On our way home from the Eurobike Show in Friedrichshafen we decided to have a little stopover in Sölden. That meant two days in the Ötztal area to explore the single trails of the self proclaimed Bike Republic…yeah! We were pretty exited and looking forward to our mini-adventure.
What’s that smell?
We arrived in Sölden in the late evening, so it was already dark. When we got out of the car it was unexpectedly cold for a late summer evening. We breathed in the cool, fresh air. It felt a little strange because something reminded me of my last ski holiday. No wonder – the air smelled like snow…
Through the clouds
The next morning it was raining outside, but hey – that can not stop us, right?! So we had a wonderful breakfast at our B&B and took the time to prepare ourselves for a wet day out. The plan was to take it easy and explore the shaped lines first. So we took the next gondola to the Gaislachkogl middle station. The clowds were clinging to the mountains at a pretty low level. Thus, we could not see what would await us above. When the gondola was gliding further you could see white patches here and there. And then we had a full sight on the…SNOW! The ground below was covered in white.
Time to play
We had to shift plans a little since the bike park treks were closed and we had to improvise. We also had to be careful since the north shore elements were super slippery with the snow but it was quite an adventure. Playing in the snow and sliding our way to the next trailhead was a lot of fun.
The weather made it a little difficult to test all the trails in the area but the ones we were able to ride were pretty cool. So if you are here for the first time, your day could look something like this…
Take the gondola to the Gaislachkogl middle station and start off easy with the blue shaped lines called Eebme and Ohn. Once you are warmed up, go up again and take the flowy red Teäre Line.
In the valley, head over to the Giggijoch Gondola where you can combine the blue Harbe Line with one of the black natural single trails (so enduro!). Then, get into the shuttle bus up to the Rettenbachalm and transfer (via 675) to the Gampe Thaya for a Kaiserschmarrn. From there, get on the transfer road again (direction Hochsölden) to the Sonnblick. From here you can take one of the black trails again or try the red Leiterberg Trail.
tl;dr – we tested the following:
Shaped Lines
Eebme Line (blue 6005) – Gaislachkogl
Ohn Line (blue 6007) – Gaislachkogl
Teäre Line (red 6003) – Gaislachkogl
Harbe Line (blue 6008) – Giggijoch
Natural Single Trails
Rettenbachalm Trail (blue 675 to Gampe Thaya)
Traien Trail (black 677)
Harise Trail (black 670)
But as said, there is much more to explore. We had lots of fun – even for only two days and we definitely will come back for a little longer in the next season. I think we might even take part in the Schnitzeljagd (scavenger hunt). Looks promising!
