Go Solo: Chapter Two
Mount Tramontana (“north wind”) is a place full of conifers and mountain creeks. It is the perfect destination to find some shadow and refreshment. Walking around and relax. But this is not the reason why I’m in the Venosta Valley, Italy. In this part of South Tyrol there are a lot of mtb trails. Today is the time for the Holy Hansen trail. It was built in the 2015 by cyclists for cyclists.
To reach it you have 3 possibilities. For two of them you have to use your legs. You have to pedal. Two different ways almost in the same side of the mountain. The Morterer Leger and the Covelano way. One more difficult than the other. The hardest is the Morterer Leger; I don’t know if there’s a meaning for this name but in Italian “Morte” is death. So thinking of that I make a decision and choose the other one. In fact, the Morterer Lager is about 10 km long and climb of 990 mt. It’s a really steep path and when you arrive at the top you have to follow another trail (number 7) until Maso Haslhof. The easiest way, if I may say so, winds along 8 km of road with 800 vertical meters.
By the way, there is a third option: the shuttle. A great service by Freeride Vinschgau and Vinschgau Shuttle. Online you can find the timetable. They offer a service almost every day except on Sunday. And today what day is it? Of course, it’s Sunday. But I’m happy. I want to pedal. I want to work hard.
So, I park my car near the cycle-line and I start pedaling. In few minutes I reach the first part of the climb. Since the first kilometers I know that it’ll be a difficult ascent. But the day is perfect. The sun is high and the temperature is around 25° degrees. Along this way I meet 2 guys from Germany with whom I have a chat. And then nobody else. During my climb I’ve crossed some cars. Not too much. But I can’t define this way totally cyclist safe. There’re a lot of curves and in some part it is a bit narrow. Finally, I reach the top of trip, 1.567 mt. I take a rest near the Maso Haslhof, eating dried fruit. I enjoy the beautiful view: the perfect way to recover. I pass through 2 small wood gates and I arrive where the fun is about to start!
The Holy Hansen trail is a flow trail in the first part. I take some selfie photos but I want to ride so I get to the second part of this trail. I’ve read that this part is difficult and it is indeed. So I try to get through it safely and it works. But it’s not the same for my inner tube.
Finally the third and last part; it’s again flow. The trail is extremely smooth, with a lot of parabolic, small kicker, faster passes and some intersection with the main road. I’m getting jaded and my brakes too. They are whistling like a marmot.
At the end the trail crosses the asphalt road for the last time. My bike day is almost finished, still a few hundred of meters and I’m at my start point. The engine of my car starts to rumble and my thoughts come back to the beauty of this path.
Behind camera & words: me
