The Badia Trail Tour 1 locates in Alta Badia in the Dolomites. It is the first part of the Badia Trail Tour which consist total of three parts. The tour is quite long if you ride all four parts together. If you don’t like long tours parts are long enough to be ridden individually. The first part is the longest part of the Badia Trail Tour. I will cover other two parts in coming reviews.
The trail’s highest point reaches 2.295m which is the point from where the trail starts. In the Dolomites it means that the trail is not ridable throughout the year. The season begins in May and ends in September. Of course this may vary depends how snow comes and goes. Although very seldom you will ride this trail without snow earlier than May because some sections are running in the forest and it takes time before they are snow free.
The trail starts from Dantercepies and ends to the Santa Croce cable car station in Badia. You have three options to reach Dantercepies. One is to take a lift from Wolkenstein to Dantercepies. The second option is to leave your car to the parking place at Passo Gardena and take a lift to Dantercepies. The third option is to take a lift from Colfosco to Dantercepies (lifts Plans and Frara).
The trail is divided in four stages. Stages can be divided in two main categories. The first and third stages are pure single trails. The second and fourth stages are pure transition trails.
The first stage till 5 km is running mainly on the single trail and only short distance on the maintenance road. The section on the maintenance road locates at the beginning of the stage. More precise, from Dantercepies to the cable car station Frara. You can ride this section also on the single trail which is running almost next to the maintenance road. Although I don’t recommend it because it is very popular by hikers and tourists. They are walking between Dantercepies and the Jimmy hütte which locates next to the station Frara.
After Frara you will face the most challenging part of this stage. The section is not long or very steep but the trail is narrow and includes many tights switchbacks which makes this section challenging. You have to master the Endo turn to be able to ride switchbacks. If you don’t like tight switchbacks you have a possibility to choose an alternative route. The alternative route is also very nice so you don’t loose much if you choose this option. When you clear this section you have a short flat single trail before next excitement.
After the flat section you have to turn to a forrest. You might miss the turn if you don’t follow your GPS or map carefully. There is a sign at the intersection, but the trail seems so negligible that you can accidentally overlook it. The section is not very demanding except after the rain when wooden water guides are slippery. Water guides would not be any challenge if they aren’t made from round wood blocks or they would be completely across the trail. Even this section is not very demanding but it is nice.
The stage is technically demanding and include sections from S2 to S4. It is not extremely steep, but sometime narrow with tight switchbacks.
The second stage till 6.7 km is a transition to the third stage. You are going to ride the whole stage on the paved road without any challenge. The stage ends to the Col Pradat where you get a cable car to the Rifugio-hütte. Naturally, you can also cycle up but if you are not in best fit I would recommend to use the cable car and save energy.
The third stage till 10.5 km includes single trail and maintenance road.
The fourth stage till the Santa Croce cable car station, is running on the walking road. It is a pure transition without any challenge or excitement but the scenery is very nice though. If you don’t ride the whole tour you should end after third stage if you don’t have accommodation in Badia.
Description
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Parking
If you ride the whole Badia Trail Tour you can park your car at the Passo Gardena where you find a parking place. Another option is to park your car in Corvara. Corvara is a good option if you ride the first part only or even if you ride the whole tour.
Lifts
Eat & Drink
At the starting point, Dantercepies
6km, many restaurants in Colfosco
10km, many restaurants in Corvara
GPX
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