Varzo & Ute

Valley of the Utes

Words & Photos: Dave Mitchell & Ditte van der Meulen

The mountains and valleys at the pointy end of Italy's Piemonte Region borders Schweiz to the north, east and west. It’s ringed by mountain ranges and bottomed by the large Lago Maggiore. It looked like a tempting destination on the map so we stuck a pin in it. We headed to the stone town of Domodossola in Val d’Ossola where its famous rock breaking quarries and polished stone fabbrica proliferate. We continued west to our digs at Val Divedro, into the quaint stone roofed town of Varzo, well away from the bell towers of the main Val Ossola. This region proved to be the ute and Suzuki Jimney capital of Italy if not Europe. Not yet on a par with Aus or NZ where every second vehicle is 4x4.

Inspired by loads of tracks and trails on Trailforks and a local printed guide book that had umpteen dozen routes described in Italian and translated via Google. But the book proved to be a bit out of date, written in the early 2000 with old B&W maps, but they gave us some good ideas. Purchasing the local topo map proved to be the best option and on so many occasions going off script provided us with some of the best riding trails.

Lepontinische Alpen

What a great first ride. Going straight up from Varzo into the mountains through tiny farm settlements and small villages on the broad farmed and forested slopes of Monte Cistella. The bottom of the valley was already in the high 20s when we set off and it was nice to feel cool alpine air above the 1000m contour. Although this region averages over 2000mm of yearly precipitation, June and July had been particularly dry with many of the small streams drying up and trees dropping leaves like autumn was in full swing.

We made it to Rif Pietro Crosta too early for lunch so continued climbing to our high point of the day, just below the stunning craggy peaks of Cistella and Pizzo Diei. This was the place to have lunch with views out west to Switzerland and south to the Walliser Alpen. The DH was steep with multiple tight switch backs on cobbles, with a nice section of ST to San Domenico. It’s a classic ski town that had upgraded its lifts and was in the throws of upgrading its infrastructure. It had an interesting looking bike park pencilled in on our ride list.

We continued to the top of Val Cairasca to Ponte Campo and onto an old abandoned service track. Rock fall and blown out stream gullies made for some challenging riding and as if by magic ST appeared. This proved to be in perfect nick and delivered loads of fun, climbing initially then traversing as a balcony trail to Trasquera. We checked out the ancient church at the bad end of town where the most amazing cobbled DH took us past plummeting hydro penstocks and tunnelling railways to Bertoni town, then we hit the back streets of Varzo for gelato, then home.

Hidden Lago

We started from Preglia on the outskirts of Domodossola climbing steeply through forest to the open tops at Alpe d’Andromia, 1830m later. Beautifully restored stone houses and barns populated these gentle slopes surrounded by majestic peaks that hovered well above the 2000m contour. This was beautiful high country where horses roamed the village green and weren't at all pleased when we nabbed their favourite picnic table for lunch.

Hidden behind the village, Lago di Andromia sits below the 2431m Pizzo Albiona. Its all rock-fall and scree and we legged it up there after lunch. We spotted the vague outline of a disappearing track heading for a lonely pass but with clouds building up the temptation to climb wasn't there. The horses hadn't nabbed our bikes in retaliation so while riding back we could enjoy some sketchy bits of ST that short-cutted the the zig zaggy descent.

Swiss Stop

We drove west to the Italian boarder town of Gondo and cruised through the abandoned wild west border posts into the land of Ferraris and gold. Vertical rock faces climbed skyward all around us like a boxed canyon as we veered south opposite the Goldmuseum and Stockalpertrum. This funnelled us into the Swischbergental Valley alongside the dancing and singing Grosses Wasser. Beautiful farm houses presented themselves with neatly cut hedge rows and Swiss looking cows. The valley opened out the further up we rode. It’s a dead end for vehicular traffic but provides many excellent exits for both walkers and MTBs.

From Dr Who’s Borg picnic and camping spot we we headed further up on the Zwischbergen road to Fruggu and the highest point of the ride for a lunch spot at 1872m. The smell of silage and wood smoke permeated the air and cow bell ringing drifted up from the lower slopes of the Feerberg meadows. Cheese making was in progress. The ST DH was touted as flowy and smooth but proved to be the exact opposite. Rocky, rough, technical and challenging was a more accurate description and we enjoyed parts of it immensely.

We bottomed out at the south end of Simplon and crossed the Laggina stream. Bits of spectacular ST took us back to Gondo via the Gondoschlucht gorge with road works holding up the traffic across the river on the main road. We popped off our final tunnel-top back into Italy for the short drive back to base Varzo.

Instant Noodles

Next to the Lidl supermarket in Domodossola there is a shady tree lined parking lot, so we managed two missions from one place. Shade is a necessity when the mercury reaches into the 30s as the place was really warming up. We headed into the hills for some cool mountain air via SP68 towards Bognanco following the Torrent Bogna. From Bognanco the road goes instant noodles, winding its way up through forest and farm land to Rif. San Bernardo which basked in the midday sun. The rifugio was chocker as was the next, Rif. II Dosso. This was where the track went gravel.

A final climb took us around Alpe di Monscern to Rif. Gattescosa which was also packed for lunch. With beer flowing and large platters of bread, cured meat and cheese coming out in droves no wonder it was popular with the bikers and walkers on a sunny Sunday. We legged it to Lago di Ragozza for a look not realising that two adjacent passes just a stones throw away went into Switzerland. This western border is a chain of peaks that float up to over 2700m. After lunch we cruised back down the hill picking up snippets of ST including the Ciuppinella trail and bits of the San Bernardo DH which was littered with rocky steps and miss steps. After a bit of food shopping back in town we headed for the gelateria which provided perfect internal cooling on a 33 degree afternoon.

Blue Eagle

As a treat we decided to check out the San Domenico’s Sando Bike Park and drove there in anticipation. It’s a spectacular location with lifts climbing to over 2500m amongst the tallest that Lepontinische Alpen has to offer. For 21 euro we got all you can eat 4 hrs of lifts and promptly motored up to the top to come down Blue Eagle, a flow run over open country. The dropped us to the middle station for multi runs on Just 4 Fun, Sando Air and Blue Eagle. Our final run was a 1000m DH on Local Flow which was super steep and dusty and quite slippery over some of the big rocks. It was full on, challenging just like a barrel of monkeys. With sore hands and calves from max descending we did our final run to the top heading for lunch and afterwards an old school cross country track to Moltero around the lower slopes of Pizzo del Dosso.

This was a hoot, winging its way above the bush-line to eventually join up with the Dorcia descent back to our F14 ST. The wheels fell off here with my rear tyre requiring emergency surgery. Reinforcing rod commonly used for Italian track stabilisation, was my undoing. They get a sharp top when pounded into the earth and if poking up just a smidgen can wreak havoc like a hippo. Well nothing that a big bad butyl patch and tube can't fix and we were on our way and back on track to close the loop.

Twenty Four Hours

North of Domodossola in the upper reaches of Val di Devero where the land meets the sea lies Largo di Devero, a large hydro lake sitting at around 1850m. We parked at Croveo and enjoyed the cool climb that follows the Torrent Devero Goglio. Its cold waters provided the magic refrigeration effect. An old decommissioned power station resides there, its generators and transformers long gone. It looked the worst for wear with broken panes, a bedraggled roof no longer able to do its proper job. A once proud and stylish structure left to rot with only its clock tower and unusual 24hr dial, still holding the fort.

The road continued up to a dimly lit 850m tunnel which does what tunnels do best and emerges blinded to a large packed car park and toll booth. A second tunnel emerges just below Alp Devero where a museum, boutique accommodation and Rif. Dell Alpeggio reside in a wide green valley by Alpe Devero. It was very picturesque and super busy so we headed towards the lake up a cobbled hydro road to Montorfano. This was where the dam holds back the H2O. Around the east side of the lake we found a beaut lunch spot and a selection of wild blue berries for dessert.

Climbing from there was steep and loose on something that barely resembled a track. We reached Alp Fomo at 2220m with much relief. It looked down on a large shallow alpine tarn and up towards commanding peaks. The track roamed south through a high meadow of tarns and dry grass with big white cows tolling their bells. We headed to Alpe la Satta before curving back towards the lake. This was a fun rocky technical descent overlooking the lake and the 2939m snowless Grosses Schinhoff. We re-tunnelled our way back to the car at Croveo with no short cuts found.

Art for Art

We parked at a picnic spot by the Torrent Toce and cemetery of Crodo. Our ride took us on a tangent off the main road through the villages of Novasco and Crino on what must have been the original mule track that plied its trade up this valley. A short carry section elevated us above a tiny local hydro power house with its generator buzzing away and penstock delivering liquid to the old time pelten wheel. Then a forestry back-road took us to just above Croveo with just two clicks on the main road to our turn off.

From there we climbed steeply to Esigo, another restored mountain village with a place to fill up our water bottles. The church was open so we had a look at all that glitters and the fine art. We continued climbing through old farm settlements to Alpe Agaru in a clearing with views up to Monte Cistella and a bunch of craggy peaks. A group of fellow MTB-ers were snacking in the shade but we were not ready for lunch plunging into the thick and dark forest to the end of the road just for a look and finally lunch.

Back at Alpe Agaru we found our ST decent and what a blast. It proved to be very flowing with short rocky and rooty bits thrown in the mix. It was a long descent around the flanks of Monte Teggiolo eventually ending at the village of Cravegna. Along the way we encountered some steep gullies, a section of abandoned water races with tunnels and a cobbled mule trail past a line of religious canons containing some remarkable religious art work dating back to the 18th century. The area was probably devoid of trees and fully farmed way back then. It was just a short hop back to Crodo for a big gelato before heading home.

A Dogs Life

We parked on the edge of Pontetto next to a massive stone manufacturers display and making the most of the early morning coolness headed for the hills. The climb to Altoggio was partly on seal but the majority was up the old foot path that joins up the village and farm settlements. Vineyards and orchards were interspersed with open fields dogs and chickens running a muck. Above Altoggio the road splits and we took the lower one which hovers high above Torrent Isomo travelling up Valle dell Isorno towards a mass of high rocky mountains.

This was a cruisy climb from of 1200m over 8kms. We slipped passing a big power house located on the other side of the river, its generators roaring in unison and peddled past a cluster of old farm houses in every stage of decay with the evergreen forest taking back what was there. The valley opened out around Piedelpiaggio and our trail climbed steeply to Ponte Fugiol where a small dam blocks off the river with nothing much in the way of a lake to show for its efforts.

We continued until the track ran out, filled up our water bottles, hid the bikes and went for a walk further up the valley to Alpe Pisardowen. This open meadow and cluster of farm building provided a great spot for lunch. The provincial flag was flying from a flagpole in one of the courtyards and the farm dog was not pleased to see us, attempting in vain to bark us away. We could hear cow bells in the distance and more cheese making as we munched on our lunch.

It was a short trip back down the valley riding our brakes on the long fast downhills, but at the Altoggio junction we found the a couple of local ST DH. The first one, Gas Nei Patroni roamed through the foothill below the town and the second, Specs was steep and gnarly in places and took us almost to the bottom of the valley where a 35 degree heat haze greeted us. The van’s aircon came in handy on the way back home.

Number 42 your time is up

Yes it was time to leave our most excellent apartment in Varzo with its easy parking, bike storage, excellent kitchen and accomodating hosts. We were off to altitude at Marmora in Valle Maira, unknown territory, remote and even less touristy than Varzo. We would miss the faint sound of the train, clickady clack before it did its big spiral turn under Valle Calrasca emerged all dizzy then tunnelling head first under the mountains for 20kms emerging in Switzerland somewhere nice. It ran two tracks and how the Swiss and Italians agreed on a timetable is anyones guess. But we would miss all that but not the heat.