BLS Nordrampe
Description
The tour starts on the Gemmi Pass, which can be reached by cable car from Leukerbad. The approach is a little awkward, but the route from the Gemmi to Sunnbüel is first-class. It is also possible to start the tour at the Sunnbüel mountain station. From here, the route rides down into the valley via the freeride route. In Kandersteg, follow the country road until it crosses the railroad line. Now turn right onto a single trail and climb about 70 meters in altitude. This is followed by a constant and exhausting up-and-down high above the Kandertal valley. Finally, you climb up a small mountain road to the Geerizube just above the hamlet of Brand. The 600-metre descent to Reichenbach awaits. If your legs are tired, you can end the tour here and take the train back. If you still have energy left, follow the River Kander to Spiezwiler and finish the tour at Spiez train station.
Alternatives:
- Start the tour on Sunnbüel instead of Gemmi and take the gondola up from Kandersteg
- Instead of following the high-altitude trail, follow the Veloland route through the Kandertal valley
Map & GPX-Track
The map is only available to Ride subscribers.
The Ride-Subscription is available at ride-mtb.com/abo
.
Details of the tour
34 km
565 m
2195 m
701 above sea level
2328 above sea level
1 day
Gemmipass
Reichenbach im Kandertal
1029
limited
More tours nearby
User comments (4)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
Took the first section today as recommended by Monika 2021 on the left around the Daubensee. It works, but involves some descending and pushing or, even better, carrying. If you're looking for a bit of variety, this is the right place, but you won't get flow poisoning on this variant ;-)
Hi Thomas
The route from Kandersteg is getting on in years!
Many passages are just cow tracks and practically no longer rideable.
I think the route needs to be revised.
Would make two changes to the tour:
There are a lot of hikers on the gravel path at the beginning, some of them were not very bike-friendly:
1. from the mountain station at Gemipass, ride directly under the gondola down to the lake. Nice S2 trail in dry conditions and there were fewer hikers there than on the upper gravel path.
2. after the Berghotel Schwarenbach, follow the old path to the right. This is the shortcut and S0/S1 trail with practically no hikers.
3. would include the few meters up to the Sunnbühl cable car. The descent presented here is a boring gravel path, there would be another option (S2 on OSM) heading east through a really brutal looking steep face. Instead, we rode a short section on the "freeride descent", which is full of banked turns and hard but avoidable jumps. However, another biker pointed out to us that there is a ban on riding here (September, October I think) because of the hunting season (logical nonsense, as the hiking trail is never very far away). Apparently there is a very tense situation here with the hunters. There were no prohibition signs on our route, but they are supposed to be at the mountain station.
4. after Kandersteg the trail was not so much fun, pushing up was often very blocked and slippery when wet and the descents were often gravel, we then broke off to Blausee (top S3/S4).
Very nice and easy from Gemmi Gondola to Kandersteg. Had a lot of fun on the route.
After Kandersteg (Bühl) you have to take a steep section on singletrail, and I gave up. I entered the track via the Felsenburg ruins and was also singletrail. At the end I didn't want to do it anymore and took the road from Blausee to Frutigen.
It would be better to follow the road from Kandersteg to the quarry. Before entering the tunnel, turn left and ride up the tunnel. In the middle of this stretch, there is a "parking lot" on the right side : this way is easier to reach the top of the BLS ramp.
I have not done the stretch from Obergiesene to Reichenbach.