Photo Story: Dream Ridge Project

Word: Andy Cole

The Dream Ridge Project… At around 155km long, and following the Austro-Italian border, lies a trail known as the Karnischen Hohwenweg. This trail between Sillian and Thörl-Maglern runs along the ridge of the Karnischen Alps. Encapsulating some of the world’s most beautiful scenery, this natural wonder winds through an amazing array of geological and natural landscapes. During the First World War, the front between Italy and Austria ran along the crest of the Carnic Alps. The traces of this mountain war are visible along the long-distance trail.

This ride encapsulates all things Grizzly Munro Diaries. Exposure, hard to reach single-track, epic mountain ranges, backdrops that will take your breath away, hike’a’bike, a world class photographer, and a challenge that allows us to push the envelope on where bikes can be taken and ridden.

With that in mind, we were all set for another trip of a lifetime. The truck was packed, the Ferry was booked, all that was required now was around 25 hours of driving, to get us from the East coast of Scotland, to Sillian, on the Austro-Italian border.




The journey was relatively plain sailing. Working our way across the flat landscapes of Europe, allowed our interests to peak as we began to meander through the idyllic roads of Austria, gazing wide-eyed towards the grandeur of the Dolomites in neighboring Italy. Finally we arrived at our hotel, in time to catch the local restaurant for some pizza and a couple of beers.


After two days on the road, we slept well. There were no long lies to be had though with 6am breakfasts due for the next 8 days. We would be taking on this route in a hut-to-hut style, meaning our times were pre-determined. If we missed breakfast, or didn’t make it to the next hut in time for dinner, then we wouldn’t be eating.

With our packs filled to the brim, and bar rolls mounted, we cranked through the first pedal strokes. We were aware of the gondola that could shorten the length of our first day and help us reach the desired altitude. Having spotted it on our recce the night before, we headed straight for it with no hesitation, not even bothering to turn on the GPS at this point. Once at the top station we pedaled on towards the ridge, not a care in the world. A little over two hours later and dumbfounded by the terrain and views not being quite what we expected, we finally decided to turn on the GPS. It obviously wasn’t working, as it said our desired start point was 23km away. Could it be that in our giddy, boisterous nature we overlooked the fact that we were in the Alps and there are many, many Gondolas? I cannot believe this was how we started the project… on the wrong ridge.





The race was on. It was around 13.45. We had to descend 1800m to the valley floor, ride another 10km up the valley to the Gondola that went up the opposing ridge. The last lift was at 16.00. We had an even bigger problem than that though, we needed to reach our first nights accommodation for 17.00, in order to get dinner, furthermore, it was another 10km from where we would get off the lift. Already, things seemed to be falling apart. One problem at a time.



We raced to that gondola like our life depended on it. Now at least on the correct mountain, we could begin working through the remainder of issues. A lack of phone signal meant we had to hope that the first hut received my panicked email and would allow us to arrive extremely late. All we could think about for the next 4 hours was reaching that hut. The endless hike’a’bike, the thunderstorms, the snow, it was all just chipping away at our morale. We were tired and hungry, and the sun was setting. The realization that we might be spending our first night out on the open mountain was starting to set in. I had also started to notice some leaking from my front brake lever. We pushed on, nearing exhaustion and adorning our headtorches, the lights of the Obstansersee Hutte finally greeted us from over the brow. One final descent.

42km and 12 hours later, we had reached our destination. Luckily it was one of the residents birthdays, so they were still celebrating when we arrived at 22.00. After many apologies, we even managed a hot meal and a beer.


With the calamity of day one over, we arose with a fresh mindset and ready to tackle day two head on. After breakfast, it was straight into a 500m climb which saw us summit Pfannspitze at 2678m. Being up here, incredible, exposed single-track laid out ahead of us, it was a stark reminder of why I wanted to attempt this challenge in the first place. It was surreal. The day was littered with incredible riding, on every terrain imaginable. Our riding and scrambling abilities were pushed to the test around every corner. Our map reading skills were also stretched as the many variable routes across this region complicated matters. With a couple of wrong turns under our belt, we were left with one last climb over a high-pass, before an awesome descent to Porzehutte. The day was challenging though. Again we hadn’t had anything substantial to eat except the snacks we could carry, and even without any mulling around, I had still only made the next hut in time for our dinner reservation. The brake issue was becoming a little more prominent. I was losing a lot of fluid. My initial thought that it was just excess fluid from bleeding them the week before was wrong. We may just have another problem.











A broken sleep in what was undoubtedly the warmest room in the world, had us waking with a banging headache. I felt as though I'd had a really heavy night on the beers. I could feel my brain rattling around inside my skull. I was suffering with some severe dehydration. At dinner the night before, the hosts had informed all patrons of the impending thunderstorm, and advised all groups to drop down into Italy on a lower trail around 500m below the ridge itself. This route was slightly longer and ended with a horrific 600m climb back up to the high pass. Each step was a battle. The sun was blazing on our backs, no wind to be felt. Water supplies were also running low. Once over the high pass, it was like entering another world. The wind that we were sheltered from was upon us. We were enthroned in heavy fog. The temperature had dropped significantly. In that moment, all I wanted was to be home. We picked our way down between the crags and cliffs and at one point, I was truly humbled with a near miss which could have been fatal. This terrain, exhaustion and now zero front brake, are not a combination I want to deal with. It was time to push down for a bit.








We reached Hochweisteinhaus in time for a dinner order but we really needed to make a plan of action. We couldn’t continue like this. We were pushing so hard just to make the huts within the time frame, that we were barely able to enjoy the surroundings. The trip was a marketing trip, but we were pushing so hard we couldn’t stop to set up the photos. Now we had these problems to face but I only had one brake. If we continued like this, there was a real possibility that one of us wouldn’t be making it home.






The next morning we felt a weight lifted off our chests. We figured we would have to skip a day of the route and continue once my bike had been fixed. We made the most of our surroundings and battled on down to the valley floor, pumping my front brake the whole time. Once down we had a bit of a logistical nightmare in trying to get back to Sillian with the bikes. After a bus ride to the truck, and then a drive back to Andy for the bikes, we could make our way to a bike shop. This seemed a little more difficult than we anticipated. Each shop was either closed or unaware what HOPE brakes were? We finally managed to get a decent bike shop and the work done, but it was too late to regain the ridge. That night we spent hours going over the logistics of making the rest of the project happen. Months of planning was going down the toilet in an instant. I had to make the call. I pulled the plug on the Dream Ridge Project.

With so much time, effort and money having gone into this trip, we pulled together with a list of places that we had hoped to ride and photograph. Lets make the most of our surrounding and this opportunity. I strongly believe this had panned out this way for a reason. For the next week we hit the road, country hopping to some of the most mind blowing locations I have ever had the pleasure of riding a bike.

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