Nagens Trail – The world's first bike trail built with 100% e-energy

By August 2020, a construction project will be completed in Flims Laax Falera that is sure to delight mountain bikers in particular: the new Nagens Mountain Bike Trail. Only renewable energy from hydropower and solar energy will be used for the entire construction. From excavators to chainsaws, all equipment will be electrically powered. Even the trail builders and everyone else involved in the construction will travel to the site by electric car or e-bike – green style, in other words.

For Claudio Caluori of Velosolutions, it is clear that such unusual challenges are to be expected in a pioneering project like this. As the founder of the company, he and his team build trails and pump tracks all over the world and are therefore used to adapting to a wide variety of conditions: "Just transporting the machines up the mountain was the first hurdle: since we couldn't find an electric vehicle to do this, we drove straight up the mountain with the electric excavators, and of course the battery ran out halfway up. However, we made it to the next charging station, and so our team was able to start construction two hours later," he reports.

The construction of the Nagens Trail involves much more than just the use of electronic equipment: constant communication with the regional forestry engineer, environmental authorities, and experts is just as much a part of everyday life as keeping a list of specifications. This list records all interventions in nature—flora and fauna, groundwater, landscape, and surface water.

The new Enduro Singletrail runs for 4 kilometers from Nagens to Plaun, forming the final section of the bike trail from the Grauberg mountain station to Flims. From Plaun, you can return to the valley via the two existing trails, Green Valley or Runca Trail. The start can be reached from Flims via the Foppa–Naraus chairlift and then the Graubergbahn cable car. Like the existing Runca Trail, the Nagens Trail is categorized as red in terms of difficulty. Advanced mountain bikers with trail experience will feel right at home here.