As usual in the summer, I went back to explore the Cervino valley. This year no Maxiavalanche, left to 'our' Rustik, now a specialist in Marathon dh and stage races, but also no mountain tours with portage and large gradients.
For this summer I have decided to leave the company of fatigue at home and to appreciate this area in a different way. As always, the reference point of MTB in these parts is that Daniele Herin, a firm supporter of two wheels in a touristic key. So a few weeks before the messages and phone calls began to organize everything; excursion, guide and tour objectives.
It had been a long time that I wanted to experience how it was possible to explore part of these valleys with the help of the ski lifts, a bike trophy that was approachable by many, that involved in addition to the bike park also the lower stations and the natural trails that abound from this part. The result is a Cervinia-Chamois and return in the day, passing through Valtournanche. All using the cable cars of the Cervino SPA, open in the summer.
A day of free ride dedicated to pure fun. Often the tours I try are suitable for a few; important uphill gradients, tracks that are not always well marked and descents to be invented do not make the excursions very friendly. Here, thanks to Red, day guide, we have built a varied itinerary, very interesting and within the reach of a wider audience. Technical and very stimulating trails, rapid ascents and landscapes that never disappoint, have created the right mix. The departure is that of the most classic, Cime Bianche and via, following part of the paths of the Bike Park until you take the road that once housed a train and which is now also crossed by the Maxi, is a flat section capable of creating hallucinations in competitors. from lactic acid that not even Woodstock were able to match.
Then instead of returning to the center of Cervinia we go on, the panorama expands, the great Becca remains behind us and from here the adventure begins. You cross mountain paths, mule tracks, steep sections, balconies overlooking the valley and then you enter the woods. Soft ground just asks you to play, curves with natural supports, some advance and you land in Valtournenche. Egg and go, second trail.
Red is a guide who knows how to ride a bike, we keep a nice pace that is fun and allows you to appreciate the trails; there are comfortable lifts to guarantee us those moments of peace that are precious in the mountains. The purists will turn up their noses, the defenders of the motto 'the descent must be earned with difficulty' will not appreciate this mode, but the mtb is fun and not torture, so every now and then it is also nice to enjoy the views from a comfortable chairlift and think only about the mode negative gravity. Having said that, in short we are in Buisson, ready to take the cable car that will take us to Chamois. The small Valle d'Aosta village has already been the destination of some very suggestive tours. From here I left for the Nanaz hill and then arrived also during a winter tour thanks to my friend Fausto.
Today the lifts are open and take us upwards in a shorter time compared to past excursions, a stop at Lake Lot from which a beautiful path starts that descends to Valtournanche and then goes up again, a few moments of portage to get to the top of the tip Fontana Fredda and go.
The highlight of the day starts here. It starts from about 2500 meters to return to the center of Valtournnche, there are about 1000 meters of negative altitude; where we find everything from high mountain stony ground to woodland paths where you can play with advances. Here then nature has enjoyed creating a series of endless hairpins that in the end make you dizzy.
A perfect trail, precise curves, shores for advances and a terrain that gives confidence. A ps already ready for a beautiful ews, which for two years will land on the other side of the great becca and who knows, maybe sooner or later it could also arrive at these latitudes. I already see an epic stage, two days of specials, sidereal differences in height and the bikers traveling between Italy and Switzerland in a sequence of tests that could hardly find equal. The implants are there and soon the connection with the Swiss alter ego will be strengthened; by Daniele (Herin, organizer of the Maxiavalanche ed) think about it….
But after the dreams we return to reality, as I said we return to Valtournanche, the usual egg and we start pedaling retracing the path of the train that we had traveled in the morning to start this experience. Then we return to the bike park, thus arriving in the center of Cervinia, from where we started a few hours earlier.
An evocative ride, a bike trophy for those who want to discover these valleys from above, giving themselves a day of riding with descents that will surely remain in the mind for quite some time. A way of interpreting all mountain that many appreciate.
The advice I give in these cases is to rely on local guides; we must always remember that we are in the high mountains, where it is easy to take the wrong path or not take into account the fickle time that can change suddenly, or underestimate the difficulty of some passages, transforming an epic experience into a tragedy; so paraphrasing what a famous motorcycle tester said, helmet fastened and brain turned on, always!
INFO:
Lift timetables and prices: www.cervinia.it
Accompanied excursions: www.mtbitalyexperience.com
