Pal Piccolo (Kleiner Pal)

Pal Piccolo

The area around the Plöcken Pass has been shaped by the events of World War I as well as by historical periods over the past 100 years. This has resulted in a unique network of trails that today offers alpine, technical, and scenic mountain bike descents.

Description

The tour to the Kleiner Pal begins in Laghetti di Timau. From here, the route follows the classic route up the World War II military ramp—entirely on asphalt and winding through numerous hairpin turns—to the Plöcken Pass. A rockfall in 2024 damaged part of the road, but it has since been repaired. Once you reach the Plöcken Pass, surrounded by countless abandoned sites from World War I and World War II, you’ll push and carry your bike along the Alpini Trail from World War I, past several bunker complexes, steadily climbing upward. It should be noted that the rockfall described earlier is still manageable in this area, though part of the ascent has been secured with ropes. Since rockfalls and erosion continue to occur, you should check in advance whether and to what extent the trail has reopened. In the upper section, the trail winds gently along the slopes and leads almost all the way up to the Kleiner Pal. The final sections are marked by trenches, making it impossible to pass through on a mountain bike; however, the open-air museum can be explored on foot. The view stretches from the Pre-Alps to the main Alpine ridge in Austria.

Then the descent begins. On a mix of S2 and S3 trails, you wind steadily downhill along an old military road from World War I, past the casemates and the Pal Piccolo chapel. In the lower section, the trail becomes easier and eventually leads to the old Roman road, which takes you directly back to the starting point. All in all, an impressive tour with a dark past that, just like the ascent, requires alpine experience and sure-footedness, as a rockslide has destroyed part of the trail.

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