New MTB Tours and Trails in the Dachstein Salzkammergut

"I would rather try it on the right," suggests Luki.
"Into that notch?" asks Erwin.
"Yes, and then straight on," indicates our photo rider towards a narrow path between a boulder and a rootstock.
"Hmmm... but it is quite tight. Because of the derailleur, I mean," the photographer considers.
"Ah, it'll be fine. Anyway, I find it easier this way than with your hairpin turn variant. Especially since that one looked a bit...," Luki hesitates briefly and then grins, "...uncontrolled towards the end."
For me, however, after a thorough inspection of the first key section, it's clear: I'm going to tackle it on foot. Not enough practice in the legs, too much wetness on the stones. Maybe on my next visit, in July then.

Trail walking in the Salzkammergut. I think I'm in the wrong movie.
Isn't the area around Bad Goisern and Lake Hallstatt the one that has been criticized for years for offering no technical riding challenges? Nothing but forest road circuits and even sections of asphalt? And when there are new offerings, it is only because existing routes are combined and renamed differently?
And yet here we are in a wild, natural ravine between Predigstuhl and Rosenkogel on the municipal boundary of Bad Goisern to Bad Ischl, discussing ideal lines and possible variants for conquering a trail that we would classify as a solid S3 difficulty.

The Törl Trail is the aforementioned path below the eponymous wall including a via ferrata near the idyllic Roßmoosalm, and it is part of an offensive that in 2023 will bring not only many gap closures and new connections for the traditional MTB trail network in the Dachstein-Salzkammergut, but also for the first time official single trails.

However, the approximately 200 kilometers of forestry roads that make up the touring offer of the World Heritage region in the southernmost tip of Upper Austria, which can be combined into about 800 kilometers of routes for pleasure and gravel bikers, was not entirely "trail-less" even before. Just think of the signature spot of the Salzkammergut Trophy, the Eternal Wall, or the descents from Anzenberg and from Hochmuth.
Now, however, there are (for now) four new "real" single trails, of which the Törl Trail is the most difficult and the Augst Trail in Altaussee is the longest. In addition, there is a freshly printed tour map and updated signage, which everywhere insists on "Trail Tolerance" and emphasizes the same right of way for hikers and bikers. In the minds of the tourism professionals, the next highlight already exists with the Trailcenter Maiswald, specially designed for families, beginners, and children, but it is currently still making its way through the bureaucracy. And with some newly constructed sections of forestry roads and planned bike paths, there are also significant improvements for the classic touring clientele.

Reasons enough to direct our pedals towards Bad Goisern at the start of the season and to get our winter-weary bones used to the hard everyday life of a cycling magazine between mountains, lakes, and deliciously set tables again...

A trip to the Salzkammergut is always a kind of homecoming for us. After all, we are here at least once a year to cover the most legendary and largest MTB marathon in Austria, and often for tour stories, press launches, or private stays as well.
It is all the more astonishing that, starting from our preferred home base, the Agathawirt with its energetic owners, long-serving employees, venerable walls, and formidable food, new facets always emerge. This time, the start is a simple change of direction coupled with about eight hours of "time shift," which makes the familiar appear in - literally - a completely different light.

Our plan: Starting from Gosau, a relaxed initial ride by classic altitude grinding including an optional walk to the beautiful Löckernmoos on the freshly pimped Seekar Runde.
Indeed, a forest road newly constructed on Austrian Football Federation land now connects the Grubenalm with the rustic-romantic Badstumhütte, making legal and rideable what was previously only improvised usage of muddy paths by the initiated and had to be bypassed by everyone else with a lot of extra altitude meters.

Alone: The plan remains. After climbing about 400 meters in elevation uphill, snow stops us. It is still early in the year, after all, and the higher-altitude huts in the region are not without reason closed until early June.
But how quiet and peaceful it is, early in the morning at the - later always well-visited - eastern shore of the Vorderer Gosausee! How gloriously the Gosaukamm shines in the morning light, presenting its sharp spikes and deep furrows, its spectacular gravel gullies and last snow tongues to an audience receptive to such details! And how dramatic the ascent to the highest point of the marathon at Roßalm, which is ridden many times in the opposite direction during the Salzkammergut Trophy, suddenly appears now that we have enough time and leisure while pedaling uphill to discover the wildly piled-up rocks on the roadside, to admire the almost lava-like rock, and to observe the many young shoots and old rootstocks on top of them. Not to mention the recurring view of the Dachstein glacier plus Gosaukamm, the lake, and the entire Gosau valley ...

As unexpectedly short as our morning program was, we can plan the afternoon generously: Off to two newly compiled routes on the very own Salzkammergut Trophy terrain!
Being as adaptable as we are, we keep our elevation just slightly above 1,000 meters and initially switch to Bad Goisern's "Sunnseit’n". Whoever still finds snow there has probably brought it along in tiny little envelopes themselves …

The Kriemoosalm Round which starts right in the spa town, with its approximate 18 kilometers and 560 meters of elevation gain, is short but has the potential to be Goisern's Best thanks to its route design and stunning panoramas.
In Posern, we take the recently opened uphill trail on the way to the Eternal Wall and make a lap of honor at the Reading Hotel to test the new Höllgraben Trail. Both wind their way nicely through the forest without great technical challenges: here a sometimes damp and slippery root, there a fun little curve, and for a change maybe a fast sidehill crossing?
The two new additions are too short to warrant a separate trip just for them; but they certainly add a pleasing spice to the otherwise planned route. Apart from that, the duo takes the regional showpiece, the Eternal Wall, right into their midst. Of course, we also invest the few extra meters to once again succumb to the fascination of this place. What a view, what a rock face, what an abyss, what splendor!

After a leisurely ride over the sunlit, green overgrown slopes of the Predigstuhl, one of the new tour signs points us the way down behind a sharp right turn. We know the following section well - but again only in the opposite direction.
What at the Trophy on the way to Raschberg (route A, B) or Predigstuhl (E) always forces the entire marathon field off the bike at the latest where the large, round, perpetually moist boulders lie on top of each other, now gives us a varied pleasure downhill. We whoop with joy as we thunder through what is probably a stream bed for a good part of the year, leave the line choice better to the All Mountains, which the Merida-Austria importer based in Goisern has kindly provided us with, and enjoy in the following section, which becomes continuously flatter, some rock ledges and root stocks.

This fun doesn't last particularly long either but leads with decreasing difficulty and increasing grace so skillfully into the enchanting alpine landscape of the Kriemoos that one might only lament this fact with restraint.
Most idyllic alpine huts, the sound of cowbells, green fir trees on sour meadows, and an unobstructed view of the Dachstein - heart, what more do you want?

Perhaps more gradient, more action, more culture, more range? "Gamsöfen Round", answers Christopher, without needing to think long, to our request. However, we lack the time for its full 36 km/990 Hm – we are, after all, snapping the occasional photo on the side – now. So, a shortened version, where we mainly focus on the eponymous trail section in the vicinity of this striking rock face high above the Rettenbach valley.
Actually, the also recently inaugurated round tour starting from Bad Ischl and passing the local asphalt pump track first pleasantly leads over the Römerweg to the Wildenstein castle ruins. Then it changes sides at Lauffen along the Traun river, to climb briskly past old salt mines up to the Hoisnradalm – a tip for a break (author recommendation: Raspberry Thyme Juice, reader recommendation: Cheese Dumplings), view of Lake Wolfgang (and don't ignore the Schafberg, the imperial city, and the Dead Mountains, right)!
After a few more undulating forest road kilometers around the archaic Leckenmoos, a "Trail Tolerance" sign finally signals the action we desired and were looking for, branching off sharply to the right.

The path quickly dives into the forest through the lushest greenery and presents itself as slightly rocky in this first section. We gain speed over a few smaller rock steps, which then carry us through a flatter meadow section. Just as we get used to cruising, the path changes its face again, becomes steeper, rockier, only to switch immediately to leaf-covered forest ground.
A long left turn finally marks the junction into what Trophy participants know and love as the "Rettenbachtrail." The upper part of it is the wildest falling terrain; secured by safety nets during the marathon and rightly forbidden on all other days of the year for safety and hunting reasons. And in the lower part, the rock faces to the Rettenbach valley are still uncomfortably close at first. It's good that the following passage demands all our attention and banishes the "What if..." thoughts!

Worthy of a typical Lake Garda descent, we rumble over rough, slightly damp rock for several hundred meters. We let it run, because speed is definitely safety on such terrain. For the first time, our fun Merida One Fortys, delivered ready to ride right to the house by the Goisern Bikeworld, are really challenged. And the more their suspension forks slurp, the further up our lips curl.
A small stream crossing marks the end of the key section, after which the trail becomes continuously flatter and easier, until it finally ends after three kilometers from the trail entrance in a short dream of a meadow path. We roll through tall grasses and the chirping of crickets towards Bad Ischl and the spa promenade and Zaunerstollen. For the first time this year, it smells and sounds properly like summer, and we are pleasantly shaken. Life is beautiful.

Speaking of getting things done: Hairpin 7 on the Loser toll road, and still no trail entrance in sight. The long-missed summer is now fiercely frying our heads. Yes, the view from this distinctively shaped watchtower of the Totes Gebirge over Sandling, Sarstein, Zinken, Dachstein massif, and the Ausseer basin is occasionally magnificent. But when, please, does the descent begin?
We have left the Inner Salzkammergut behind and switched over the Pötschen Pass and state border into the Styrian region. On the finest asphalt, we pedal uphill to bid farewell by taking on the entire, newly opened MTB pride of the Ausseerland: the region's first purpose-built single trail.
The Augst Trail, jointly implemented by the municipality, tourism associations, and Loser Mountain Railways, counts a modest three kilometers and 350 vertical meters down at the southwestern end of the eponymous ridge, including Kogel and lake. However, since the trail does not end directly at the parking lot of the Skiarena Loser, but a bit above at the road underpass, and because there is nothing to be seen of the advertised panorama cable car to the Loser due to environmental legal disputes, these key data are countered by about six kilometers and 450 vertical meters of DIY uphill from the Hagan Lodges to the elevation point of 1,316.

We have completed our fact-finding mission. Around ten kilometers of varied trail riding is contrasted with a tight 100 km/2,800 meters of elevation gain on gravel and asphalt roads, which would have been necessary to work through to access the trail sections on the officially associated routes.
This is not a ratio that will make true trail aficionados or even enduro riders cheer. But that's not the point. "We wanted to set an initial sign that we are also addressing this topic and have not forgotten about the associated clientele - including the locals," explains our faithful companion from the TVB, Christopher Unterberger.

Conclusion: The Dachstein Salzkammergut remains a stronghold for forest road enthusiasts who love to climb, its appeal primarily arising from the skilled interplay of fantastic natural landscapes including beautiful bathing lakes, impressive views, and great cuisine. However, for bikers with strong stamina (or those with electric support) who occasionally want to spice up their tours with some technical riding treats, this is a start. And especially for families and beginners, with the Trailcenter Maiswald hopefully more will be coming soon...