Posted: October 03, 2015
Author: Nancy Pellissier
Fall is certainly the best time of the year for bike rides! Uncrowded trails and resorts, quiet nature, amazing colors. Add 4 of your best girlfriends and you have the magic recipe for a perfect day on the bike!
We usually call “indian summer”, a beginning of fall during which sunny weather is dominating, in reference to a never ending warm summer. At Epic Europe, we could also call this season “the season of the Saflischpass”, celebrating this amazing bike tour, in the heart of the Alpes Valaisannes.
We started our day early with an hour drive to Brig where we dropped the van. We were quite tight with the timing. Get ready in 5 minutes and sprint to the train station! These were the words from the group in order to make sure we could catch the postal bus taking us to the bottom of the gondola in Ried-Brig. It was saving us 300m vertical in the chilly morning, which was highly appreciated due to to the long day on the bike that was awaiting us. We made it to the bus, and even had time to grab a coffee at the bottom of the lifts while waiting for the 10 o’clock gondola! After few minutes, we made it easily to the lovely village and resort of Rosswald, located on a plateau overlooking the Rhône Valley.
One of the best features of our home region of Valais is that every valley and almost every alpine village has its own lift, such an amazing network! The menu of today was still involving a lot pedaling up, as we were crossing a pass at 2’600m between Saflischtal and Binntal.
It all started with a long dirt road ascent up to the little hamlet of Stafel. From there on, it’s only “wanderweg”, or singletracks. We continued our ascent on the steep slopes of Rosswald resort, and then head towards our goal of the day: the Saflischpass. The landscapes were just amazing up there, making our way up easier for the legs, as we were constantly admiring the big 4000m peaks surrounding us. The fresh overnight snow had made a perfect white cover for the highest peaks, making the scenery even more dramatic.
After a first smooth downhill and a nice picnic lunch on the vast plateau above Binn valley, we continued our journey with another ascent leading us to Fürgerschaller alpage, or mountain pasture. And now the dessert, the crème de la crème! A perfect flowy singletrail down to Saflischamatta, Grummela and finally Trinematta!
Hidden valleys filled with amazing singletrails. A real amusement park for bikers! This is how we could summarize this bike tour! A “must” for all mountain biker on the planet, but a must that you have to earn, as you should count on 7 hours on the bike, but when we like it this much, we don't count, right?
*Nancy Pellissier was recently named one of Outside Magazine's "Badass Guides" in their October '15 issue.
Tags: Mtb AlpsVtt AlpsMtb ValaisEpic Europe MtbMtb SimplonVtt Simplon
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