MTB route: Zugenschlucht (Davos)

This tour is without a doubt one of my favorite tours, newly signed for summer 2010, the tour offers some stunning views, great single track, some fast descending and a lung busting amount of climbing!

Tour no 338, ca 44km, ca 2125hm

Part 1

Single track through meadow

I like the start of this route, heading out of Davos Platz train station, to the little hamlet of Islen, where the temptation to stop for a nice plate of Alpermacaroni or Capuns nearly always builds to irresistible levels.

Once passed Islen the road begins an easy climb up to some farm land, before shepherding you onto some easy single track that leads you into the Sertig valley, a quick cross over of the road and river then lead you up a small climb to a rather nice BBQ area at Junkerboden. The path leads down past a small farm, then left up and into the forest, before turning right onto the first section of easy, rideable single trail.

Looking back towards Monstein

The trail spits you out near the bottom of the Rinerhorn onto a farm road, head past Spina's restaurant, slowly climbing to the stunning and picturesque village of Monstein. The beautiful new church greats you before you head into the village and past the Brewery (probably best not to stop off for a quick pint).

Just at the end of the village, you take the farm road that will bring you to the next piece of singletrack, that runs from Jennisberg down and into the Zugenschlucht. The trail is 100% rideable but, you are going to need a pretty good head for heights, the trail is narrow and is a long way up, or it's a long way down depending on how you would like to look at it. Once past this narrow section, you are rewarded with a superfast, easy descent, some interesting corners and stone chutes will keep you on your toes, until you reach the Zugensclucht (coach gorge).

Crossing the gorge, you turn left onto an easy path which is nice to ride slowly, taking in the scenery. When you meet the barrier across the path (it may be up) stop, climb down the steps, then up the other side and head to Wiesen.

At this point, if you've had enough, you can catch the train back. Whilst waiting for the train, be sure to grab a drink in the little cafe, with it's rather bizarre collection of Junk sculpture.

Part 2

Looking into the gorge

Right, how are those legs feeling? You now have a lot of climbing to do. To start with, follow the signs to the village of Wiessen, located about 400m above the train station. This is pretty steep. Head through the village until you see a right hand turn, with the route marker. Now begins the 2nd climb, still on good fire road.

At the crest of the climb, you will see directly ahead, the start of the final single track section, a nice piece of trail with excellent flow and just enough technique needed to allow you to enjoy the section after a hard climb, from the trail views look back across the the village of Monstein and the trails of part 1. 

The trail brings you back to the main road into Davos, although the route, will use farm roads, to go around the village of Frauenkirch, before bringing you back to Davos platz.

Stunning

Ski Resort: Zermatt

Well, what can you say about Zermatt? It's probably one of the most famous ski resorts in the Alps, if not the world. Surrounded by 29 peaks over 4000m, the most famous of which is the Toblerone inspiring Matterhorn, one cannot help but be impressed with the setting, but is it a good ski resort?


The Village

View from above Turften

Zermatt is a long, thin village that sits at the foot of the Matterhorn. Indeed from nearly everywhere in the village the mountain is as imposing as one might expect. One of the curious things about Zermatt is the "car free" tag, which really ought to be amended to petrol free. Little electric cars whizz around the place ferrying skiers from hotels to lift stations, as do the electric buses on the bus network.

In the centre of the village, is the charming Hinterdorfstrasse, with it's traditional Walser houses that perch precariously on stilts and stone discs. But out side of this idyllic centre, Zermatt has turned into something of a tourist monster, and new builds are springing up all over the place.


Whilst pubs and restaurants are in abundance, the price is eyewateringly expensive for the average skier, with only a couple of bars on the outskirts, like Sparky's offering anything for the budget conscious. That said, if money is no problem, then there are some very high quality restaurants to choose from. The Stockhorn Grill and Swiss Chalet are highly recommended.


The Ski area

The Breithorn

The ski area offered by Zermatt and it's Italian neighbour, Cervinia, is vast and there is easily enough to keep even the most committed of skiers occupied for a week.


Zermatt has three areas, Rothorn, Gornergrat and Klein Matterhorn. All of which have good snow making facilities, a variety of blues, reds and black runs, as well as the yellow off piste runs. Each area is above 3100m so snow conditions stay good for a long time, even towards the end of the season.


The Zermatt ski area is not going to be to everyones liking though, lots of the runs are very long, steep and offer good vertical drop but, many are also very narrow and can get very overcrowded, especially during peak season.


The lift system is fast and modern, but it can take an extraordinary amount of time to get from the village to the slopes, but once you are up, you have a long way to go before you have to use the lift again.


For me, I found the best skiing to be in the Sunnegga / Rothorn area as well as the top of the Gornergrat. The Klein Matterhorn whilst offering impressive scenery became use of use only when a trip to Cervinia was on the cards.


I enjoyed skiing in Cervinia immensely, the run from the Kein Matterhorn to Val toTournenche is possibly the greatest cruising ski run I have ever done, with only a very short chair lift interrupting the 22km run. The runs into Cervinia from the Testa Grigia and the chair at the foot of the Matterhorn are also fantastic cruise fests.


Cervinia also boasts a vastly superior Snowboard park to the one found in Zermatt, and a great deal more off piste for the advanced, but not ski touring / heli skiing skiers and boarders.

Mountain food 

By the Matterhorn express lift

On the mountain catering is something that Zermatt does extremely well. The Stafelalp, Zum Zee and Findelerhof offer fantastic food, as does the cheaper Fluhalp. On the Cervina side, things are a bit more rustic and much more Italian, not to mention cheaper as well.

Summary

Zermatt probably is a place you should ski once, but not for the skiing. It's best offerings are the fabulous setting and high standard of hotels. For those used to the ski in, ski out convenience of France, the Lively Apres of Austria and the quietness of some of Switzerland's other resorts, you might be left a little cold by the ski area. I always felt that Zermatt is a place where they have forced a ski area onto the resort, it doesn't have the flow and feel of many ski areas I've been to.


Glad I went, but wouldn't go back.

Pros

1. Good lift system
2. Vast ski area - when linked to Cervinia
3. Big vertical drop
4. High standard of hotel and restaurant
5. Extensive snow making, guarantees skiing

Cons

1. Very expensive
2. Limited range of skiing in Zermatt itself
3. It takes along time to get onto the mountain
4. Awful transport system in resort.
5. Can be very cold and windy, leading to closure of Cervinia link

MTB Route : Pischa tour (Davos)

Some days, you wake up, look at the weather and think, too perfect, I need to ride, now! This was one of those days. Being a day off work and having a freshly dialed bike to play with I could think of nothing better than finding a new route to explore. So, here it is: The Pischa tour!

Tour no 645, ca. 30km, ca. 1400hm

The panorama from Pischa towards Davos (left) and Klosters (right)

This fabulous tour starts at Davos Dorf train station. Out of the station join the ring road, going towards Davos Platz, then turn left down Dischmastrasse by the Egg bar. Follow the road past Solaria and the Timber merchant, then turn left to head towards In Den Büelen, ascend the turn left again onto a gravel road the ascends very steeply before turning left again onto a short section of single track.

The single track breaks back out on to a fire road before leading you on to the single track climb to the guest house at Tschuggen. This climb is 100% doable with only 1 or 2 technical sections - can be a little overgrown though, but warms you up nicely for what is about to come....

At Tschuggen (1938m) the trail goes through the guest house front garden towards the little church, here is where the climb really begins, with an average gradient of 14%. The climb is pretty technical and I found it to be maybe 80% rideable, there are lots of hairpins, rocks and some great views of the Flüela pass. After about 200 high meters of ascent the path breaks to a slightly easier gradient and becomes a rocky road that leads past the Pischa berg station - this lift is closed in summer.

Continuing on the path heads towards the Hüreli and turns into a really fun section of single track across slabs of rock. At the end of this section you will come to a very scenic bench where you can take a breather before turning right onto the descent.

The descent back to Davos Dorf is moderately technical, with some stepped, tight hairpins on the first section. That said anyone with good bike handling skills should have an absolute blast. About half way down the track is I think the best panoramas you will see of the Landschaft Davos, taking in Davos, Klosters and the Parsenn, truly breathtaking. From this panorama point, you need to take some care, sections of the path are quite overgrown and also don't have huge amounts of height Clarence, I was glad of my knee pads! The final section of the descent brings you through a field (no visible path) and across the railway line towards the lake.

From here you simply follow the path back to Davos