Invergneux Pass Loop from Cogne

One of the most beautiful descents I've ever done! You earn this with 1200 m of easy ride, the last 300 m of difficulty: pushing/carrying up to 2900 m at the Col Invergneux. The descent is a Mtb dream! Except for about 2200 m S1/S2 - then short, demanding sections up to S3/S4, which we pushed the bike.

Wonderful e-mountain bike tour over the Passo Invergneux and the Cogne Trail. First of all: This tour is the most scenic I have cycled on so far. The varied landscape is simply amazing! And: You have to carry the bike up a good 200 meters in altitude on high alpine terrain or push it - the e-bikes. That means: rough steps and gravel that doesn't provide good grip. Today, too, we planned a tour with consideration for our less experienced companions, which at least on paper didn't sound very demanding. The goal was a maximum of S2. We started in the beautiful little town of Cogne, where there is a large parking lot. Be careful to take coins with you, the machine has probably been offline for a long time. After a short, steep section, you cycle along a beautiful hiking trail that is sometimes strenuous, but also awesome. Ups and downs, then. Later, the actual climb begins on a dirt road. You cycle through a phenomenal landscape with a magnificent view of the mountains. If you pay close attention, you can see marmots or meerkats in the upper area. And you pass a really beautiful large waterfall. The path is not very steep but long. Somewhere on an alpine pasture, you turn onto a hiking trail. What comes next is tough. Namely the climb to the top of the pass. A narrow path, across the steep slope, also leads steeply up with a few boulders. You can cycle most of it, if you like this kind of terrain. 200 meters before the top of the pass, the earthy path turns to gravel. From here you first have to push and then buck. Biobikes, that is. E-bikes have to be pushed. Although pushing is more like carrying. Rough rocks, covered in gravel, offer little grip. A tough feat of strength that hurts your arms. The thin mountain air doesn't make it any easier. Once you've done that, you're standing on the summit of the 2900-meter-high Passo Invergneux and enjoying a wonderful view. What follows is pure fun. The reward for all the hard work. You race for many kilometers at speed over a flowing S1 single trail through a fantastic alpine landscape. First you feel like you're on the moon, later everything is overgrown with yellow grass and then it turns lush green. Behind that are contrasting colored rock structures. But the flow also offers some key points, so you have to stay focused at all times, even if that's difficult with the biggest biker grin 😁. At some point the terrain becomes more technical. First a few more kilometers of S2 level with rougher key points. Towards the end then good S3 in places. Practically everything is rideable, but some of the steps are too high. In the lower part, the route leads over the torrent, which you can always see. There should actually be a bridge here. It was recently torn away by a landslide. The whole landscape has been destroyed. We still found a crossing further down and were able to return to the route on a path leading steeply upwards. The downhill from the town of Gimillan is no longer fun. Many impassable sections lead steeply downwards. You can only cycle about half of them. Fortunately, the route is not that long and the destination Cogne is within sight. The alternative would have been the asphalt road, but we didn't want to cycle down that. In summary, this was the most scenic tour I have done so far. Level S2, as described on Komoot and other platforms, is also suitable. Even if the lower part is much tougher. So there is something "tough" to cycle for all levels. It depends on your level of practice. The climb is long, but not steep, with the exception of the last 200 meters in altitude. These are a mess, but it is always worth it.

I arrived at the pass exhausted but it was a beautiful ride in a wonderful place, at the limit of my physical and technical possibilities but I did it. 😊💪🏼

Aosta Valley trip, a classic MTB ride; climb on an excellent forest road, then a trail (to tell the truth, I found it in better conditions than a few years ago), push/portage the last 150/200m to reach the hill. Technical, fast and fun descent

38.60 km | 5h21m | 1639 D + Fantastic cycle mountaineering tour Departure from the town of Cogne, immediately go up the paved road without traffic that will become an infinite military road, and then disperse in a spectacular environment forgotten by the world, beautiful, we have not found a living soul, but only a free charging station with photovoltaic panel for electric bikes with 4 pins of the main motors. INCREDIBLE. Still up and deviation from the forest for ascent to the Invergneux pass, incredibly flow therefore in electric even at times very pedalable, the rest with the walk, but really without any problem. Arrived at the pass begins an infinite epic descent on fast singletrack at times flow and at times technical, EPIC. Once in the village of Gimilian you can go straight down but the track is cart track / asphalt, to avoid it I had found another track which however requires a pedal, initially not too simple, to then become a long traverse on single track on pine needles , and then always start to descend on singletrack flow on pine needles, very fast and not very technical but always enjoyable, ending with many hairpin bends Beautiful everything

Challenging climb in the last stretch of the path. With eMtb it becomes heavy, better if you can load it on your shoulders, physical permitting. However, there is always someone who, moved with compassion, gives you a hand. The effort is rewarded by a long descent on the path.

Grandiose panorama. Tour for me at the upper limit in terms of the steepness of the single trail. Still it was worth it. Easy to do with E-MTB. Used 50% of the battery

Wowee! The Banzai Trail in the Gran Paradiso is probably the best single track trail I have ever ridden. I hate single track… and yet this 15km of descent down a beautiful unspoilt valley, on a natural trail that is smooth and flowy and not too steep was AMAZING!! I grinned from ear to ear the whole way down. Off course, you always need to put in some effort to get to the best places, and in this case that involved a short hike-a-bike up to the Passo dell'Invergneux. And what made a really nice change, was that we were not the only people hauling their bikes up a mountain… that shows just how good the Banzai Trail is!