As I was mapping out the day's route, I was a little perturbed that the big boys - Timmelsjoch and Passo della Stelvio, both over 2500m would elude me. I would miss both by maybe a week - unless it snowed more. Timmelsjoch gives daily updates of where they are, but even though they started clearing operations on April 30, they're not quite done. 10m of snow take a while to remove. Stelvio is cleared of snow, but not officially open. They need to be ready for the Giro a week from now, so I guess they're doing whatever repair work is required.
I started the day by riding the valley to the end. I figured it would be interesting to see where the Giro stage ended. The final few kilometers end in a 14% rise with a bunch of very tight switchbacks. Should be interesting to watch. I then set off to see how far up Stelvio I was able to go. I got to do the first five of 48 switchbacks. The mountain looks pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to riding it in June, but it would have been cool to do it with massive snowbanks on the side.
On the second pic the greyish lines are the stone 'guardrails' of the upper switchbacks.
Next up was Reschenpass into Austria. Fairly low at 1504m, but a long approach with nice sweepers. The north side is actually better, since theres more of a altitude delta, some some decent switchbacks that are wide enough to have a good flow. I rode that side down and followed that with a long descent into Tirol. I was planning on staying in Imst, but since I had plenty of time, I was going to do a 80km detour to the Kaunertal Glacier - 2750m! Stopped for lunch at a fish place and had a most exellent fresh and freshly smoked trout. The last 26km are a toll road, but it's well worth it. You wind your way along a long lake and the climb 29 switchbacks to the top. The road is pretty open, somewhat steep in part, but not too bad. That's a good thing, considering it's used by buses. At the top is a ski area - still open - and some pretty staggering views.
Every time I describe a view, I use superlatives, but it really is necessary. Everything is stupendous, breathtaking, astonishing - upend the thesaurus and you got it. Just to be clear, the Dolomites somehow still top it all. Undescribably, religiously awesome - so there.
Six hours on the road seem to be my maximum, so as I was heading back from the glacier valley and heading back up the mountain on the other side, I was thinking that it wouldn't be a bad thing if I didn't make it into Imst. as luck would have it, up came an Inn with rooms (and balconies) overlooking the valley I had just come from. Pretty cool. I decided that was a good thing and stopped for the night.
A few beers and a Wienerschnitzel on the terrace provided a satisfying end to the the day. So as I write this I'm getting pretty tired and will call it a night.
This is it - part one of the journey is just about over. I'll grab a pass or two tomorrow morning and then ride home to Grafenau. The next post will be from Germany. A quarter of my time away is over. It's not something I dwell on and in fact mostly everything is tuned out. The only reason I know what day it is, is because I keep track of the weather, so I don't run into trouble - and know when to ride to Germany. There were a time or two in an evening when I became introspective and started to think about my life. It didn't make me happy, but then I'm trying to maybe figure things out, so that's ok. It's been a good adventure so far. By tomorrow night I'll have covered over 4000km on the bike. I've been through six countries, seen some pretty neat sights. Three days from now I'll be 50. As my father, Klaus, likes to say - "So alt wird kein Schwein" :)
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