Country: Italy
Mountain: Julian Alps (Monte Guarda/Skutnik)
Length: 34,5 km
Elevation gain: 1750 m
Maximum elevation: 1721 m
Technical difficulty: 4/5
Download GPS Track: Monte Guarda_rezijanski Skutnik_Cyclotrail
Date of ride: 26.06.2021
Suitable for E-bike: Yes
After all these lockdown periods and restrictions, we finally went in Italy and Slovenia to ride some Alpine trails. I really missed those trips. Even before lockdowns, when I was recovering from ligament rupture, I planned this two day trip to visit Skutnik (1st day) and Kanin (2nd day).
We stayed in Bovec and from there went to Oseaco/Osejane, and we encountered on problem. Road that goes across saddle was closed due to landslides and there wasn’t any warnings on internet, google maps. We found out about closed road when we stumbled on the ramp, so we had to take a longer road.
After reaching some football field, near Oseaco, we parked our car there in front of river Resia. At this point we started our ride on bikes. Almost all ascent is on asphalt road. After hut starts unpaved road and hiking section.
First part is not very steep, and during our ride you have a nice view on peaks Monte Guarda, and Baba Grande (one of the Kanin peaks). Along the road there are two wells of fresh water.
I didn’t know what to expect, so I carried 3 liters of water in my backpack. Even from the road we could see that places above 1800 meters still had significant amounts of snow.
From the start to 9th km road goes up and down, but after 9th km becomes steeper and without descents. After reaching hut we started pushing our bikes, from there road becomes very steep. From there to peak Monte Guarda is about 3 km, trail isn’t technical so we didn’t have to carry our bikes, pushing was enough.
View from the top was magnificent, so at this point we started to realize what kind of route will this be. In front of us there are still four peaks (3 of them we are going to climb)and 9 km of trail placed on the ridge, and that was all before real descent.
Trail that goes over the ridge isn’t technical demanding (except few sections and tight switchbacks), but the main problem is that it is almost all the time exposed so You have to be concentrated.
At some point we encountered on viper (Vipera ammodytes) so from there on we were careful not to step on them. Grass was pretty tall and at some parts you could not see where you step.
Picture from google earth describes trail the best. After ridgline we entered wood and then starts steep part with switchbacks. After that we encountered fun trail which looked like it was made for MTB. It is playful, with drops and natural berms. After finishing this route, Andrej and me had a very good feeling knowing that we rode one of the best routes considering panoramic views.
Map of route:
Elevation profile:
