Elevation: 1575m
Distance: 27km
Number of batteries required or recommended mode: 1 battery in ECO from Ordino village, for the full lap. The ideal is still to provide 2 batteries.
Possible to recharge: No
Difficulty level: Black
Bike Carrying: 5% of the ride. The last climb to reach the pass is a great challenge, but not everything could be done on the bike.
Telephone networks: YES
Duration : 3h
Possibility to sleep somewhere: wilderness camping only.
Best season to go there: summer + early fall.
"The concept of this project is built around a mixture of Pyrenean textures. An environment with a prevalence of minerals and without much vegetation in places, the search was on to find earth more colourful than before. From the red of Castillo de Acher to the yellow of the Sierra De Guara, without forgetting the white of various dried out Spanish lakes and the grey lines of abandoned villages, I will now take you to the dazzling darkness of this Andorran summit.
Before getting stuck in, I wanted to provide a short note on this country. The home of COMMENCAL, Andorra offers a range of awesome mountain trails. When I arrived here, I launched into topping the most famous peaks. Quite honestly, I didn't think I would find such demanding trails. Through my experiences in the French, Swiss, Italian (and other) Alps, I really thought I had tested most terrains out there before these Andorran challenges."
"Usually, the worst-case scenario is that we have a ratio of 75% downhill on the bike and the rest walking alongside it. Most of the mountain trails in the Alps are completely descendible, or almost. At least all of those that you find on an IGN map. Here, I have already found multiple trails with impassable sections every 10 metres. Ending up failing on almost the entire path. Frustrating experiences but which ultimately push me to progress and persevere.
The dilemma of this route lies in battery management if you are considering a full loop, but it's okay! Having tested the route from different points, I recommend starting from Ordino, following the classic col route. The more playful might venture onto neighbouring trails, but always with a view to managing effort, this col is the most effective solution to gaining height more quickly. Preferably in ECO mode if you want to challenge yourself during the second part of the climb."
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"The next part of the route behind the top of the col is more technical. Now following a pristine alpine valley, it is difficult to clear everything on the bike because of the height of the channels but it’s a fun balancing act. The slope then accelerates until you have to push the bike for the last half an hour, in an alpine landscape, the very one that motivates us during all of our trips.
On the summit ridge, you can see Casamanya on the left and the playground of the day on the right. It’s a face of black rocks where erosion has drawn natural snake-like features in the earth. It’s best to do a quick check before you launch from the top. Much like stages of the Freeride World Tour on skis or snowboards, the location scouting is done from the bottom of the face or from the opposite slope. The line choice is made this way round and not directly from the start since not all the risks are visible."
"The fight is on once plunging down the slope of this beautiful black mountain face. The warm-up is intense, but the advantage is getting into it as soon as possible, within the first metres. Anyway, even if you lock the brakes, you will continue to gain speed before entering the main gulley. The following section is more akin to an ordinary mountain excursion, in a gorgeous setting (it's always a nice reward, otherwise it would be less interesting). The trail is not always obvious to see but each area rides well before traversing into the woods. The vegetation changes and provides an interesting taste of the next trail to come.
That next trail is endless single track, which is still my favourite in Andorra to date. It's up to you to judge it for yourself. I’ll leave room for a few surprises without detailing each root or switchback, as for the two previous mapped routes."
- Kilian Bron
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