Plaine Morte Bike
Description
The route starts at the gondola’s upper station, where you’ll need to push your bike a short distance to the large, white weather station at the summit of Plaine Morte. The view from here is spectacular, stretching across the entire Valais Alps to the south and over the Plaine Morte Glacier to the north. The descent starts in a high-alpine, gravelly terrain but is easily rideable. You’ll reach the saddle where the original route would continue on to the Wildstrubelhütte. In this version, you turn left and ride through the gravelly terrain to Weisshornsee. This section of the trail is rated S3 with regular, short S4 sections. It later leads through a rock face—a spectacular but rideable stretch. The trail is just over one meter wide at this point, but you can’t afford to fall here.
After the rock section, you’ll push your mountain bike uphill for about 100 meters of elevation gain to the Col de l’Arpochey. Even e-mountain bikers will be pushed to their limits on this fairly steep and gravelly path. Beyond the pass, the descent to Violettes is smooth, fast, and varied, where the second part of the mountain bike tour begins. This starts with a 500-meter climb on a gravel road that gets quite steep at times, leading up to the lift stations at Petit Mont Bonvin, which are not in operation during the summer. Just past the lifts, a rideable trail begins through a spectacular gravel landscape. The trail ends at the Tièche Waterfalls.
Now comes a somewhat arduous stretch—unless you’re riding an e-mountain bike. The trail across to the southern slopes of the Varneralp features repeated uphill sections that disrupt the flow of the ride. Eventually, you reach a gravel road and roll downhill along it. This section is well worth it, however, thanks to the fast and fun S2-rated trails that follow. At one point, stay on the trail, while the official route goes around it on a gravel road. After Cordona, the route first follows some beautiful trails, but then continues for a long stretch on paved roads down to Sierre. But there’s a better way: After Cordona, ride a short stretch along the Bisse de Varen and then head down the Super Trail toward the vineyards. Finally, you’ll race entirely on trails through the Raspille Gorge all the way to the first houses of Sierre. From there, it’s not far back to downtown Sierre. The easiest way is to follow the main road.
Map & GPX-Track
The map is only available to Ride subscribers.
The Ride-Subscription is available at ride-mtb.com/abo
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Details of the tour
32 km
560 m
2900 m
541 above sea level
2892 above sea level
1 day
Crans-Montana
Sierre
3747
well suited
More information
No bike schools are registered for this region. Registration as a partner takes place here.
Video
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User comments (1)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
I've ridden the original route time and time again, making adjustments and experimenting along the way. The new route takes you through a completely different type of terrain and can't be compared to the original. The scenery is certainly spectacular, but it just doesn't have the same scale as the original.