Mountain bike tour to the Glacier Express

Today I'm going uphill again - I wanted to mention that 😉 SPOILERS: there are almost only mountain pictures 🏔 to see and lots of them! This is not a classic Mtb tour, nor is it a brisk lap. Since I didn't see any glaciers or mountain lakes last year, it became urgent now 😬 It was easy going straight up the glacier road. It's quick and I know the way ;) After the toll booth I got bored and I discovered a wide gravel path on the left directly up. I'll take it 🫢By the way, in winter it's called a ski slope ⛷;) The path just climbs steeply. I just managed 2/3, but then I lost grip. The butt doesn't put enough load on the rear wheel anymore 🤭 Well, without the "E" I wouldn't have been able to do it. I really had to economize with my 3 driving modes, the plan was to still have 20% reserve for the onward journey... I could already see the Rettenbach Glacier 🗻 in the distance, turning back was no longer an option! Despite the "high altitude" I still thought about packing the heavy battery on my back. Leaning against the body makes it easier to push the heavy bike. Why am I now pushing an e-bike (felt 200kg) hundreds of meters through the scree with an incline of 20-34% without a pushing aid??? I have no idea 🤪 don't ask me! Finally arrived in the blazing midday sun 🥵 I have the feeling of being in another world, fantastic sight. 🥹Some debris rumbles over the ice, queasy feeling... I'm glad I'm there now! The station upstairs is closed, so keep going... It's only a few 100 meters downhill on the glacier road (and on the slope side I notice my fear of heights again 🙄) and then up again to the Giggijoch reservoir. It also works with just over 10% battery. Shortly before the 2nd climb, I lose my momentum, I'm used to cycling 🤣 Arrived at 2666m I wave at the Rotkogel hut 👋 and then I'm rolling down the valley again 🚵🏻‍♀️💨. That's delicious ;) The last gravel road downhill has a 20% gradient again. 🫣I don't do that to my brakes and myself on the loose scree. Going for a walk again 😅 But it's damn slippery! After I've already missed a number of huts, at least there's an ice cream on hand 😋 Now all I have to do is roll the Gletscherstrasse back to the hotel. Luckily that's not at the bottom of the valley. The brakes are glowing. "Our" batteries are not completely empty yet, the giant still has 4% ;) By the way, there are 4 courses for dinner today 🥗🥮🍝🍧 - I deserve it ☺️

Sad how little is left of the glacier 😣 After the legs only fought once for a short time, we went up to the highest street point in Europe 💪

Approx. 110kg system weight 2 hours in the blazing sun towed 1400hm on the glacier + again on the Seekogl to get started in the Bike Republic. The 16km in the bike park on the downhill trails were great but also super exhausting towards the end. Great tour

This evening, we finally found time to post Day 2 in Sölden here on Komoot. True to the motto: "Better late than never" 😆🙈😜 On Saturday morning, we set off on our e-bikes toward the Glacier Road. Always following our noses, always climbing, and even higher up the mountain. Just before the "Ötztal Glacier Road" toll booth, we took a detour to the left and climbed to the Gaislachkogelbahn mid-station, where we joined the Eebme Trail. Unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way down. At the toll booth, we exited the trail again and continued up the Glacier Road to the Rettenbach Glacier, which is located at an altitude of 2675m. We admired the glacier there 🤩, naturally took a little photo session 📸, and then roared back down the Glacier Road a bit to the turnoff for the Rotkogel Hut. First, I took a little "treat yourself break" with a delicious Hefeweizen shandy and an even more delicious yeast dumpling with vanilla sauce. What an amazing panorama ⛰️🗻⛰️🤩😍👌🏼. After refreshments, I passed the reservoir and headed to the Ollweite Trail. Oh, the forest fairy, rough but so f××× nice 🤪😎🤘🏼. Halfway through the trail, I crossed over to the connection to the Troalen Trail. Super flowy 🥰👌🏼. Once I reached the bottom of the trail, I headed straight to the Giggijoch and the Rotkogel cable car station. A quick photo session there, and then off I went 🔥🚀🔥 onto the Harbe Trail, which further down merges directly into the Gahe Trail. Since we'd already ridden these trails the day before, we knew what was coming and were able to take it easy and just let it flow. Rock 'n' Roll baby 🥳🤪😎🤙🏼. Then, once we arrived at the valley station, we let the endorphins and feelings of happiness run wild 🥳. What a blast 😁🤗💪🏼. Days like these should really never end. And one thing is crystal clear 🥸: We'll definitely be back in Sölden 😍🤩😃👌🏼. With that in mind, let's take a ride and have fun 😎🤙🏼 P.S. I have no idea why my pictures are always so messed up 🤷, but picture 2 definitely belongs at the end of the tour 🫣😅. Does anyone happen to have any ideas or advice for me as to why this is 🤔?

Trail day: Ollweite Line, Ohn Line, Gahe Line, Harbe Line, Schtirggar Line. And a few nice huts in between: Sonnblick, Obstler, Philipp. The 1,730 meters of elevation were worth it. 😅 And everything is easily doable with a bit of trail experience.

After yesterday's Relaxday, today should be high again - in the truest sense of the word. I was also packed properly because I had to take a lot of water and the equipment for the later DH ride with me. It was important to keep an eye on the weather, because there was supposed to be a thunderstorm at 2 p.m., not a good time to be at the Rettenbach Glacier. But let's go first. Via the Gaislachalm we went on dusty gravel roads to the middle station of the Gaislachbahn 🚠. The always beautiful view kept the motivation high. Then I took the EEBME Trail 🔵 with me for a short time to then take the BARTIGS BÖDELE TRAIL 🔵 in the direction of the glacier road. The latter is a very rocky trail where good pedal management is called for. Like last year, I didn't want to take the glacier road this time, instead there is a hiking trail in the valley that later mutates into the absolute final boss in the form of a scree field with an extreme incline. In winter it seems to be a red ski slope 🔴, but now the last 300 meters had to be pushed with many breaks, even that led to heart rates beyond good and evil. When that was finally done, we continued up to the highest road point in Europe at 2798.16 m in a breathtaking landscape. Here I met a nice group of Gummersbachers (Lemgo - Gummersbach, there was something there), with whom I didn't talk about handball but about handball talked about biking. They had driven up here by car. As it turned out, they are staying in a hotel nearby. After seemingly endless shop talk (I used the time to put on my equipment for the descent), we went a bit down the glacier road (new record speeds were reached here 🙈). But I still wanted to go over to the Schwarzkogl, because there was also an MTB highlight here on Komoot. But the first few meters turned out to be very difficult, loose, deep gravel sand, construction work, even when driving up I just fell over due to lack of traction. And it kept getting steeper. I couldn't really imagine that mountain bikers have already cycled up here, if only by pushing or carrying. But after a while I didn't want to do that anymore. I had planned to take the second longest combinable descent here in Sölden. The start was at the Rotkogelsee. Meanwhile the sky looked really worrying and the base station radioed that a thunderstorm was approaching. So the OLLWEITE Line 🔴 down to the TROALN 🔵, then down to the Giggjoch station and then the HARBE 🔵, the GAHE 🔵 and the LETTN 🔵. Altogether a good 15km descent. More is hardly possible. The brakes also got to work properly, as did I. With the thunderstorm in the neck, I only allowed myself to be carried away to 3 short breather breaks, also because I ran into another group. After all, I had arrived back in civilization after not seeing a single person on large parts of the tour. A really demanding enduro tour at the end of our vacation. We'd love to come back because there's still so much to do. Unfortunately, now it's time to pack again.