Day 10: Mon 15th June 2009

 

Ride: Stelvio, Umbrail, Ofen & Bernina - 153 miles

 

Last night the Stelvio had been discussed extensively and it went without saying that Kyle, Phil and Mark would ride it today. Yesterday Bobby, Pete, Cat, Taj and Gaz had ridden it going up the northern ramp - with its 48 almost zero radius hairpins - and down the southern side - the gentler side of the Stelvio. However, from Livigno it's more logical to ride it in reverse, going up the more open southern ramp and down the steeper, much tighter northern ramp. For the most part last nights discussion had been about which was the best way to ride the pass, north to south or south to north?

 

However, after all the talk about how steep and tight the Stelvio was Phil wasn’t feeling wildly enthusiastic about riding it this morning. He'd begun to think that his HP2 Sport wouldn't feel at all comfortable with all those tight hairpins that constantly turn back on themselves, and up a virtually vertical wall of mountainside. All in all it didn't sound like a pleasant ride out. Nevertheless, whatever Phil's misgivings, he, Kyle and Mark set off as planned and with the opportunity to knock off another couple of the pass roads from the bagging list of 10 highest passes in Europe - the Stelvio at number 2 and the Umbrail at number 10.

 

There are only three roads that lead out of Livigno. You can either take the Munt La Schera tunnel to the north, the Forcola di Livigno to the west, or the pass roads Passo d'Eira and Passo di Foscagno to the south. Kyle, Phil and Mark headed south.

 

 

It's 23 miles from Livigno to the bottom of the Stelvio's southern ramp but after stopping to take photos Phil lost touch with Kyle and Mark early into the ride. The route however is pretty straightforward, up and over the Foscagno heading towards Bormio and then take the left turn up the Passo dello Stelvio - or Stilfser Joch.

 

 

At the bottom of the southern ramp there's a bust of Carlo Donegani, the great civil engineer who built this Imperial road over the Stelvio. It was commissioned in 1818 by Franz I, the Emperor of Austria, to connect the Austrian Empire to Lombardy. This 30 mile long road with its 60 plus hairpins climbs 1,871m peaking at 2,758m. Construction started in 1820 and work was completed in 1825 and there's a museum on the Stelvio that documents the construction of this mountain pass. Like the pass, the museum is open from late May until early November.

 

 

After all his misgivings Phil actually enjoyed the ride up - great views and the hairpins weren’t that tight.

 

The southern ramp can be broken down into three sections. The first is open and flowing and takes you through a number of narrow tunnels. The tunnels are generally wet, unlit, and single lane so take care going through them.

 

 

The short second section takes you up a series of 14 hairpins that are next to a fast flowing stream - almost waterfall - and this marks the midway point.

 

 

The third section starts after the 14 hairpins and this is a lovely road where the pass begins to open up again.

 

 

Unlike to first section, this part of the pass remains wide and open all the way to the summit. On the way up to the summit you'll pass a turning off to the left, this will take you down to the Umbrail and ultimately Santa Maria.

 

 

After a number of photo stops on the way up Phil eventually emerged at the top however the commercial centre at the summit is incredibly busy and Kyle and Mark were nowhere to be seen.

 

 

No problem thought Phil, just ring them and leave a message, at which point his phone rang - it was Mark. Both Mark and Kyle were at the Tibetan cafe, about 400m away and another 100m higher. They'd seen Phil arrive and were looking down waving at him to get his attention.

 

 

To get to the Tibetan cafe just turn right (or left) at the summit and wind your way up the loose gravel road, past the car park, and bear left. You get a fantastic view of the iconic northern ramp from there, and the coffee is good too.

 

 

Going down the northern ramp was no problem, it was Monday and the traffic was light, and in everyone's opinion coming down it was easier than going up it. For a start it's far easier to see what’s coming up and in fact a couple of times they stopped to allow bikers coming up to use the full width of the road. Riding 48 hairpins, 46 of which are consecutive, does tend to impart a sense of déjà vu, but having said that the Stelvio is one of the iconic Alpine roads and just has to be ridden.

 

 

After a short stop in Prato allo Stelvio it was on to Glurns and back up the Mustair valley to Santa Maria. There, in the middle of the village, they turned off left and headed up the Umbrail Pass. This is the only pass where part of the road is unmade however even the unpaved section is pretty good.

 

After a series of tight hairpins early on the road opens up but as it does so, the surface turns from tarmac to hard packed earth with loose gravel on the surface. Fortunately there are only a couple of tight corners and if you're worried about the front wheel washing out don’t be too proud to put your feet down. And don’t worry about the back, that will take care of itself.

 

 

You're not on the unpaved section for very long, and after crossing over a small bridge and the road becomes tarmac again, and then it’s a straightforward run up to the summit.

 

 

From the summit you can see the Stelvio and in fact a little further on there’s a T junction which connects the Umbrail with the southern ramp of the Stelvio. After a few photos at the top they retraced their steps and headed back down the pass to the town of Santa Maria and a second coffee break.

 

 

Over coffee Kyle, Phil and Mark got into an involved debate about why nobody had got their knee down on this trip. Phil's answer was simple - he didn't have knee sliders. Phil then pointed out that the next section of road over the Ofen Pass - or Pass dal Fuorn - would be ideal for a bit of knee down activity. He pointed out that Mark had only been a whisker away from grounding out the left hand silencer on the Blackbird the previous day, and all that was required was for him to start hanging off the bike and point his knee at the tarmac, whilst maintaining a decent speed round the tighter corners...et voila, Bob est votre oncle!

 

What followed could only be described as laughable. Mark was even further from the tarmac than he was the day before. Phil thought he had got a really decent lean angle only to look down and see that the left hand cylinder head was a good deal nearer to the ground than his knee was. And from Phil’s perspective Kyle appeared to be trying to qualify as a contortionist. Net result - no knee down action. Phil decided that the only way he would ever get his knee down would be to buy extra large knee sliders and then strap a couple of Coke cans to them.

 

After that debacle they continued on the Ofen, past the Munt La Schera tunnel - which takes you into Livigno - and on towards Zernez. The road between the tunnel and Zernez is very good and might merit a pass name but for whatever reason it doesn’t.

 

 

At Zernez they turned left towards San Moritz and followed the signs to the Bernina. The final leg of the route today consisted of a ride up the northern ramp of the Bernina, a short way run down the other side, and then a left turn over Forcola back into Livigno. The first section of the road out of Zernez was very good up to Pont de Chamues, where you can turn right for the Albula, but after that it’s pretty much a bypass all the way until the turn off to San Moritz. It's just the sort of road that encourages speed but where you're likely to ride straight into a police speed trap.

 

At the San Moritz roundabout they then turned left past Pontresina towards Tirano and Italy and the northern ramp of the Bernina Pass. From the Pontresina end the Bernina doesn’t climb a great deal and there is only one moderately tight section. Other than that it’s a very fast open road. It runs very close to the Bernina Express railway which crosses the road a couple of times. Just don’t do what Mark did, which was park by the side of the road to take a photo only to find the train bearing down on him from behind!

 

 

From the top of the Bernina it's only a couple of miles down the southern ramp until you reach the left turn that takes you over the Forcola di Livigno and into the Livigno valley.

 

 

The Forcola, though reasonably high, is a straightforward road on both sides, and from the left turn off the Bernina it's only 9 miles back into Livigno. So from there it was a straight run back to base at Hotel Cervo to meet up with the rest of the group and find out what they'd been up to all day.

Ride: Ofen, Umbrail & Stelvio - 133 miles

 

Cat had done his own thing today as none of the others was up for a long ride out and he fancied covering a few miles. And ironically he'd covered some of the same ground that Kyle, Phil and Mark had. He'd left Livigno via the Punt dal Gallo arch dam and ridden through the Munt La Schera tunnel - a toll tunnel costing Euro 7 - where he turned right onto the Ofen Pass.

 

 

 

And it was on the Ofen Pass that Cat discovered motorcycling nirvana. The road over the Ofen heading towards Merano is the perfect road for his V-Max, a bike far better suited to fast open flowing roads rather than the tight hairpins of the Stelvio and the like.

 

With no particular plan Cat's thought had been to ride out of Livigno through the tunnel and then somehow loop back on an alternative route, but without riding the Stelvio for a second time. However, after riding for quite some time, just enjoying the moment, he realised that to avoid the Stelvio he should have turned left after the tunnel, towards the Bernina Pass, rather than turning right towards Merano.

 

After a quick stop to check his map a decision was made. It meant a slight retrace of steps but if he headed towards Santa Maria he could pick up the Umbrail Pass and join the Stelvio, riding down it's gentler southern ramp - whilst managing to avoid riding up it's tight northern ramp.

 

 

From the Stelvio he simply dropped down onto the Passo di Foscagno and followed the SS301 over the Passo d'Eira, and completed his loop back into Livigno.

 

All in all another great ride out for all those that ventured out, but probably more so for Cat who, after a few days spent scratching his head wondering whether he'd bought the right bike, discovered what his V-Max was all about.

 

Bobby, Pete, Taj and Gaz did venture out during the day and like Cat they rode north out of Livigno towards the Punt dal Gall arch dam, but unlike Cat they had lunch on their mind and their plan for the day was simple. Find somewhere scenic but not too far away from Livigno to have a lazy lunch, take a few photos, and then head back to base.

 

From Livigno it's a short scenic ride to the arch dam with the 7 mile road following the shoreline of Lago di Livigno - or Lago del Gallo. Actually a resevoir rather than a lake, it lies mostly in Italy although the arch dam marks the border between Italy and Switzerland. Most of the road is open tunnel and we presume that this is to allow the road into Livigno to remain open during the winter months.

 

 

 

 

By alll accounts they did find somewhere to have lunch, chancing upon possibly the worst meal anyone could find in Italy, or it could have been Switzerland.