3. Cresta de Gelat, Vall Fosca
Length: 5.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 92 feet
Elevation Loss: 2,900 feet
After descending a ladder of iron rungs hammered into a sheer rock cliff and having to assemble a bucket brigade-style line in order to get our bikes handed down, I got the feeling that very few people would ever consider hiking the Cresta de Gelat, much less try to ride a mountain bike down this trail! With some mandatory walking sections, and even the more rideable portions promising certain death if you lose traction and go flying over the side of a cliff, this route isn’t for the faint of heart.
But if you’re ok with taking chances on a “you fall, you die” route, Cresta Gelat serves up some of the most visually-stunning terrain I’ve ever ridden a bicycle through!
While the initial descent from our shuttle drop was thoroughly underwhleming, it quickly delivered us to the goods as we burst out onto the barren mountainside, looking at the various cliff bands spreading to the left and right below us. Jordi noted that this place was popular for rock climbing, and I could see why—the vast cliff bands seem to offer a lifetime of multi-pitch routes.
As we approached the cliffs and the iron ladder mentioned above, Jordi cautioned me: “if you fall here, you will die.” So we took it easy. After descending the ladder, we walked a couple of seriously off-camber sections of sloped rock that eventually steepened and turned into a sheer cliff face below. But as we neared a flag overlooking a town far, far below in Vall Fosca, a ribbon of rideable singletrack opened in front of us, offering up some of the most visually-stunning mountain bike action photos I’ve ever shot, with a sheer drop on both sides of the ridge.
While it didn’t look like it from above, there was a mostly rideable egress off the ridge, in the form of a Captain Ahab-style exposed slickrock corner, then another section of walking-only trail, before rejoining good ole dirt and trees at the bottom of the cliff face.
While I thought the fun part was done, I was thankfully proven wrong! The final stretch of singletrack blurred by as we plummeted down the dirt singletrack on one of the fastest trails of the entire week. With small kickers, flowy corners, and an overall straight and steep descent, we blazed toward the awaiting cold beer and Claras at the bottom. This was one of those moments when, no matter how great the photos would be, just pinning it is undoubtedly the right decision!
