Niwen – Gampel
Description
The starting point of the tour is Lauchernalp, which can be reached by cable car from Wiler in the Lötschental. Right at the mountain station, the trail climbs steeply uphill, which is well developed but a tough way to start a tour. After Stafel, the whole thing calms down. The path climbs unabated, but at a more pleasant gradient, and later becomes a first-class traverse to Kummenalp. A section of gravel road up to Restialp is the order of the day until the route turns into the next trail, which rides up and down to Faldumalp. This is where the actual ascent up to Niwen begins, initially in many serpentine bends on a gravel road to the avalanche barriers and the countless hand-built protective walls. Finally, the gravel road ends and the bike has to be pushed up to the ridge. Follow this ridge to the summit of Niwen, where you can leave your bike at the first pre-summit (2585 meters above sea level). The ascent to the summit by bike is not attractive because some of the passages are too alpine and require good surefootedness. However, the ascent to the summit on foot is worthwhile because of the first-class views from the Valais glacier peaks down to Sion. The descent from the pre-summit initially rides along the ascent route and is very demanding in the first part. Instead of following the ascent route to the right, stay on the ridge and ride directly down to Faldumalp. Now you climb a little on the gravel road to the upper Meiggu-Alp, the starting point of the famous world-class descent to Jeizinen. Instead, you always follow the trail, which eventually leads you gently downhill through the steep terrain to Jeizinen. The final section is at the mountain village with the famous cable car, where there are several trail options. On our variant, you follow the road for a short stretch and turn left at the first houses in Engersch onto the trail down to Bratsch. Here you turn left again and take the fun, sometimes technical trail through the southern flanks of the Jeizibärg down to Gampel. Conclusion: probably one of the best singletrail descents in Upper Valais.
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
1290 m
2640 m
628 above sea level
2719 above sea level
1 day
Wiler (Lötschen)
Gampel
1900
not suitable
More information
No bike shops are registered for this region. Registration as a partner takes place here.
More tours nearby
User comments (3)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
A truly fantastic tour 😊 and everything as described.
The first part of the trail to Jeizinen is badly rutted and washed out and hasn't had any trail maintenance for a long time. Pure Holtertipolter, but rideable.
Did the tour twice last year in 2022. Very scenic tour. We didn't ride all the way to the summit each time, but instead tackled the descent from the pre-summit. The loop is definitely worth it, even if you have to tackle the ascent on the gravel road twice. I'm already looking forward to 2023.
This tour is a wonderful MTB adventure! I was there on 25.08.2021.
The start is steep but still beautiful.
The trail to Faldumalp is in a class of its own.
Here you have to ride the gravel road to the ascent to Niwen again after the descent, the road is relatively steep.
The ascent to Niwen is very beautiful. Full-blooded professionals could probably take the bike here, but you mustn't fall. On the Niwen you have a great panoramic view (I had a few clouds).
I found the descent over the Niwengrat very challenging and had to walk in places, but that wasn't so bad, it's part of the adventure.
The descent to Jeizinen is then once again a special experience and great fun. The rest of the descent to Gampel has a few more technical challenges.
You can't get lost on the route, especially as there are official MTB routes in places. As the routes are shared with hikers, you just have to be considerate here.
I can recommend the tour to anyone who enjoys adventures and is not put off by the fact that you have to walk in parts. The riding fun is definitely not neglected here :-)