For several years, the bicycle manufacturer “Specialized” has traveled around the world documenting “the Unsung Heroes of mountain biking” trail builders. Those who ensure that all the rest of us have exciting trails to cycle on.
In the summer of 2021, Høgevarde was visited by Specialized, who wanted to document the work of our trail builder friends in World Trail – the Australian company led by cycling guru Glen Jacobs, who is engaged to develop the trail network on Høgevarde.
Høgevarde is thus in the company of world-renowned cycling destinations such as Whistler, Tasmania, and South Africa, all of which have been visited by the Soil Searching team in the past.
NEWS 2022:
1) We will open a new flow path of approx. 3.5 km around the start of the school holidays. This runs from Lavvoen and down towards the area called Heimseter. For those who have skied off-piste in the winter on the “backside” of the alpine resort at Høgevarde, this path ends at approximately the same place where you normally shuttle back to the resort from in the winter. This will be a blue path with various side hits and slightly more demanding challenges along the way, which means that this will be a very playful path that should suit all levels of cyclists.
2) Work will continue on two new flow paths from the top of Fjellheisen down to Lavvoen, which was also started in 2021. This will be a blue and a red path. Total approx. 2.8 km. We expect to open in the autumn.
3) Climbing path from Lavvoen to the top of Fjellheisen: This path makes it possible to get to the top of the path network on your own machine, without having to use the roads in the area. The work will start this summer (depending on the approved zoning plan, we expect this to be processed in Flå municipality in June), uncertain opening time. The idea is that this will be an “E-bike uphill flowtrail”, meaning fun uphill too! The trail will of course also be accessible to cyclists without a motor. A total of 2.9 km.
4) Flow trail from Høgevarde to Gulsvik: This will be our Hero-trail, a flow trail that takes you all the way from the high mountains down to the exit to Høgevarde from national road 7. From 1100 m above sea level to 162 m above sea level when the trail is finished in its full length. This path is unlikely to be opened in its full length this summer, but it is possible that parts of it can be used. The total length of the part of the route to be built in 2022 is 13.2 km, and contains approx. 600 meters of altitude with flow through a spectacular landscape. Start at Lavvoen, and get off the bike at Høgevarde’s administration building close to Gulsviktjern!
In total, approximately NOK 22-23m NOK is being invested in path construction in the area around Høgevarde this summer. 14 trail builders from the Australian World Trail, as well as other crew of 8-10 people will be on duty throughout the season. This means that after this construction season we will have built a total of approx. 25 km of cycle path in collaboration with World Trail. In addition, there are paths that were built earlier, in total Høgevarde has about 30 km of built paths to offer when you include these earlier paths, in addition to a number of natural paths in the area that can also be cycled.
Other news:
- Shuttle on weekends and holidays: Electric bus shuttle from Oslo takes you back and forth from the city, and locally at Høgevarde we establish a shuttle service that takes you back to the top after the bike ride
- Bicycle rental: In collaboration with our friends in the outdoor store Revir, we have established an electric bike rental and shop. This is located next door to Lavvoen
- Courses and activities: A little too early to release all the details, but we are planning both technical courses, joint outings, bike demos and other fun throughout the season
- Lavvoen is open every weekend and throughout July, and offers both food and drink suitable for keen cyclists. We also have our mobile pump track located outside Lavvoen, and beginner/family trails in the immediate vicinity of this.
On this page you can read more about the trail bike project at Høgevarde.
The Australian mountain bike website Flow Mountain Bike has previously written an article about trail construction at Høgevarde.
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