Tag Archives: romania

Old Mountain Epic trip in Veliko Tarnovo and Sopot

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A few weekends back we took a trip to Bulgaria to meet again with the crew from Old Mountain Epic.

They have invited us to do a track in the Central Balkan Mountain Range near Sopot. Being a 5h drive to Sopot, we decided to make this a 2 days trip, and spent 1 day in Veliko Tarnovo and the next day we went to Sopot and checked that trail out, which we heard it would be massive in terms of view, terrain and intensity :D.

In Veliko, you cannot go wrong. You have the trails, the city, the people and each time we’ve been here we had a blast. The trails are in perfect condition and it’s the place to ride till the seasons ends because of the friendly weather. The town is nice and you have great food here. The crew from Turnduro (enduro bike community) and Old Mountain epic are top!

Ok, so we had a great Saturday on the trails doing Ani, Rodopa, 2 Offcambers and the DH trail. You would say next day we should have rested but not us :D. On Sunday we woke up at 6 am, went to Nedko and started from there in 2 cars. After 2.5 h were in Sopot, around 10 am waiting for our chairlift. We took the lift up to 1500m and from there we pushed the bikes until 1800m elevation. From there started our single track. I cannot say too much about the exact location, instead I’ll leave you a link bellow to the track we took, but I can say for sure it was the most demanding trail we’ve done so far. And also very rewarding. We had a beautiful single track, wonderful view and some huts along the way. The bottom part of the trail was just hard enduro but beautiful as in a fairy trail :D.

We leave you bellow some pictures, a movie and soon we will upload on youtube a longer edit with the Sopot Old Mountain Trail.

Until then enjoy and ride safe! Link to the track here: Sopot Old Mountain trail!

HARGHITA ENDURO 2018

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This year we took part of Harghita Enduro, the seccond stage of Romanian Enduro Cup.

Man what trails they have! tehnical, natural segments, steep, hard! Combine this with some english weather and you get an up grade weekend race :))).

The contest has only 3 specials but they are quite something. In my opinion this is how enduro looks like. I hope in the future another special will appear here but for now we can be glad we have this ones.

The contest is held in Harghita Madaras, mountain group of Transylvanian Carpathians belonging to the Eastern Carpathian Mountain Range. The highest peak is Harghita Madaras Peak, with 1,800 m (source wikipedia).

These mountains are beautiful and wild, if you wander alone on this trails, you have lots of chances to run into a bear or a wolf so be careful 🐶🐺🦄. Or into an awesome single track for that matter :))).

For accommodation you can chose Sugo Pension because is very clean and cozy and has great food! We enjoyed staying here a lot!

Also once here, you must take a hike or a bike up to Madarasi peak, the sacred mountain ;0, the peak it’self is one of the most beautiful ones in RO and the view is breathtaking because you are right in the middle of our Carpathians :D. Here’s an album to show you just how beautiful it is on the peak and trails 😉

But, mainly if you are into enduro, you must come ride here, even in contest weekend. Here you find the track of the 3 specials and bellow we leave you some pics and a movie to get you fired up! Enjoy! 🤘🚵‍♂⛰

MAGURA CODLEI, NICE GEM OF A TRAIL ON SMALL MOUNTAIN

Magura Codlei, nice gem of a trail on small mountain!

This is the track MAGURA CODLEI but don’t take our route up. You can barely call it a trail! Just climb on the descent, you can cycle half of it ;). Enjoy!

Postavaru over 1000m mtb descent

This is not a recent one but its the one descent that keeps the smile on you’re face the longest time :D. Over 1000m descent. For more information about some of the trails here, chek out this article: Postavaru mountain bike Trails, Brasov, Romania. Enjoy and ride safe!

Cabana Suru and Chica pietrelor. Enduro bikepacking trip

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This weekend we remade a track from last year, the one from Suru mountain hut and rocky ridge in Fagaras Mountains. It’s a must do for each year, really is one of the most beautiful and epic ride we took lately.

It’s a 2 days experience and you get to ride 2 awesome trails, one of 7km with 1000m descent and the next of 12km with over 1500m descent, and you get to stay at one cool mountain hut (Suru mountain hut) in the Romanian Carpathians, Fagaras Mountains. It’s just epic, you don’t have to take our word for granted, just watch the videos and the pics bellow and you will convince yourselves :D.

Also check out our last year trip to Suru, here: Cabana Suru si Chica Pietrelor enduro singletracks.

You can download the tracks here: day 1, day 2. Enjoy the bellow material and ride safe!

Cozia mountain enduro mtb descent

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Cozia it’s one little, mean, but beautiful mountain that holds one of the gnarliest descent we’ve encountered. The trail it’s just superb, it starts with a narrow and technical singletrack, then it becomes loose and steep, then you have to carry you’re bike, then you have another technical section with some climbing and at the end you have a speed section with lots of flow.

In total you have another over 1000m descent that we for ones are willing to work our asses around 3-4h to climb the mountain and then send it :))). It’s an nice epic descent that I think we will do each year because its just to good! We don’t try to convince you but we leave you some pictures and also this movie that we’ve made :D.

And here’s the track of the trail 😀. Enjoy and ride safe!

Cozia enduro MTB short edit

A small slice of Cozia, a trail that deserves it’s place in the calendar of bike season. Enjoy and ride safe! 👊🚵‍♂⛰🎥 Soon an longer video and an article. Soundtrack: Strung Out – The Animal and the Machine.

Ciucas amazing landscapes and awesome enduro singletracks

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Ciucas mountains have some amazing landscapes and awesome enduro single tracks if you haven’t heard about it yet. It’s also on our must do list of each year, and I think this year we will come again here when an event will be held to replace Ciucas Endro contest that was canceled because of the lack of implication of some parties…:(. But for sure we will come to the event because that means good people, nice bikes, beers and trails so you have it all in one place with this beautiful landscape on the background :D.

Ciucas mountains, as we also said in the previous post about Bucegi, they are also very friendly with ski touring and hiking and trail running activities. We did lots of trips here and cross this mountains in every direction but for sure there are more trails just waiting to be discovered here.

Until we come back with a different story abut Ciucas, we live you the pictures and videos bellow to better understand the beauty of these mountains!

Also check out this 2 articles for other riding ideas in Ciucas mountains:D: Grohotis and Ciucas XC to enduro and road trip , CIUCAS ENDURO 2017 TRACK PREVIEW.

Enjoy and ride safe!

Bucegi mountains, Strunga descent singletrack

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2 weekend back we did an awesome ride in Bucegi mountains. It’s a ride that we tried for the first time last year and we like it so much that we included in the must do rides of each year :))).

As you already know by now, or if not you will, Bucegi mountains are a small group of mountains in our Carpathian range of mountains. They are ideal for ski touring and bike trail riding but also for hiking, climbing or trail running. We prefer ski and bike, but, whatever you chose you will have the same beautiful landscape that surrounds you so check out the photos bellow.

We are trail hunters, as we like to call ourself :)), so we wanted to make 3 beautiful descent this day. We started in Sinaia, taking the cabin to 2000m altitude near Furnica peak. From there we descended to Padina on a beautiful technical trail. From Padina we have like 1h pushbike to Strunga cole from were we have a long, beautiful and fun descent to Simon village. It’s one of the most beautiful single tracks in Bucegi, a must do in each year. We will go back there in autumn, hopefully with a drone to catch more of its awesomeness :D.

From Simon we took the road to Bran and then straight to the mountains to reach Long Ridge, a trail that will take us to Busteni city, on the other part of the mountain. It’s an nice retreat with an beautiful raw single track that few know of its existence :D.

Check out the clip ant the pictures bellow to see why we use so much the words beautiful and awesome :D. For track just ask us in email, we have many tracks and we want to give you all the details. Also for more detailed videos and track check out this article from last year: STRUNGA AND MUCHIA LUNGA DESCENT 2017. Enjoy and ride safe!

 

Bucegi White Valley, last ski day of the season

White Valley is one of the most iconic steep valleys in Bucegi mountains and a pleasure to ski it in spring conditions. Otherwise its pretty dangerous to be here on a full power winter and better to be with someone that knows the terrain pretty well and also do all precautionary test before heading into the valley.

White valley was the first step valley that we skied and it seams the last for this winter. We started the season with it and ended with it and it was beautiful. Always a pleasure to do some back country skiing in Bucegi Mountains because they are so beautiful and they have so much to offer in terms of ski, bike, hike and many related activities. And the landscape is just superb!

We leave you with some pictures and movie about our experience on White Valley and we hope that next ski season will be as good as this one! Cheers!

Postavaru mountain bike Trails, Brasov, Romania

This is a quick post about Postavaru trails near Brasov City, Romania :D.

Brașov is located in the central part of the country, about 166 kilometres (103 miles) north of Bucharest and 380 kilometres (236 miles) from the Black Sea. It is surrounded by the Southern Carpathians and is part of the Transylvania region.

The city is notable for being an important centre of Transylvanian Saxons in the past, and a large commercial hub on the trade roads between East and West. (Source: Wikipedia).

Also for us, Brasov is important because of its potential in mountain bike and ski activities.

Near Brasov is Postavaru massive, an almost 1800m height mountain with some awesome trails just waiting to bi ridden.

Also, Brasov is a beautiful chill city, with an nice old city full of activity and beautiful people.

In order to ride there you have to get yourself and you’re bike up to Poiana Brasov, which is a bit higher positioned then Brasov. To get there you have to bike there (around 45min-1h by bike) or take a shuttle bus from the city center. For this check out NH Bike guys witch offer professional shuttle services there, taking riders every each hour from Brasov to Poiana Brasov.

From poiana Brasov are like 4 trails that get down to Brasov, but also from there you can take a cabin up to the peak of Postavaru mountain and from there you have a beautiful over 1200m descent to town witch we really recomand. Also you can take a break at Postavaru mountain Hut and enjoy the view and the bear there :D… oh, and the cookies :))).

Without further ado, we leave you some tracks with 2 of the trails there, and also a movie to better comprehend the fun you will face on Postavaru Trils :))).

Trail tracks: descent from Postavaru peak, descent from Poiana Brasov on yellow triangle mark trail. Enjoy and ride safe!

A SMALL SLICE OF ROMANIAN BULZ @ Ciocanu MTB Trails, Romania

A SMALL SLICE OF ROMANIAN BULZ @ Ciocanu MTB Trails, Romania

This is a short video edit and some pictures from this weekend, shredding the trails @ Ciocanu MTB Trails, Bughea de jos, Arges.
Beautiful sunny day, with dry lose trails. Perfect for skidding around in every corner. You can find 2 of the tracks here, and here :D. Enjoy and ride safe!

Barcaciu skitouring camp VIII edition

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When March comes, we know is time for Barcaciu ski touring event! This year it come in the last weekend of March, on an not so skier friendly weather… but how cares, like we say, make haven of what you got, so that’s what we did :D.

We ware pretty happy just before the weekend because some fresh snow was in the forecast, but by the time of the event, the sudden warm up of the weather screw up the conditions and we had a consistent layer of heavy melting snow that made our skis not want to turn when we did :))).

But that didn’t ruin our skiing, at least the snow didn’t but the wind… trying to ski at almost 100km/h winds its something you must try :)))).

But, even that didn’t stop us and we almost made it to Puha Valley :D… but it was beautiful. The hut, the food, the friends and the whole picture of the event make it that way. We had a great time and new experiences like all the years before.

Barcaciu mountain hut is situated at 1550m altitude, in the west part of Fagaras mountains. It’s the second mountain hut in Fagaras, starting from west, and a very casual and welcoming one. Mihai and his parents make it like that, oh, and the food, so great :))).

From the hut you can reach, very easily Scara peak, or Serbota peak and you can ski some pretty nice lines from there right in Puha valley and then all the way down to the trail that goes from Barcaciu hut to Negoiu hut. It’s a beautiful descent that offers lots of lines and is easily accessible if the snow conditions allows it!

Ski touring at Barcaciu is an event held by Mihai in order to develop the ski touring practice in the area. There are marks pointing to the hut and above and you can always count on Mihai to give you some advice about the routes and the conditions there, the guy knows the area like the back of his hand!

The event usually is held during 2 or 3 days and includes a bed over night, food and guiding thru the area as the weather allows it. His main purposes is, as I said, to develop the ski touring in the area and the costs merely covers the goods and the trouble needed for the event.

As these been said, please feel free to check out Barcaciu Mountain Hut whenever you want, summer or winter, it’s always there waiting for you to discover all skiing and biking routs 🙂 . Oh, have we mentioned biking? check this trip out to 😉 you might enjoy it: Fagaras enduro and freeraid tracks.

Bellow we leave you some foto/video material to better get a feel of Barcaciu ski touring event and here are the links for some of the routes we take day 1, day 2. Enjoy!

 

Iezer mountains backcountry skiing

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Last weekend we have been to Iezer mountains on our annual ski touring trip there. I think this is the 4th year that we made it here, and it is my 4th year of ski touring :)))… man, time flies so fast…

Each year was similar but somehow different. In terms of snow conditions, this year was a lot more snow and we had some pow in the first descent on the upper part near the ridge of the mountain. Being so hot all of a sudden, I don’t think it was 100% safe to try new lines or spots, so we stayed chill and shred the classic descent from the ridge directly to Iezer refuge. Maybe next year we will try a descent from the peak, that will be cool ;D. I remember last year I was feeling brave and took a climb just beneath the peak. My luck was that fog come and “ruin” my descent :))))

This year the ski party was made by me, Tiberiu, Nicu and Bogdan A. We started touring just directly from Voina Hut, that was a premier because none of the previous years had snow right from the parking lot… What a luck, otherwise we should have walked that stupid forest road until the shepherd’s hut in the alpin area where the forest stops.

It’s a long climb/walk to Crucea Ateneului, around 10 miles or so with at least 1250m elevation. We had great weather, sunny and no wind.

Once we descanted, we had some nice pow at the beginning and some crud later on.

The refuge is looking good, by our standards :D. The guys from mountain patrol are really trying to make it better each year.

We made 3 descents in the first day and then stayed in the refuge, talking and making ourselves some tee and some soup. Nicu had some digging to do in order to get some water. The guys from mountain patrol indicate us the spot to dig for water, thanks guys! It was a nice evening and we took some good night sleep. The sky was full of stars that night and the refuge was pretty warm because of the sunny day we had :D.

We slept like tired skiers :))).

Next day the sun didn’t show his face just until we almost made it back to our cars. We also took 3 descents and then a last one in the fog. At the end of the final descent the sun showed up but the snow was bad, pulling on our knees a bit to hard… it was like we had our skins on our skis :))). In the forest, we just found more heavy snow and sweet our asses off until we reached our car. We stayed to eat something at Voina and then drove our way back home.

The track from the first day you find it here. The retreat was on the same path as the ascent. We leave you some pics and an edit. Enjoy!

Balea lac freetouring powder days

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This is not a recent one, but we just haven’t had  time to write something about it.

It happen last mouth in one of the perfect weather weekends that we had. It was an weekend with all inclusive, powder, joy, happiness, problems, panic, doctors and again… powder :))). But all turned out alright as you will see. And we have the pictures to back it all up :P.

The plan was to claim a room that we paid over 2 months ago at Paltinu mountain hut (nice place by the way, VRR approved :D). We hunted this good weather weekend and now it’s here.

I haven’t been to Balea on more then one occasion, doing an avalanche course last year so I was pretty eager to go and better discover the place. Once up by the cabin we went directly to Paltinu to live Bubble (Cosmin’s dog) and go touring.

We climbed to Capra Lake and on the ridge of the mountain to Vaiuga peak. It was the most beautiful ridge walk I have taken so far, man that feeling. After this we made a first descent from under Vaiuga peak to Balea valley and on to the start of the cabin.

After this we took the cabin back up and go again to Paltiu to check how Bubble was doing. It seemed he driven the guys from the hut mad, so we had to take him with us. Bad idea! It was pow day and the dog is like 15 cm tall :))). This being told, Cosmin ended up carrying the dog almost all descent. Then, after following Cosmin on an narrow couloir and straight underneath Balea Cascada, disaster stroke. Cosmin took a silly fall and had his operated shoulder injured. We then had to go to Sibiu and go to hospital to check his shoulder out. We had some luck because Nicu stayed at Paltinu for this last descent and he could send to us some stuff and my car keys in order to go with Cosmin to hospital…. after the hospital experiences, Cosmin’s arm was immobilized and he took the next day off from riding. That night we go out to grab a pizza and then straight to a colleague of mine that helped us with accommodation for that night, thanks!

Next day was a bit cloudy. Cosmin stayed at Balea Cascada, at the start of the cabin, and I have gone up for one last ride with Nicu that ramaind at Paltinu to claim the room :)). We did a nice run to Doamnei Valley and back to the cabin. It was also powder day and the clouds ware low and over 2000m we had such a beautiful day.

After some further consulting, it turned out that Cosmin shoulder was ok and only needed some rest. One important advice, don’t take small dogs on powder days! :)))

Here are the pics and an edit. Enjoy!