AUSTRALIAN ALPINE EPICS
THE BEST RIDES ARE THE ONES THAT TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE - AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE AUSTRALIAN ALPINE EPIC TRAIL DOES.
The Australian Alpine Epic Trail has been open for over 4 years – and as our crew were reminded, it is still an epic day out on the mountain bikes.
This is the story of an epic adventure. A bike ride with friends on a trail deep in the mountains. It spanned close to seven hours though we’ll shorten the story here in sake of whatever else you have to do today. There will be highs, lows, confusion and elation. We could focus on the highs and put a rose-coloured tint on the photos, though that would be selling the adventure short. Adventures aren’t about smooth sailing, they’re about riding the waves of whatever comes your way in the part of the world you decide to explore.
Mt Buller in the Victorian Alps is the part of the world that our little big adventure takes place. It’s not a random corner of the universe that we decided to roam but rather a place crafted for exploring. It’s linear in that there’s a start and end and a somewhat clearly defined path, but what makes it special is the sandbox of opportunities that this path provides.
It’s called the Australian Alpine Epic Trail and covers over 40km of alpine bushland during its traverse and descent of the Alps. The route takes riders from the Mt Buller village down 2187m to Mirimbah in the valley and takes in some of Buller’s favourite trails early on while leaving the best until last to make sure you earn your turns. The ‘Epic’ tagline isn’t just an adjective but an IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association) certification for trails around the world that deliver exceptional backcountry experiences.
To be IMBA ‘Epic’ certified, trails must be a true natural backcountry experience with at least 80% singletrack over a minimum 32km length. It also must be technically and physically challenging. At the moment there are 53 Epic trails around the world, with a whole host in the US and a few in places like New Zealand, Iceland and Wales among others. Opened by the Glen Jacobs led World Trail team back in 2014, the Alpine Epic Trail is the only Epic trail in Australia.
PRESS START... AFTER A COFFEE
The weather for our adventure was very… alpine. They do warn that the weather in the mountains can change in an instant, which is what we were hoping for when the thick mist swirled around the Buller village in the morning. But even after an extended coffee break, the mist remained, and it was time to bite the bullet so to speak.
The first trails were some of the classics, One Tree Hill into Gang Gangs and up over Corn Hill. We had all experienced these trails over the years and they served as a good introduction to what was to come. The fog created a tunnel effect along with the canopy of snowgums and we motored along the natural flowing trails. The point-to-point nature of the ride means each switchback is a step further away from civilisation. Though the small bits of civilisation in the form of alpine huts along the route would serve as checkpoints on our ride.
The first came at Howqua Gap after the sweeping descent off Cornhill and the Woolybutt trail. Most people who have ridden Buller would know the Howqua Gap Hut as the start of the Stonefly loop. I have ridden past the hut over the years, though this was the first time I have stopped to check it out. These classic wooden huts are synonymous with the Alps and really let you feel how it would have been to ride mountain bikes in the area a hundred years ago.
Our next stop would be the GGS Hut, but first we needed to ascend Mt Stirling via the climbing section of the Stonefly loop. The mist quickly thickened as we climbed to our highest point on the ride of 1650m. While the whole route is mainly a downhill point-to-point, there is still 1245m of climbing over its 40km, with the Stonefly section one of the most technical bits to overcome especially in slick conditions. The climbing mixed with slick uphill rock slabs and roots create a real
“SOME OF THE CORNERS ARE AS CLOSE TO PERFECT AS YOU CAN GET. THEY NATURALLY THROW YOU INTO A SCANDI- FLICK AND TRANSITION YOU INTO THE BERM WITH SO MUCH EASE AND FLOW THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD HIT REPLA Y”
challenge that does make slugging uphill a bit more interesting. The Bluff Spur Memorial Hut, which signifies the highest point of the Stonefly loop, and then lunch at the GGS Hut would mark the end of where our typical Buller adventures would venture. The usual ride would take us back towards Buller down the Stonefly descent but this time we would be heading further north and into the Alps.
THE END OF THE USUAL
While a good majority of the Epic trail is singletrack there are still some fire roads, particularly in the ‘traverse’ section between the GGS Hut and the top of the final descent. With singletrack heavy sections bookending the route, it is good to cruise some fire roads in the middle to appreciate the surrounding nature and try to out drift your riding mates as you smash downhill as fast as you can!
Most of the descending ‘road’ sections are actually pretty rough and fun, while the climbing bits are smoother and let you settle in, though they don’t last too long. The huts around Telephone Box Junction sit roughly halfway along the route. The infrastructure around the route lets you know exactly where you are at key points with large maps and signposts. Even though the route is signposted it is best to take a map to double check your position at some of the junction points. Or even so you can take a detour to one of the peaks like Mt Stirling and find your way back
to the trail. As we continued along the traverse and gradual descent, we begun to dip below the fog line just in time to catch the views out towards the lowlands around Mansfield. In between the vistas were some great riding sections along old roads that had grown over and only a single trail remained. These flat-out bits of trail were awesome to attack on the trail bikes and they became as technical as you wanted by letting you push the pace just a little more around the drifty corners.
WHY IT W AS ALL WORTH IT
We knew at this point we still had a fair bit of descending to go, we also knew most of the route was singletrack and we had been on fire roads for a good amount of time which meant only one thing, it was time for a big singletrack descent. The hope was for a World Trail masterpiece though being so far away from the main resort I had my doubts about how good it would be. We were ‘backcountry’, so singletrack scratched into the earth was about the highest I had hoped. I was wrong. Thirty kilometres into the ride a single ‘enjoy’ sign cut into a tree signified the start of an epic 6km trail. This section was so perfectly groomed and sculpted that it would be just at home sitting directly underneath the chairlift back in Buller. It’s very much a flow trail and relatively easy to ride though given its remoteness that’s not a bad thing. You can flow with friends and push the pace high if you wish. Some of the corners are as close to perfect as you can get. They naturally throw you into a scandi-flick and transition you into the berm with so much ease and flow that you wish you could hit replay, though you don’t need to as you are straight into another almost immediately, and there are 6 kilometres of them.
After all the climbs to get to this point it was a great surprise to ride such a rad trail and it made all the work worth it. Though this wasn’t the end, as at the bottom of the valley we still had a short and beautiful ride along the Delatite River to reach our pick-up at Mirimbah that would take us back up to Buller. At this point we had almost seven hours on the clock, our photographers e-bike had died – it made it further than I thought – we were out of food and thankful it hadn’t rained.
We had taken our time and stopped for photos which dragged the time out a bit, but whatever way you spin it this ride was epic. The trails, views, landscape changes and general enormity of the route personally made me glad we had ventured out from ‘the usual’. It could have gone smoother, been a nice sunny day, been a bit shorter, but really, I was thankful it didn’t. Smooth adventures are rarely remembered. This one will surely be for years to come.