You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Bit of a random one, and quite a specific question at that, but does anyone know if bikes are allowed on the trails away from the fireroads on Unterberghorn ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unterberghorn) in Austria. Or how I could go about finding out?
I can't see anything on Trailforks or Strava which would suggest not, but it could just be that there are better trails in the area.
Anyway, short of going there in person and looking at any signage or waiting for a walker to tell me off, I'm stumped.
Cheers
Probably not. Throughout Austria there is a 2 metre rule. If it’s less than 2m wide, it’s verboten unless it’s a designated bike trail.
Also verboten is riding in the state forests (in case you scare the deer that are waiting to be shot).
Plus any farm tracks in case you sue the landowner.
I just get on with cheeky riding.
That's good to know about the two metre rule, and probably explains why I can't see anything official around this particular mountain - it looks a bit steep and gnadgery away from the fireroads. Cheers
Yup... Basically what colp said.
The 2m rule isn't everywhere in Austria, but it is in place in Tirol.
We've been told off in the past by the landlord of a hut and by various walkers.
It's one of the reasons I'm not a massive fan of riding in Austria
Good info here and I'm also not a fan of biking in Austria.
"Most recently, in 2013, a harmless incident escalated into national drama when Simon Tischhart and three friends decided to ride their mountain bikes up a gravel road to an annual mountain festival atop the Muckenkogel—a hill outside of Vienna. They shared the forest road with cars and hikers. When they reached the top, local landowner and attorney Dr. Rudolf Gürtler who was also attending the festival approached them and explained he was not happy with their act. Gürtler sued the four riders for 15,000 Euros each, citing a 1975 law that leaves land use decisions in the hands of local rangers and forestry officials."
It's old ^^ but people were still getting fined last year.
Yes, such a shame that Austria seems determined to turn its back on such a growing market. Lots of gentle e-bike routes though apparently.
Yeah that Wibmer ski video; an Austrian covered in Austrian logos going down the most famous hill in Austria on a mountain bike. And they still don’t get it…
You can ride, just in very few areas and only on trails that are explicitly sign posted as being for bikes.
I used to guide Transalp tours from southern Bavaria (Tegernsee /Garmisch) to the Italian lakes (Garda /Como).
Crossing Austria involved lots of cycle paths and climbing....
Tour operator I worked for stopped one of the tours after they had complaints from customers. Complaints were generally along the lines of "why are we riding up a mountain only to take a fire road down the other side?". As a guide it was a bit embarrassing.
And yet everyone wants to go ride Sölden, Saalbach etc.... Why?
As I've said before..... More expensive than Italy. Food is not as good as Italy. People are not as friendly as in Italy (even the Bavarians are friendlier!). An espresso doesn't cost you 3€ in Italy, either.
Oh, and the weather is generally much better south of the watershed.
Go south.
Go to South Tirol if you really want Apfelstrudel, Knödel and Lederhosen experience.
(if I ever choose to live in a German speaking area again I'll be heading to Süd Tirol!).
Even Bavaria has better access laws than Austria.
Looks like I’ll knock the idea on the head. I remember climbing that particular mountain as a kid (ok, a cable car might have been involved 😁) and recently found a photo of us stood at the top when I must have been 5 or 6. Thought it might make for an interesting piece for the mag to revisit it with a bike and find some sketchy trail to ride down. Not hugely worth it if all we can do is bomb down the fire road.
TBF, might be more interesting than most articles if you ended up in trouble with the Polizei and/or a massive fine.
And yet everyone wants to go ride ..... Saalbach etc…. Why?
Hmmmm, not true. Ever since I went 12 years ago I've been vehemently trying to put out the truth about how woeful it actually was apart from the 6 or 8 designated downhill trails.
As I said at the time, Wurzelweg got rave reviews from my family despite the fact that it was actually a fairly nondescript undulating pretty short bimble through a short section of woods. The reason we loved it so much was simply the comparison to everything else at SH.
Don't get me wrong, we had a fabulous holiday, but thank god we went there before Tignes, Val Disere, meribel, la Plagne, Serfaus Fiss Ladis etc etc
Don’t get me wrong, we had a fabulous holiday, but thank god we went there before Tignes, Val Disere, meribel, la Plagne, Serfaus Fiss Ladis etc etc
My take on it, too.
For balance though, if you like bike park riding then they do it pretty well. We tend to mainly ride Leogang with odd days in Saalbach/Hinterglemm.
X-line is brutal with some big drops
Z-line has been completely rebuilt and has a bit of everything with some lovely little tables at the bottom.
Hackelberg is a fantastic singletrack descent that goes on forever.
Bergstadl is another great very technical singletrack.
Hot Shots in Leogang is up there with Whister’s A-Line. There have also been quite a few new trail/enduro lines added at Leogang in the last few years.
With Saalbach, you've a whole valley with massive lift infrastructure, yet you can only ride one trail from each lift and it's not easy to session one trail as it generally ends at another lift station.
On top of that you've got lots of naïve and lazy hikers (the type that never really goes into the mountains and when they do, they do it from the safety of a cable car and walk to the nearest hut) wandering around. I remember encountering two families pushing kid's buggies up one of the bike trails and being really adamant that I shouldn't be there.
Saalbach is one end of the Pinzgauer Spaziergang, a famous local ridge walk, so it's gets quite busy on the main ridge. Most of the MTB action is not on the ridge though but the downhill routes do criss cross paths at the cable car station
We walked the PS in September and it's beautiful but can be busy with both inconsiderate bikers and dopey tourists. Quelle surprise, people can be selfish and everyone thinks that they have exclusive access to the countryside.
With Saalbach, you’ve a whole valley with massive lift infrastructure, yet you can only ride one trail from each lift and it’s not easy to session one trail as it generally ends at another lift station.
Except for:
X-line, which starts at the top of Schattberg Express, and finishes at the bottom.
Z-line, starts and finishes at the top/bottom of Zwolferkogel
Pro-line & Blue-line, starts and finishes at the top/bottom Reiterkogelbahn
Panorama starts at the top of Kohlmais and finishes at the mid-station
Even Hackelberg etc can now be sessioned directly using the Westgipfelbahn, you don’t need to push up after the descent from the Schattberg any more.
Except for:
Aha... Well, it's been a while (like 10 years) since I bothered with Saalbach. Friends went there recently, but didn't rate it.
Comment regarding the being a while valley with only a few trails still stands.