Day 35: Over the hill to Saalbach-Hinterglemm
4 Aug 2011
Day 35: A mountain bike mecca awaits. It rained very very hard, from about 5 o’clock yesterday evening and all through the night. It started to let up this morning but was still off and on until just after lunch. We packed up from Leogang and drove around the corner through the town of Saalfelden and up the valley to Saalbach-Hinterglemm. This is actually two separate towns, Hinterglemm just a bit further up the valley from Saalbach, 2 minutes in the car or 5 on the bike. But the ‘Bike-Circus’ comprises both and there are lifts that go up from both town centres. Our base for the next 3 days is the Hotel Eva Paradise in Saalbach, and yes it comes close to justifying the name. The hotel is part of the Bike-n-Soul hotel network in Austria which links specialist hotels that cater to mountain bikers and can offer all-inclusive packages to those wanting to explore the trails on 2 wheels. And the Saalbach-Hinterglemm region is an amazing place to explore on a bike. I have a bit of advanced knowledge here, having visited 3 years ago for a big biking weekend. And it is obvious that significant development into the trails and facilities in general here has gone on just in that short time. Mountain Bike Legend Richie Schley has even put his name to it and if it’s good enough for him then it’s good enough for anyone!
We didn’t have that much time on the trails today what with changing locations and the minging weather but we did get a bit of riding in this afternoon. We started on the Blue Line (or B-Line) and finished with the Adidas Freeride Pro-line. Even in the wet it was not as demanding as Leogang in terms of steepness and rootiness (new word – I just made it up), but there are some big northshore drops in there including a road gap. We should be doing a photo-shoot with some of the locals in the next day or two so with a bit of luck (weather wise) we will get some nice shots. Just down the road at Saalbach there is another couple of lifts on either side of the valley which gives you access to ‘X-Line’ on one side and (get this) a “Family Freeride” trail called the “Milka Line” (named after the chocolate) on the other side. It would seem they are going to great lengths to provide levels of trails for every age and ability. It looks like the advanced riders head to X-Line as it has a 1025m height drop from top to bottom, all running down under the Schattberg X-press gondola. Stacks of other XC or single track routes on the map that we’ll never be able to explore in full, but we’ll do our best.
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