Valais Alpine Bike 4. Grächen–Brig
Grächen
-5/3°
This stage of the Valais Alpine Bike takes you along the tracks of the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships and brings you to the enchanting Gibidumpass and its namesake lake.
Difficulty
IntermediateLength
50.88 kmDuration
5:00 h
Description
On this stage of the Valais Alpine Bike, leave the village of Grächen on a field road heading towards Gasenried. The first highlight is a wonderful descent towards Mattsand on the Mattsand Enduro route. To reach Stalden further down the valley, follow the Matterhorn Valley Trail along the historic path lined with dry stone walls, listed in the Inventory of Historic Routes of Switzerland IVS. In Stalden, the cable car takes you to Gspon in a few minutes. From the mountain station, the beautiful path of the Gspon Panorama Bike leads through the Sädelwald and with some effort to the Gibidumpass with an idyllic lake. The alpine surroundings of this high plateau invite you to a long break with views of the Valais Alps. From here, you enter the wild Nanztal valley. A steep but smooth descent takes you to Alp Nidristi before an easy and excellent-quality route leads you to Brig, the destination of this stage.
Our favorites
Our favorite itineraries are part of a selection of the best routes in the region and are proposed by Valais/Wallis Promotion to best meet the expectations of our guests.
Turn-by-turn directions
From Grächen, take the Mattsand Enduro route, which after a short climb to Gasenried provides pure adrenaline down to the village of Mattsand. Then continue down the valley to Stalden on the Matterhorn Valley Trail. From there, take the cable car to Gspon. The Gspon Panorama Bike route starts at the mountain station, goes through the Sädelwald nature forest reserve, and follows a physically demanding high-altitude trail to the Gibidumpass. From Gibidumpass, a wide and steep but smooth gravel road leads into the Nanztal valley and along the Alp Nidristi to Schratt. From there, continue towards Brig on a top-quality trail that, after a technical first section, is ideal and fast to ride.
Start
Grächen (1613m)
Destination
Brig (672m)
Author's recommendation
Cool down after the challenging altitude gain from Gspon in the mountain lake on Gibidumpass amid the uniquely beautiful mountain scenery.
Technical information
Altitude
2201m
672m
Ascent
+644m
Descent
-2900m
Stamina
Experience
Landscape
Best time of the year
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Tags
Public transport
You can reach Visp by train (SBB), from there take the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn to St. Niklaus. Then continue by post bus to Grächen. Remember to reserve a space for your mountain bike via the SBB Mobile app or on sbb.ch.
Approach
From Basel and Zurich: Motorway A1 to Bern; A6 to Spiez; direction Kandersteg; car shuttle Kandersteg-Goppenstein; direction Visp; St. Niklaus; Grächen.
From Geneva: Motorway A1 to Lausanne; direction Sion/Sierre; Visp; St. Niklaus; Grächen.
From Milan: Motorway A8/A26 towards Simplon; car shuttle Iselle-Brig; direction Visp; St. Niklaus; Grächen.
Parking
Follow the local parking guidance system in Visp, St. Niklaus, or Grächen. For this stage of the Valais Alpine Bike Tour, we recommend parking your vehicle in Brig or Visp and taking public transport (SBB/MGB/Postbus) to the starting point in Grächen. Don’t forget to reserve a place for your mountain bike on the St. Niklaus-Grächen route on the Resabike platform.
Source
This activity is brought to you by Valais/Wallis Promotion
