mountain bike holidays and the guides ramblings

An early start has benefits and drawbacks.  Now we aren’t talking really early here, just getting on the lifts when they open at 9am.  There aren’t many drawbacks, in fact the only serious one is that the dew will most likely still be down.  Therefore any roots will be just that little bit slipperier.

The benefits you ask? Well everything is quieter, the trails are empty which is better and personally that feeling of being alone on the mountain is pretty special.  Also, the cloud cover is sometimes in the valley which looks amazing.  Mountain biking above the cloud level is jaw-droppingly special.

For me though, it’s the wildlife as well which is great at this time of morning.  Now if the sound of 5 or so mountain bikers haring down a mountain doesn’t send all wildlife scampering off into the undergrowth then you might be luck enough to spot one of these fellas that I photographed.

The alpine marmot can be seen in this area.  More likely you’ll hear the high pitched whistling noise first though.  It really does make you turn round and see where the noise came from.  Which isn’t a good thing on a mountain bike on singletrack trails!

The marmot hibernates for up to 9 months of the year so its great if you actually get to see one.  Which we were lucky enough to do yesterday.  Oh I wish I had the big camera with me instead of the little point and click. 

Here are 6 interesting facts about the alpine marmot for you.

• The marmot isn’t small growing to about 50cm not including the tail. It is the largest of the squirrel species.
• The Alpine marmot used to be hunted as it was thought that the marmot fat would help relieve rheumatism. There is still a bit of sport hunting that takes place and this is dangerous as the marmot is quite slow at breeding.
• Marmots can live 15-18 years old.
• Hibernation can be up to 9 months and the heart rate will drop to 5 beats per minute.
• The Austrians call the marmot, “murmeltier” or “mankai” spelling is definitely wrong in the later.
• The Americans often call the marmot a groundhog.

We added this post on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 10:41 am.

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