On this MTB adventure, you will enjoy demanding and technical riding as well as rolling flow paths. Double tracks in a never-ending gently rolling mountain plain landscape and hilly fjord landscape! Each afternoon, regardless of whether we are staying at a traditional mountain lodge or at Glød, we enjoy a relaxing sauna followed by good food accompanied by wine, after several hours on the bike seat.
Long days
This is a relatively demanding trip with long biking days of up to 6-8 hours including a lunch break, in sometimes challenging terrain. The distances vary from 25 to 60 km and the average speed ranges from 10-20 km/h. The combination of relatively long distances and difficult terrain makes it a requirement that all participants must be in good shape and be experienced mountain bikers.
Double and single tracks
The first day in the Alta Valley offers excellent trails that are technical and relatively challenging combined with pure flow trails. On the Finnmark mountain plateau, we largely follow the Sami people’s quad bike tracks, which means there are a lot of double tracks. The majority offer excellent biking, while some sections are stony and relatively demanding. The trip also includes a series of marsh and river crossings, which involve carrying your bike. There are no major mountains to climb, but the mountain plateau is by no means flat! This means you may climb 750-1,000 m in a day, which you will feel in your legs! We will also head out to the coast, where we discover a different landscape – hilly terrain offering wonderful views of fjords, mountains and glaciers.
On our Skill and Fitness – scale this is a S5/F7-tour.
Several of the routes are also used for both the 300 and 700 km classes of the Offroad Finnmark mountain bike race.
Accommodation
Overnight accommodation during the trip is included in the tour price and will be in the Aurora Canvas Dome or Pine Forest Apartment at Glød on the outskirts of Alta and at the Jotka Fjellstue mountain lodge on the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau. Please advise us if you require accommodation before or after the tour.
Meals
All meals (from soup and bread on the first evening to lunch day 6) are included. Beer/wine and soft drinks are additional.
Bike and equipment
A full suspension bike is preferable, ideally a 29er. The tyres should have relatively thick tread pattern and reinforced sidewalls, a la Schwalbe Hans Dampf and Maxxis Ardent with good volume like 2.25″ or more.
If you do not have a full suspension bike but would like to try this trip, you may rent a suitable bike from us! Click here to read more about mountain bike rental. We also rent out full suspension electric mountain bikes. Price NOK 2910.
Repairman and local guide
You will be joined on this adventure by a local MTB guide who has the main responsibility for safety and navigation. In addition to being well acquainted with the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau after many trips there, the guide is also a technically competent mountain biker and can repair many of the eventualities that can occur on such an expedition. Our guides are also hobby gourmets and it is not out of the question that a delicacy or two will be prepared on an open fire at lunch time!
Transfers
We will pick you up at the airport on arrival and get you back to the airport in time for your flight home.
Are you ready? We are!
Join us for an adventure!
Day 1
Arrival in Alta
We pick you up at the airport
Check in Aurora Canvas Dome or Pine Forest Apartment
Meet the rest of the group, assemble/adapt the bikes, look at the plan and check the weather forecast.
Soup of the evening & bread
Day 2
After breakfast, we take advantage of the diverse selection of trails and tracks on offer in the Alta Valley! Since the guide has local knowledge, we ride the most secret and best alternatives including Sonja Kristins Cocktail, Jorra Jungle, Baddomella, Sandfallet, Kaffemokka, Cover Trail and Dollarsvingen.
We love open fires, coffee brewed on the fire and good food. We will stop and brew coffee on an open fire during the trip and serve our famous moose burgers for lunch when we return to Glød. We will also pack for the four next days.
Biking 3-5 hours, 35-40 km
Dinner
Stay overnight in Pine Forest lodging
Day 3
We set off on our mountain biking adventure on the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau. We drive to Masi and bike from here northwards to the Jotka Fjellstue mountain lodge. We start with a quite challenging ascent and serpentine turns, which is nevertheless quite rideable. The terrain eventually flattens out and we can enjoy the typical mountain plateau landscape with low rolling terrain as far as the eye can see. Ahead of us is brilliant biking on quad bike paths, trails and trails towards the north. We stop along the way and grill lunch on an open fire. After lunch, we will eventually start to see the mountains on the coast of Finnmark to the north before we head east to today’s destination – the incredibly cosy mountain lodge Jotka Fjellstue!
This leg is identical to one of the legs during OffroadFinnmark 300 in 2016.
After a long day on the bike seat, our welcome beer tastes quite OK! At Jotka we enjoy a sauna and a delicious dinner. We stay in the mountain lodge’s cosy cabins. Your bag will be available at the mountain lodge.
Biking: 6-8 hours, 50 km
Day 4
We head towards Alta, following one of the most beautiful sections of the route used for the OffroadFinnmark mountain bike race. We can see the mountains on the Finnmark coast to the north and, with a southerly wind at our backs, this day will be remembered for a lot of flow!
The day concludes with a fantastic, and in some places slightly technical, single track down to the Alta Valley, and further along the banks of the Alta river down to GLØD HQ, where you can enjoy a shower and sauna.
Biking 5-7 hours, 45 km
Stay overnight in Pine Forest lodging
Day 5
Today we will head slightly further west, where the mountains are steeper, and the terrain is more demanding. We will ride the Lakkonjarga Highway in the Bognelvdalen valley in Langfjord. This is a relatively hilly path/quad bike track used by the local Sami people. The start is steep and a lot of it is quite simply “hike-a-bike”. We eventually get above the tree line and the terrain is very hilly – quite different to what we experienced on the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau. The views of the fjord and glaciers make the experience different that the previous days.
Lunch is served at the cabin of Glød Founder/CEO Trygve, which has an idyllic setting on the shores of lake Bognelvvannet. After lunch, we follow a technical path down the Bognelvdalen valley, which offers relatively demanding and fun mountain biking.
Biking 4-6 hours, 25 km
Stay overnight in Pine Forest lodging
Day 6
On the final day, we will ride to and experience the Alta Canyon. This majestic canyon stretches majestically south-eastwards from Alta cuts through the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau like a knife. Experience sheer rock walls, wonderful views of the Alta river and birds of prey circling in the air currents. Maybe we will see a salmon angler way down below taming a big salmon from a river boat.
We start the bike ride from the Suolovuopmi Fjellstue mountain lodge. The first section follows a good gravel road over the Beskades mountain ridge. After about 20 km, we turn off onto a far more challenging path that will eventually lead us out to the edge of the canyon. Some of this path is so technically that we will settle for “hike-a-bike”.
Lunch will be served by the outer edge of Alta Canyon, one of the largest canyons in northern Europe.
Lunch will be followed by a long downhill ride on gravel, asphalt and finally the reward: the Jorra Trail! It’s then time to ride back to Glød HQ.
Biking 6-8 hours, 60 km
Please note that the route is subject to change due to the weather, state of the tracks/trails or other conditions.
This adventure requires a proper mountain bike. We recommend a full-suspension bike.
If you are in doubt about whether your bike is suitable, you can rent a full suspension bike from us, which will take you happily over most technical MTB challenges you will encounter on the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau. However, you need to take care of progress and balance, unless you opt for an electric MTB which may can also rent from us.
Moreover, you need to bring a helmet, gloves, biking shoes, shorts with padding, woollen underwear, extra pack (approx. 25 litre, preferably a hydration backpack) for rainwear, a thin sweater, helmet cap, an energy bar or two and spare parts.
The bag containing your personal belongings will be transported to Jotka Fjellstue mountain lodge.
We will send a complete equipment list when your booking is confirmed.
Dates
The trip can be arranged from around 20 June until the end of September. We like to recommend August and September to get away from mosquitoes on the plain.
No fixed dates, but if you are part of a group, get in touch and we will arrange when it suits you.
Price: NOK 18 900 per person (twin share)
Single room supplement NOK 4,000
The tour price includes all transfers (including pick up and drop off at the airport), baggage transport, guide, meals and accommodation (twin share).
Rental bike: from NOK 600 per day. Check them out here.
Additional
Extra night: Aurora Canvas Dome, NOK 1450 pp (twin share) per night including breakfast
Dinner day 6: NOK 550