Along with my Canyon Spectral:On CF9 eMTB I’ve also got a Canyon Neuron AL6 which is non assisted. It’s a great bike to take advantage of the public transport network we’ve got and the all-year MagicPass. As a 29er trail bike it’s great on the sort of single track we have here plus it’s lighter and more agile in some situations and is fun to ride.
One trip that caught my eye was the Mattsand Enduro from Grächen to St Niklaus. Using a SBB Saver Day Pass I took a train from Leysin, joined the main line and then the Visp-Zermatt line switching at St Niklaus to the PostBus where I’d pre-booked my bike (resabike), The day pass is great value with travel all through Switzerland. There’s a 14 CHF cost to add your bike and you should have access to racks. That doesn’t always work out particularly on a route like Visp-Zermatt as the tourists apparently don’t notice that carriages have a 1m high picture of a bike on some doors, labelled bike racks, nearby seats with pictures of bikes on and above the seats. They tend to place their luggage in the bike racks and then try and sit nearby and seem often to regard the bikes as an inconvenience for them.
The Mattsand Enduro is classed as difficult on the SwitzerlandMobility maps. They describe that as:
Difficult – The route is suitable for advanced mountain biking experts with plenty of experience and good riding technique. It includes technically challenging sections on loose surfaces, with tight turns or hairpin bends, steep ramps, high steps or partially blocked terrain. Obstacles and long bike pushing/carrying passages are possible. Dangerous spots, exposed sections and mountain-specific hazards are frequent. This level corresponds to the S2 rating on the Single Trail Scale, or S3 in exceptional cases.
I’m not really sure how useful that is as the single track scale actually goes up to S5 but difficult is the highest level used by SwitzerlandMobility. I think that means that difficult varies from fairly reasonable to pretty extreme. So the SwitzerlandMobility grading is overloaded a bit. It’s noticeable on other trails as well in the medium classification. In this case, I’d say it’s about S3 which is described as this:
S3 – Blocked single trails with many larger boulders and / or root passages belong to category S3. There are often higher steps, hairpin turns and tricky traverses. The chance for some relaxed rolling is rare. Often the surface is very slippery and with loose scree. A gradient of over 70% is not unusual. Passages with an S3 grade don’t yet require special downhill technique, but do need very good command of biking and unbroken concentration. Exacting breaking and a very good sense of balance is required.
All of that means you don’t quite know what to expect! The SwitzerlandMobility site has a lot of photos which can give a sense of the route but, like my photos, they’re generally taken in the easier passages. The best view comes from looking at the map and being able to read the contours 🙂
The route has some sensational singletrack with a few fast rolling sections, some hair-raising exposure and tangled roots. Or, classic Valais riding in other words!
From St Niklaus I joined the Zermatt-Visp trail as far as Stalden and was lucky to arrive a few minutes before the cable car up to Gspon. There was an open restaurant in Gspon for lunch before starting the Gspon Panorama route. The Gspon trail is superb and I’ve done it a couple of times on an eMTB. Without that assistance the climb to Gibidumpass feels long and hard on a hot afternoon so I was glad to reach the highpoint and launch into the 17km enduro descent to Brig. The descent is fast and loose following the steep valley through open slopes and twisting forest tracks. The lower section is pretty high speed pushing suspension hard through rocks and tree roots.
Brig is an old city with beautiful squares and shaded courtyards so it’s a great place to have a beer before getting a train home.
The trails are well described on SwitzerlandMobility and you can find them here:
- 544 – Mattsand Enduro – Grächen – Mattsand – St. Niklaus
- 150 – Visp-Zermatt Bike, in part from St. Niklaus to Stalden
- 549 – Gspon Panorama Bike – Gspon – Gibidum – Brig
SBB sell saver day passes on their site which are a lot cheaper if you have a half price card. With a pass you then get 50% reduction on the Gspon cable car as well.
