Mäderlicke
Description
From the Simplon Pass—which you’ve reached by taking the PostBus from Brig—the route heads directly uphill into a section where you have to push your bike. Pushing your mountain bike along a suone, you head toward the Chaltwasser Glacier. Eventually, the trail becomes steeper, and from there on, you’ll mostly have to carry your mountain bike on your shoulders. The trail is easily manageable on foot. This takes you to the Kaltwasserlicke. This is the first highlight of the tour, offering views of Lake Chaltwasser, the Chaltwasser Glacier, and Monte Leone above. The Monte Leone Hut, which serves food and drinks, is also clearly visible. After a refreshment break, the final few meters lead to the Mäderlicke, the tour’s culmination.
This is where the exceptionally long and equally exceptionally beautiful descent down to Brig begins. The first few meters are still rough, but then the trail becomes increasingly smooth and twisty. At the Rothwald ski lift’s upper station, you reach the tree line, and the alpine trail turns into a fast path on velvety-soft forest floor. But that’s just the beginning. After the Ganterwald Restaurant, an exceptionally long, smooth, and nearly perfectly laid-out singletrack—the Ganter Valley Trail—leads down to the Ganter Bridge. The trail extravaganza continues immediately on the other side of the valley with the Ganter High Trail. Only a short, steep climb to Schallberg slightly dampens the riding fun; after that, the legendary Stockalperweg takes you down to Brig. From the glacial region at the very top, you now enter an almost Mediterranean climate zone. The grand finale of this trail extravaganza is the trail from Brig down to Saltina, from where you finally roll leisurely into the center of Brig.
Map & GPX-Track
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Details of the tour
25 km
960 m
2295 m
677 above sea level
2879 above sea level
1 day
Brig
Brig
1910
not suitable
More information
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User comments (18)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
We rode this tour during the Ride Camp in Valais (September 2, 2026). My opinion: it remains one of the best tours in the Valais. From the glacier all the way to the Piazza in Brig, and almost entirely on singletrack. The climb is strenuous because of the section where you have to carry your bike, but it’s definitely doable.
With my 17-kilogram freeride bike plus backpack, the 900-meter climb is already exhausting. About 50% carrying, 50% pushing.
But the downhill was a blast. It started with a steeper, loose gravel singletrack through a scree field with tight switchbacks for about 400 meters of descent (S4). After that, it was mostly much easier (S2/S3). I’d love to do it again.
The tour was simply fantastic from A to Z! Although we had to carry the bikes up most of the 900 meters in altitude, the descent more than made up for it. As a special highlight, we even got to see ibexes.
The route was technically challenging, but still easy to ride for the most part. The longer the tour lasted, the more flowy it became - and the finish via the Stockalperweg was simply brilliant.
High alpine tour.
2 - 2.5h carrying / pushing the bike up. Enjoy the beautiful panorama as well as the spaghetti in the SAC hut. Then up again to Mäderlicka [2887]. The first 300 - 400 tm are to be completed by pushing for the mostly bikers with short rideable passages. The fun starts at 2300 m above sea level. Super trail. The Gantner Höhenweg is also fun.
Everyone has to decide for themselves whether the long ascent on foot is worthwhile.
A Giger tour. Thank you.
A brilliant tour in impressive surroundings. The way up is very doable on foot and the descent is absolutely awesome. Technical, flowy, playful... A bit of everything from time to time.
Tour today, great! However, in my opinion clearly 4 and not three points. It's not just the ascent and the first 100m down that are challenging, it remains technically quite demanding until Rothwald, and even below that it's not trivial until the "flow trail" really begins. The Ganter-Thalweg and the first part of the Stockalperweg are easy, but at times do not forgive lack of concentration...
All in all, a great tour, but not to be underestimated due to the 3 points in the ride database...
At the very end, don't go down under the Napoleon Bridge (Helsana Trail) but go straight on, slightly uphill onto the road and back to Brig, missing only 50m of trail. The self-built bike barrier can also be overcome if the front wheel is removed! It went well with my 29er Enduro. The trail is otherwise really great, so it doesn't really hurt.
Did the tour on 26.08.21. The ascent is hard, only a few meters can be ridden. The start of the descent is difficult, but after a few meters rideable/technically very high. From the Alp everything is rideable, long descent. A great tour for me.
We did the tour today. The descent is long and strenuous. The upper part after the Mäderlicke is steep with lots of loose gravel. I would probably rate the difficulty one point higher. At the entrance to Brig, on the path below the Napoleon Bridge, there is an insurmountable bike barrier. We had to turn back there and climb up onto the road before the bridge.
We rode the tour yesterday on 18.07.2021. I would still advise against it. On the way up there is still snow on both sides of the lake before the Monte Leone hut. After the Mäderlicke there is still a very large snow field that you can't go around. So the first 100 Elevation losses are no fun.
Wonderful tour where you can watch the hikers dragging their bikes. The ascent is beautiful despite the effort. You can stop for refreshments at the hut. The descent starts at the Mäderlicke, the first few meters were buried for me. After that, apart from a few blocked sections, everything was rideable for me.
Wonderful tour, the right mix of technical passages and flow trails! The ascent is tough with lots of carrying sections. But that's a good thing - the e-mountain bikers are sifted out :-)
Tour done on 03.09.20. Great tour. Fantastic views, challenging descent. Not for e-bikes! Carrying passage but certainly 2/3 of the route from the Simplon Pass to the hut. Wear good gloves for the first part of the descent. Almost froze my fingers though :-).
Checked 2020.
I was probably the first one on the Maderlicke with the bike yesterday this year
The tour rides through the target slope of an artillery firing range. Be sure to consult the firing notices.
https://map.geo.admin.ch/?ch.vbs.schiessanzeigen=1204.100&time=None&lan…
I rode the tour on September 19, 2019.
I started the tour in Simplon-Dorf. So I had a run-in on the Stockalperweg (in my opinion, this is also the only section of the Stockalper that can also be ridden uphill). From the top of the pass, I continued on foot as expected. I was on the road for about 2 hours, about 50% pushing and 50% carrying. The nature and the view of the Chaltwasser Glacier and the wild landscape are breathtaking. At the Monte Leone hut I had a well-deserved coke. After the short ascent to Licka, it was time for the long descent. The start was still rough with loose rock, then flowing, with a bit of blocking again at Bodme. From the ski lift to Rothwald it was quite technical but easy to ride, then world-class trail to Schallbett. From there you are back on the well-known Stockalper.
Conclusion: If you don't shy away from the carrying passage, you will experience a sensational tour.
I ride a Scott Spark 900RC and am usually in the head group uphill; downhill I'm always the last, by a long way.
I wanted to do this tour a year ago. Then the area was closed because our army was doing target practice!
From Märderlicka to Burst, lots of loose scree and a bit rocky in places, but all rideable. Would classify it as more difficult there (S4). The rest of the trail was very flowy and a lot of fun