Day 25: Big Mountains to Bellwald

25 Jul 2011

Day 25: Alpine road pass and arrival in Bellwald. There is just something about the Alps that inspires. We drove out of Luzern this morning and before we knew it we were climbing another mountain pass with every switchback taking us closer to the snow-line. Our route took us first over the Brünig Pass (again – we came this way on Day 16) and then the Grimsel Pass, before joining the end of the Furka pass road as we descended into Goms. Quick stop on the top of the Grimsel for a training swim in the freezing water – we all did a few laps of the lake, no worries…

It is impossible not to get excited when you close in on a new bike park with the prospect of more lift accessed maintained trails. But before we could hit the trails we had to sort out our base for the next few days so we met up with Pamela and Martin at the Tourist Office to pick up the keys to the chalet.

Quick bit of food then out on the bikes. There are 2 DH tracks here that criss-cross each other under the chairlift, and we managed 6 runs back-to-back (3 on each) before the lift shut for the evening. The tracks are just drying up after a few weeks of wet weather but they are both getting more hard-packed, and are both jam packed with features. Some are even just off the trails so you would miss them if you weren’t paying attention, presumably part of old courses but all still accessible. The new bike is bedding-in nicely, and I can now make all the same mistakes at a faster speed and the bike just helps me out!!

Bellwald is a stunning little village perched halfway up the hillside, looking down the valley towards Brig. And fortunately for us so does our chalet! So ahead of a big day of riding tomorrow we are chilling on the balcony with a beer and just checking out the view…

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