Penegal

The Ice Age glaciers left a nearly vertical 600 m tall rocky wall on the western flank of the Etschtal valley which is delimited by the Gantkofel to the north and by Monte Roen to the south. In the centre lies the Penegal with its transmitter, which can be seen from quite a distance. The only good bike path from Kaltern to this summit will lead cyclists on a one-hour tour on the Mendelstraße. It features an average climb with an incline between six and eight percent, which means you’ll reach a good even pace when pedalling. This first ascent can become so much easier by taking the Mendel cable car. Once you’ve reached the pass, you need to tackle the narrow low-traffic road to the summit, which will take up thirty minutes of your time. Fear not, as you’ll be rewarded for your hard work: An overwhelming panorama over Lake Kaltern and the whole southern part of South Tyrol will greet you! This is followed, finally, by the demanding descent to Bait del Prinz. The partially gruff, covered in roots, and rocky trail no. 500 is mostly a downhill trail, yet it does feature some shorter, harder climbs, too. At the Prinz hut you’ll continue on a gravel path, which you follow downhill to the left to the Regole di Malosco, a hut specialising in Trentino delicacies. After a brief climb on a gravel path, continue downhill to Hotel Paradiso. From here, follow the road back uphill to the Mendelpass.

After a brief descent on the road, head onto the new Mendel climb which was developed with bikers in mind. This path is a fairly wide and gravelly forest path, which can be tackled by anyone fairly easily, and features some bends, leading downhill to the Boos forest road. On the forest path take the somewhat wider sunken lane downhill, which leads to the edge of Kaltern - a challenge for skilled technical bikers. Here, follow the tour across six beautiful trails and gravel paths across the Kaltern sport area and the Kardatsch hiking trail until you reach Lake Kaltern. It may be another 180 m elevation gain from the lake to the starting point of the tour, but the effort put in is worth every bead of sweat. The trails to the lake have that perfect flow and can be easily ridden. Overall, the tour to the summit of the Penegal is a highlight for bikers with a good physical condition and offers a dreamy panorama, to boot. Excellent biking technique is not necessary due to the beautiful flow trail.

Alternatives
Path marking 41 after the Mendelpass: From here you can also take a slanted left to Tour 17 Passo Curon/Grauner Joch.

Don’t miss out on...
- The Penegal transmitter
- The Regole di Malosco hut
- a breathtaking view across Kaltern and Lake Kaltern, the South Tyrolean Unterland, the Dolomites, and the Nontal valley Dolomites.

(Photo credits: Tourism Information Center Kaltern/Helmuth Rier)