As you can see by the title of this blog, this story is about my biking adventure through the German, Austrian, Swiss and French Alps.

Before I get started, there are a few preliminary things I need to explain.

While I may enjoy many different types of sports, biking is absolutely not my forte. Due to some childhood traumas brought about by my inability to ride a bike between 2 obstacles successfully, I guess I gravitated to other sports. Biking, however, is a major passion of Alvi’s. He rode single track trails in Canada, he rode long distances at our old cottage, and now here, he has developed a series of mountain biking trails and competitions for himself, and our guests. All of this has resulted in our Killer Mountain Challenge, which I helped to organize last year. And I have to say, those riders inspired me. And so, Alvi and my buddy Diego agreed to train me for this year’s Killer Mountain Challenge. Despite my propensity for crashing into things, all in all, I think I did ok. What’s a few cacti scratches, bruises and flat tires……Having said that, I am an absolute newcomer to this sport.

As I was a little swamped with work, Alvi planned this trip for us (car rentals, hotels, Via Michelin route guides etc), and coordinated when and where we would meet up with friends. My only input in the planning was off-handedly suggesting that perhaps we could bike in Chamonix, France. Emailing with Markus Hammer, it was decided that we would ride a few days in Riederalp, Switzerland, a mountain that is the home of the Aletschi glacier, a UNESCO World Heritage site. And, working with another friend, Al planned several biking days in Morzine, which is one valley over from Chamonix. We already knew that Thomas and Karin would guide us through the German and Austrian Alps. Before booking everything, Alvi quickly showed me some photos like this… …and this…

…and this…

And so, being a newcomer to this sport, I did not know that there are many many many different types of bikes and biking.

There is regular biking as a mode of transportation, where the bike looks like this:

 

I don’t know if there is any specific type of training for this type of biking, other than repetition, but as a newcomer to this sport, I could be wrong.Then, there is mountain biking, and the bike looks like this:

 

….and mountain bikers ride a variety of terrain including something like this:

Of course, there is road biking, with the bike looking like this…

Among others, this type of bike is ridden by the athletes at the top of their sport in a little competition called the Tour de France.

Interestingly, there is also something called a downhill bike, which looks like this….

…with the crazy practitioners of this sport riding terrain like this…..

….and this…..

For the antique collector, there are bikes like this…..

For the minimalist, check out this bike!

 

For the person who has it all, this Swarovsky crystal encrusted bike may just be perfect.

And of course, the dream bike of every little girl in my neighbourhood – some 40 years ago…. :0)

…riding on a single track in the forest. Nice.

To traverse this waterfall, we had to carry our bikes. The scenery was breathtaking....

…with the river snaking between steep rocky canyon walls.

 

While our German friends order big steins of beer and Sprite, Alvi starts his lovely tradition of ordering strudel.

After a high-speed downhill on a gravel road, we pack up the car, head home for a quick shower, and catch the sunset on Chiemsee, at our favourite bar.

Here’s Al and Karin, and Thomas and I.

From there we headed to a Bavarian beer garden for dinner, where I had schnitzel…..yummy!

Team Thomas! Total time spent in the saddle: 6 hours.

And awoke early the next morning to drive to another town, to ride across the German Alps into Austria. Here we are at the summit, preparing for our looooooonnnnnnggggg and fast downhill.

Salzburg at night.

Alvi …. at night….. :0)

Day 3: We climbed into our car, and began our journey through Germany, Austria, a bit of Lichtenstein, and didn’t even know we were in Switzerland until we saw a pharmacy flying a Swiss flag. Trying to follow those Via Michelin directions was maddening…..! But most importantly of all, we were losing time. We had a long and treacherous drive ahead of us through the Swiss Alps, most importantly through the Furka Pass, and we really wanted to drive through there during daylight hours. 

The drive looked something like this…… (pardon me for my spectacularly bad photos….but I hope you get the idea..)

This drive has everything from tunnels blasted through the Alps…..

…to several dozen bridges crossing the valley chasm below…..

….to switch-back roads that seem to turn back on eachother…

 

…all at dizzying elevations, as we near the Furka Pass...

Check out how the GPS shows this stretch of road…….!

All was going well, until we hit a trafffic jam. Turns out, a local goat/cow herder was the cause of the problem. It was impossible for him to herd his flock up the steep mountain side. His only option was to herd them on the road….thus blocking traffic. And so, we were delayed by an additional two hours…..and it was already twilight.

Finally, the shepherd steers his flock off the road, up to his farm, at the top of the mountain and the traffic jam eases. And yet, up, up and up we go!

And finally we reach the entrance to the Furka Pass! Yes, that is snow…… We pass a sign that advises us that we are now entering the Furka Pass, and it is covered in stickers left by previous travellers. Stickers that read, `I survived the Furka Pass`. What?

Alvi, who frankly seems to be immensely enjoying himself, asks me, `So now what? What`s the deal with this Furka Pass?` Well, I say, `it seems to narrow…to one lane….but only for a short time….

Our conversation stopped until we exited the Furka Pass…

We drove another 50 kms in the same conditions – steep steep steep, but downhill – until we hit the valley floor and made it to our village at the foothills of the Rierderalp.

We pull in to our hotel, and while we are checking in, the concierge says, `There is a Mr. Hammer waiting for you in the restaurant.` Right. We dropped our bags in the room, and ran to the restaurant to meet with Markus Hammer – our pal – for dinner.

Markus rode his Ducati from Zurich to ride the Riederalp with us..

Look at these two! It is always great to be reunited with good friends! After a delicious dinner, the two boys enjoyed great conversation, aged cognac, and fine cigars well into the night. I went to bed…..feeling that tomorrow could be a great day for me – biking the mighty Reideralp. Total time in the car: 10.5 hours.

The day dawned beautifully sunny and warm. After breakfast, we geared up and headed out. After a cable car ride up to the mid-station, we arrived at a little, picturesque village with views like this…

The Riederalp is just one of several mountain peaks that make up this area known as the Valais Alps. Other such peaks of note are the Matterhorn and the Dom. Rising some 4000 meters from the valley floor, the vistas and views at the mid-stations and summits are breathtaking. This area has been deemed a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, and is home to the majestic 23 kilometer long Aletsch glacier, which is comprised of 27 billion metric tonnes of ice, and is reported to be melting/moving a 1/4 inch each year.

Today’s goal is to ride/climb up to the glacier..

After taking some more photos…

… and packing water and snacks…

…the boys give me some final words of encouragement. And then I sent them on their way. If I was going to figure out the uphill, I was going to do it alone – no sense in holding up the group..

Markus told me that this climb is 600 meters, which should take me about an hour. And off I go…

With Thomas’ training sounding in my head, I finally learn to disengage my leg muscles, apply pressure to the pedals, and moderate my breathing as I slowly start to climb…..and I am elated!!!!!!!!!

What a feeling! The sun is shining, the views are unbelievable, I am not cramping, and yet I am climbing up and up and up. To be fair, my pace is slow, more of a chugging kind of pace really…..but I am chugging uphill and all is well in my world :0)

Before I know it, I chug up to the boys. Alvi, looking a little surprised asks me how I’m doing. Great, I say. Did you figure it out, he asks? I surely did, I reply. How do you feel, he asks? Like I could do this for hours, I grin. Famous last words……

We consult the map to figure out our route. Hammer suggests that we take a small trail through the forest which will take us into the next valley. From there we have another climb up to the mid-station at Fiescheralp, where we’ll break for lunch. And off we go.

And we run into issues right at the trailhead.

Cows are blocking our trail…

As Alvi negotiates the right of way with the cows, Hammer and I take a breather. The cows were cute and all, but the important thing to note in the photo below is the trail itself. I do believe, that this photo depicts the trail at its widest. Once we entered the forest, the trail narrowed to a solid 9 maybe 10 inches.

The mountain rising up was so steep, that my left shoulder often brushed the moss and lichens that covered the rocks. And the drop off to my right was so steep, that several times I froze, closed my eyes, took some deep breaths before carrying on. It was not possible to ride this trail with a bike….at least not for me given that I am a newcomer to this sport……and what with my crashing issues and all…..

So, there I am, merrily walking along this ‘trail’, minding my own business, when a slight misstep sends me sliding down the gully in the photo below…..with the weight of my bike pulling me down. My slide was halted by one of those bushes, however my leg landed in a pile of cow poo…..

What the @#$%? I wasn’t even riding…..I was walking……Thank goodness there was no one around to witness this. I pick myself up, and start climbing back up to the ‘trail’. Al must have heard my cursing and muttering, as he doubled back to check on me. Are you ok, he asks? Yeah, I mutter. I just slipped. You what? he says.

I bloody well slipped off this trail and landed in that bush down there with the cow poo, I say…

I hear Markus call back to Al – Hey! Where are you guys? Al calls back, “Nora just fell off the Riederalp. Don’t worry, we’re coming!”

“What? Nora fell off the Riederalp???!?!?! And I hear Markus’ laughter rebounding off of the mountain walls…… Lovely…

Jokesters…….

The ‘trail’ wound its way through the forest for a few more minutes, and in the distance I could see a clearing. But a large obstacle was sort of impeding my view of a spectacular waterfall. This large obstacle was in fact, a huge piece of rock jutting out from the mountain, and it was cantilevered over the trail. There was a piece of rope attached to said rock for holding onto. And what appeared to be a series of rotting logs, created a ledge that connected to the trail on the other side of the rock.

 

Oh oh, I think to myself, as my knees start to tremble. ‘Um, Alvi? A little help here!’, I call out. Alvi doubles back and looking a little pale himself, he thankfully takes my bike. After a few breaths, I grab hold of this old rope and start across the rotting logs. This time, there is no gully below, no bush with cow poo, just…..air….

Here’s Alvi after helping me. 

After passing the rock, I can now see the waterfall….and it is spectacular! And in the next moment I realize that the trail intersects the waterfall, and the only way forward is by crossing the damn waterfall….

Exiting the forest….

….and crossing the waterfall….

….and getting a soaker…

 …while the waterfall cascades merrily 2000 meters down to the valley floor below.

After another 20 minutes or so of trekking, we exit the forest trail and prepare for another 500 meter climb to Fiescheralp..

 

And then we come upon this…