 30km+ routes in the Alps that involve bike permitted single track? Or is my best bet to go to bikepark areas but seek out the XC / easier freeride trails available? Thanks!
Watching with great interest, as I tried and largely failed to find good off piste near Val D isere.
Spent ages trying to find H e I d I and failed
I think you'll be better off in the bike park areas. As soon as you start climbing you pretty much have the trail to yourself, even in the busiest places. You'll then have access to some great downhill. You can also pop onto neighbouring hills or into the next valley to really get away from it all.
I’ve been planning a trans alp since 2019 (fingers crossed for this year).
I’ve been using Komoot to do the bulk of the planning, with abit of Trailforks, All Trails and Wikiloc for good measure.
Resorts/ region tourism websites will also have gpx files for routes.
One thing if your heading to Austria, I think they have a stupid rule about bikes not being allowed on trails less than 1.5m making a lot of the best stuff outside of bike parks off limits.
Hope this helps
Austria, I think they have a stupid rule about bikes not being allowed on trails less than 1.5m making a lot of the best stuff outside of bike parks off limits.
Agreed, which is part of the reason saalbach was so uninspiring when we went.
I've heard Oetztal has different rules. Hence soelden is going to be the next big thing.
Graubünden in Switzerland has a very enlightening approach to shared use trails. As well as some awesome climbs and natural descents, with a bit of man-made thrown in for good measure.
I've done a few routes from Pertisau: https://www.tyrol.com/things-to-do/sports/mountainbiking/bike-trail-tirol
Not so much single-track, more like cart-tracks mainly. Really enjoyed it, but the walking trails were more exciting.
I remember having a paper map which I probably picked up locally, which showed where riding was allowed. I'll have a hunt around at home for that...
Tyrol sent me a nice map for their safari
https://www.tyrol.com/things-to-do/sports/mountainbiking/bikesafari
Given a month in the alps (lucky so and so!) I'd spend some of that time Davos then over the border into Livigno and the Stelvio national park it's within.
Thanks for the replies!
Graubünden looks amazing, loads of routes on the tourist website.
Looks like it’s just going to take a bit of time trawling through various tourist info sites and cross referencing with mapping tools. Suunto have mtb heatmaps which is useful for finding recommended routes and seeing if they can be extended.
I was lucky enough to spend a Summer doing #vanlife before #vanlife was a thing.
The way I would find good trails in random small towns in the Pyrenees or Alps...
1) Go to the Tabac and get a IGN Map for the local area
2) Go to the Office du Tourism and get a the map of local VTT routes
3) Cross reference the 2, paying particular attention to walking paths dropping off the VTT track heading downhill.
4) Go explore
Would probably be easier now with the likes of Trailforks, Strava segments.
These 2 sites are useful too: