July 21, 2013 Zone: Physical effort: Technical effort:

Tabacco Map: 02 .PDF Guide Parking Trail

Forni di Sopra - Giaf Shelter - Summer departure is close to fun area around Tagliamento River. This track is mainly on dirt road; some parts are on tarmac, but with limited or closed

traffic.

Track begin is along "Anello di Forni" path, biking along the left river side, at North, travelling toward valley begin. All on dirt road with small uphills and descents. A ramp indicates

tarmac road reaching to Giaf Shelter direction. You turn left; first part in plain, after a remarkable slope increase.

Here you find the 3 route choices, described in growing difficulty order:

Easy: the 'easy' route choice, the uphill stops at half of the road to the refuge: before that the slore rises, turn left. Proceed crossing a river (see picture number 3) and coming back to

Forni di Sopra, all on dirt road. The navigator track contains the 'hard' choice track, anyway crossing the river and starting the descent in a few hundreds of metres you'll reconnect to the

navigator track.

Medium: ...in this case you have to do all of the uphill. Yes, all of that. The slope increases, you pass over a bridge and the slope increases again; the first part of the road has a

concrete bottom. The 'medium' choice route involves that all of the main uphill is done, until the refuge is reached. There, the uphill stops and the descent starts, running on the same

uphill road. There's a trail from the refuge to the bridge on which you passed over before during uphill, but is not suggested for MTB, also because the descent road is very suitable for

the run: high slope and much straight lines.

Arriving to a left turn (see picture number 6) you have to turn right, joining a trail, easy and approximatively in plain, which drives to the neighboring valley, arriving to a stream shore.

You'll take so a descent dirt road, initially rough, that brings to the bottom of the valley first and so to the South side of Tagliamento river. The track is quite all inside the navigator track.

Hard: ...ok, did you read the 'easy' and 'medium' choices? Well done, now you'll know the funnier part. During the descent on dirt road, close to the bottom of the valley where the

descend is done, you'll see a signal (picture 10) that indicates the MTB path. Also the navigator point it out but... who looks to the navigator screen during descent??! So, you take the

trail that, with some metres of rise and some transverse - where you need to pay attention - takes to descent trail: this trail is only for mountain bikers, so ya, you can run! The trail comes

out on the dirt road along the Tagliamento river, present in all of the route choices, that brings back to the starting point.

When returning road, in descent, gets close to Tagliamento River all three route choices join. You go ahead along a soft descent between wood and fields, arriving close to park. The

track goes on, going down and turning after to a garden, lakes and bridges on Tagliamento River. You turn again to North-West, arriving soon to departure point.

As told before, the navigator track contains the 'hard' choice route. Its length is 14km, 600m of altitude gain.

Route start. As all this zone paths, there's a 'warning' signal at the

GALLERY

FORNI DI SOPRA

GIAF REFUGE

SUMMER

MTB Friuli | Forni di Sopra - Giaf Refuge - Summer

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Very easy, beside Tagliamento river. During winter, this

route becomes a nordic ski trail.

begin.

Let's know that in this trail: rocks fall, on both sides.

Anyway, stones prefer mainly left side, with rain or

snon. As usual, you'll get a 30% slope uphill, just a good

starting idea. Overall, now you're in the valley bottom,

some water overflow could take you away so... run!

Easy choice route.

Before that the real uphill begins, turn left on the road

that crosses the river, where shown in the picture. You'll

take the dirt road that's beside the river all along the

valley bottom, until reaching the starting route point.

Some hundreds of metres after the point shown in the

picture, you'll reconnect to the navigator track.

The uphill.

Dirt and quiet road, without particular problems, that

drives to Giaf refuge.

At the end of the road.

The Giaf Refuge on the top right and Cridola Mount at

background.

Along the descent, the route takes a trail, turning right.

The path drives to the neighboring valley from the

uphill one.

Soft uphills and descents, generally, the altitude is the

same.

At the stream border you'll find the picture signals.

Turn quickly left, don't take the trail on the other side

of the river.

MTB Friuli | Forni di Sopra - Giaf Refuge - Summer

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If you don't miss the road - picture above - you'll reach

a road, very good for running.

But pay attention, it's a extremely hard descent

(according to the signal).

'Medium' choice route.

The navigator track points out for a right turn and a

progression on the trail, limited to mtb runners. If you

want to limit the trail hardness, you can go ahead on

the dirt road, connecting the track in some hundreds of

metres.

The trail has not particular technical hardness.

We need to advise that there are some uphill metres

somewhere, in addition to some very narrow transversal

trail parts.

MTB Friuli | Forni di Sopra - Giaf Refuge - Summer

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