The Urseren Höhenweg is undisputedly one of the greatest mountain bike trails in the canton of Uri and rides high above the valley floor of Andermatt towards the Furka Pass. Two years ago, the Trailworks company completely and extensively renovated the trail, turning it into a trail highlight - in Andermatt's otherwise rather challenging and high alpine terrain. The intention behind the construction work was to increase MTB attractiveness. To get back down into the valley from the Urseren High Trail, you take the trail through the Bannwald forest in Realp. This section was already a first-class mountain bike descent before the renovation of the Höhenweg - and still is today.

But now the alarm bells are ringing. The Urseren Corporation has decreed in the official gazette that no-bike signs are to be erected on this downhill section. In concrete terms, this would mean The renovation work on the Urseren Höhenweg would have been more or less for nothing with regard to mountain bikers. The alternative with the ascent in the direction of the Furka Pass road is irrelevant because there is no way down into the valley. Andermatt itself suggests that mountain bikers take the route in the opposite direction, bypassing the descent to Realp. However, this means that the Urseren Höhenweg has to be ridden uphill, but is much more attractive as a descent. The planned bike ban is all the more memorable as the Andermatt region has relatively few attractive bike trails - and one of the best is now to be closed.

If the bike ban is enforced, it will lead to one of the most ludicrous mountain bike infrastructure planning campaigns of all time. An expensive high-altitude trail is built for mountain bikers, but they are subsequently banned from descending back down into the valley. The prohibition signs were published in the Uri Official Gazette on March 12, 2021, and there is now a thirty-day objection period.

Further information:

• Tour description of the Urseren High Trail including the aforementioned descent:
  ride.ch/touren/urseren-hoehenweg
• Online petition against the ban on bikes in the Realper Bannwald forest:
  openpetition.de/petition/online/gegen-das-mtb-fahrverbot-im-realper-bannwald-urschner-hoehenweg