Gotthard-Umrundung
Description
The Gotthard tour begins on the Furka Pass, which can be reached by post bus, although the ascent on the pass road can also be tackled under your own steam. At the top of the pass, keep left and take the cart track up to the Bidmer with its fantastic views of the Bernese and Valais Alps. The descent is initially not as thrilling as the panorama. The path leads through meadow terrain, is deeply cut in places and difficult to ride. After Alp Gand, the route descends for a good stretch on an alpine road due to a lack of alternatives, until there is another beautiful singletrail just before Oberwald. You now roll to Ulrichen and climb along the moderately busy pass road towards the Nufenen Pass. Just under 200 meters below the pass, turn right in a left-hand serpentine and climb up a small road to the dam wall of the Griessee. A singletrail now takes you uphill to the Corno Pass (Passo del Corno), from where a fantastic flow trail rides down to the Grieshütte (Capanna Corno-Gries). The first stage ends at this futuristic-looking SAC hut.
The second day begins with a highlight - the fantastic single trail to San Giacomo high above the Bedretto Valley. The route continues out of the valley past the Alpi di Formazzora, the Alpe di Valeggio and the Alpe die Cristallina to Grasso Fondo on a mix of singletrail, alpine roads, ascents and descents. A wonderful singletrail to ride now leads down via Cioss di Sopra to Airolo. You can either take the road up to Lago Ritom or ride down to Piotta and take the funicular up. Climb up through the Val Piora to the famous Passo del Sole. A crisp trail leads from here down to Stabbia Nuovo. The Lukmanier Pass is then quickly reached on alpine roads and the pass road, which is the destination of the second stage.
Day three begins with a surprise: instead of rolling along the pass road towards Disentis, you climb to the roof of the avalanche gallery and follow the singletrack trail that lies directly above the pass road. Later you pass the dam wall and follow the pass road or the paths running parallel to it through the Val Medel out of the valley. Just before the village of Pardé, keep left and climb up a small road to Stagias and the crossing just above. You have now reached the signposted mountain bike route (1 - Alpine Bike), which you follow on the north side of the valley past Sedrun to Tschamut. Follow the Alpine Bike route unabated, which now rides over the Maighelspass to Andermatt. This well-known mountain bike route is a worthy conclusion to the three-day Gotthard circumnavigation.
Stage lengths
1st stage: 32 km; difference in altitude 1370 m (up) / 1465 m (down)
Stage 2: 49 km: Elevation gain 1200 m (up) / 2400 m (down)
Stage 3: 59 km; difference in altitude 1640 m (up) / 2405 m (down)
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
140 km
4210 m
6270 m
1009 above sea level
2563 above sea level
3 days
Göschenen
Göschenen
1407
well suited
More information
More tours nearby
User comments (7)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
Hello,
I rode this tour last weekend, great fun, amazing sceneries!
The single from Furkapass to Oberwald is ok fun but isn't a must do and climbing up the Nufenen pass is certainly no fun at all... therefore, this tour can easily be made in 2 days by skipping the Furka and taking the bus to the Nufenen pass. Thank you Ride team!
We rode the route from Sedrun to Sedrun in a slightly modified form. Definitely a very impressive tour on mostly remote trails, away from hotspots with a high proportion of singletrails and technical challenges with a high degree of navigability. Mountain biking in its "original form" :)
I would like to share the following up-to-date information:
The post bus from Andermatt to the Furka Pass has capacity for a maximum of 6 bikes. Instead of riding the post bus to the Furka Pass and then starting the downhill "cold", it is a good idea to pedal up the Furka Pass and then ride down to Valais "well warmed up" at lunchtime. Here you can take the post bus up the Nufenen Pass. You then have a longer lunch break in Ulrichen and can take the post bus at around 15:30 and arrive at the Griesshütte in time for dinner. It is practically identical in terms of altitude, but at least it made more sense for us.
The access road from the Lukmanierpass road to the Griessee dam is closed to all traffic due to steep slopes. Although the road is easily passable, it is closed. Alternatively, you can descend from the Nufenen Pass in the direction of Airolo and then have to push your bike up to the Griesshütte. However, the stay in this cool hut is well worth the effort.
You can save yourself the climb from Airolo to Piora and take the funicular from Piotta instead. However, this only transports bikes at 13:15, 14:15 and 15:15 - for reasons of space.
We rode the tour. It was great fun (really beautiful and challenging trails) except for the last section (day 2 descent to Airolo) which is described as follows:
An old, somewhat unkempt but wonderful to ride single trail now leads down via Cna Zora to Airolo....
The whole thing turned out to be completely exposed, completely overgrown with grass and therefore still very damp and barely recognizable at that time of day. With a few exceptions, we pushed everything (frustration without end).
For comparison: We rode 99.5% of all the other trails on the whole tour and these corresponded to the technical rating.
Tip: It's better to follow the wonderful left-hand bend with a berm at the junction and skip this hara-kiri trail...
The authors of the above lines probably followed exactly this line and didn't even realize their mistake....
We "stupidly" realized our "mistake" and returned to the original track
Finally, let's take a look at the whole thing again.
Great round in a gigantic landscape.
Many thanks for that
Tommy
Hello Thomas
How did you manage with the post bus times? Where did you start from?
Description and GPS track of the route between Cap. Corno Gries and Airolo have now been adapted.
The tour was super beautiful! Tough climbs including pushing. But flowing to technical descents. It was the complete package! Thank you Ride Riders :-)
Did you do it in one day? Can it be done as a round trip by bike or
Do you have to ride a bit by train?