Petzen

The Petzen (Pece) is located directly on the Austrian-Slovenian border and offers a magnificent mountain panorama with a sometimes challenging and very long trail descent towards Mežica.

Description

The starting point of the tour is Feistritz ob Bleiburg in Carinthia. From here, it's a relaxed ride on asphalt and then on gravel up to the mountain station of the Petzenbahn, the bike park. If you want to skip this section, you can use the gondola as a shuttle when the lift is open, saving you 1025 meters in altitude. The route then continues for a few more meters on foot, albeit relatively steeply, past the Siebenhüttenlift to the mountain station and then only on foot to the Kniepssattel (2012 metres above sea level). From the Kniepssattel, some sections are again pedal-packed in cross-country style with uphill and downhill passages and then the final ascent to the summit of the Petzen (Pece) at 2126 meters above sea level. This is the highest point of the tour. At the Austrian-Slovenian border, you have a magnificent view of the Karawanken mountains, the Julian Alps and, on a clear day, almost as far as the Adriatic Sea.

The descent begins with an interesting single trail, which, with a difficulty of S3 to S4 up to the Planinski dom na Peci mountain hut, also challenges technically minded riders. In some sections, however, the bike has to be taken in hand, as the sections are massive and the stones are greasy. From the hut, pure flow begins. With difficulty levels ranging from S1 to S2, the route descends the entire mountain ridge to the small hamlet before briefly hitting asphalt, taking a transfer and then the descent to Mežica. It should be noted that heavy storms in August 2023 meant that the paths had to be repaired in sections and were quite washed out in places. Once you arrive in Mežica, there is a transfer on asphalt back to the starting point.

Note: The route is located on Austrian territory and leads over routes that are not approved for mountain bikers. Riding this route on a mountain bike is the responsibility of each individual, in full awareness of the legal situation.

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