[EsPeGe]

Hi all I'm Scott and new to MTBR. I've been riding on and off for the last 10 years but have recently revitalised my riding with a new bike. In 8 days I'm off to Italy for a family vacation but have managed to extricate myself for 2 days to head up to Dolomiti Paganella Bike Park.

home

I'm keen to know from anyone local or anyone who has visited so I can get some idea of what to expect, what the hire bikes are like (they look good on the website but you never know) and any general info about the place. I think I'm going to do a day of enduro type riding on the T2T trail,

T2T - Enduro Tour

starting at Andalo (where I am staying) then a day of down hilling in the Paganella Bike park itself. I am going to take my own basic tool set, backpack (with hydration) knees, elbows and gloves. I'll use their helmet as mine's too big to take along.

So any thoughts/tips/ideas are much appreciated.

Cheers Scott.

 

[EsPeGe]

So what's it like???

Hi all, I'm guessing through the lack of responses that no-one has been to Dolomiti Paganella bike park so I thought I would bang up a few pics to give people an idea of what it's like there. I was there for 2 days. After a few language issues and a bit of waiting around I managed to get a day of riding in the downhill park and a day of trail riding on the 400km of trails in the area. The Dolomites are an amazing place and very much worth the visit. I am certainly planning on going back at some point. Anyway I hope you enjoy the pics.

Lago Di Molveno

Some of the super fun technical trails

Lago Di Molveno from the cable car up from Molveno

Some of the gnarly downhill trail features at the bike park

The bottom of the downhill park

 

[let's mtb]

Nice! We've just returned from two and a half weeks in the Pustertal Valley (border of Austrian Alps and Italian Dolomites) - mega riding, but I really need to learn to speak German.....although we got by OK. The trails on the Kronplatz Freeride area look similar to those in your photos - I was the only idiot doing DH on a 29er trail bike...hee hee.

 

[bsrhoad]

Epic trip

Just spent a long weekend in the Paganella area. We stayed at Molveno, close to the lift in the Panorama hotel (great hotel, clean, good breakfast, very friendly staff, and has bike storage).

The first day we rode part of the bear trails, a 60 km network of trails in the area, which offer 4000 metes of descent for only 1000 meters of climbing via lifts and gondolas. These are high alpine trails, very technical with roots and rocks, and will really test your endurance. We only managed maybe half of the recommended tour. Great fun!

The second day, we spent a few hours in the Paganella bike park. The park is ok, but we soon became bored, and the alpine singletracks were calling our name. So off we went to spend the rest of the day riding more of the bear trails.

The third day we got out of the saddle and did a mountaineering tour into the Dolomites, completing 47km of hiking and climbing with 1800 meters of elevation gain. 11 km of the tour was a via ferrata, with over 300 meters of climbing via ladders and cables. It took us 13 hours and really tested us, especially after already spending 2 long days riding some of the most technical single track I have ever experienced.

Overall, it was an epic trip. The scenery is unbeatable, the people were very friendly and helpful, the food was great, the lift tickets are cheap, and I will never forget the riding or the hiking.

 

[EsPeGe]

Dude nice pics. I wish I'd had more time there to do more riding and hiking. Such an awesome place and like you say friendly people.

 

[bsrhoad]

Dude nice pics. I wish I'd had more time there to do more riding and hiking. Such an awesome place and like you say friendly people.

Thanks, yours too!

One could easily spend a week in the area biking and hiking. I plan on going back with my wife soon to hike and some less extreme Mt. Biking that match her skill level.

 

[kosmo]

Thanks, yours too!

One could easily spend a week in the area biking and hiking. I plan on going back with my wife soon to hike and some less extreme Mt. Biking that match her skill level.

I'm late to the party, but could you comment on whether or not the language was significant?

American English is all I've got (other than leftover high school German, which has 40 years of rust on it).