Val San Martino, Somaskio trail

This is in its genre a beautiful trail, just pulled together by the Bikers of the area who did a beautiful job! Those who follow me know that I tend to prefer very technical trails, but here we are dealing with a fast track where there is a search for the driven but without missing that touch of technical that positively amazed me.

As a group I recommend doing this climb only on weekends, the climb involves passing through the Italcementi quarry, I have not yet heard of people being sent back but I think it's best to avoid setting a precedent.

The climb is enjoyable for views of the valley, bottom and gradient always comfortable. Leaving the quarry you can immediately take the descent to the left or take a detour to the Linzone cross, the trail from here is almost all rideable by emtb, but mostly also by mtb. From the cross you descend on prairie and then via an eat and drink trail back to the junction described above.

Now begins the spectacular descent from the Somaskio trail with descents that have been named ValKava (Pine forest); Kava ;Kirurgico; Kapofitto; DH Kolle; Kavastopoi (Corkscrew). The difficulty is an S1 with S2 sections and lots of drops almost all with clean exit (but I still recommend studying them a minimum before jumping in blindly). The last descent is a beautiful driven one with lots of banked hairpin bends; the connection to the fork is a pedaled one of about 50 m. As an alternative to this last descent, it is possible to detour to the more technical S2 "Ka Muracca" that comes out at the fork avoiding the pedaled section.

From here the trail becomes an XC route with S1 difficulty that with a nice eat and drink will take us back to Palazzago (very last S2 mule track). Here is the video made by of the 2023 panettonata. Thanks to Tarta and Nolimits and those who organized the panettonata, trailbuilders in the area and @ronzino for the video

Trail style: Enduro, XC last part

Personal rating: 9/10

MTB: Yes

EMTB: Yes

Difficulty uphill: Easy

Difficulty descent: S1/S2 (watch out for drops)

Drainage: Mostly compacted ground, best to do it only after dry periods