Prättigauer Höhenweg

The Prättigauer Höhenweg is one of the most beautiful routes in the Prättigau and is strongly reminiscent of the Dolomites. In this original version, the route rides along the entire Rätikon.

Description

After the Postbus ride to St. Antönien, the adventure begins with the asphalt ascent up to the Bergli - the striking hut near the avalanche barriers, which attracts attention from far below. There are 700 vertical meters to conquer here.

The road ends at the hut and the route turns into a single trail. The route continues uphill to the picturesque mountain lake. The trail is well developed and, with a bit of muscle power, quite rideable. After the lake, you roll along a wonderful high-level trail, always along the mountain flank, to the Garschina hut. The imposing building at the foot of the Sulzfluh is visible from afar and magically attracts the eye.

Just below the Garschina hut, the Prättigauer Höhenweg begins - a super trail directly below the striking rock towers. Here you feel like you've been transported to the Dolomites! The S2 trail with regular S3 sections rides to just below the Schweizertor. The official mountain bike route branches off to the left here. But after the first few meters of trail, this would mean rolling almost entirely on gravel roads back into the main valley. No thanks!

Instead, we tackle the ascent to Golrosa. Depending on the weather, this route shows a different side. After an initial stretch of sliding, the path can be ridden reasonably well in dry conditions and without damage from the alpine cattle. However, cattle and cows often damage the path, especially in summer, making it very difficult to ride. From the foot of the ascent at Schweizertor to Golrosa is a 200-metre climb - the somewhat strenuous part of the Prättigauer Höhenweg.

After Golrosa, things become smoother again. Now the Schesaplana forms the rocky backdrop. The trail is often really fun until some tricky sections take the flow away again. It wouldn't actually take much effort to make the trail considerably more fluid. The wild landscape is magnificent! This is how you reach the Schesaplana hut and thus the start of the long final descent to Grüsch.

The first phase of the descent leads along a trail that is easy to ride and becomes much more challenging after crossing a gravel road. In S3 mode with individual S4 sections, you wind through the forest and finally reach the wide gravel road far below, which leads down to Seewis. This somewhat monotonous section is unavoidable, as there are no trail options as far as Seewis. But the final section is once again really fast and fun! The speedy S1 trail down to Grüsch is a worthy crowning glory and once again delivers the finest alpine trail feeling at the foot of the Grüsch castle ruins.

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