There are countless Alpine passes. Many of them are very famous ... in movies like James Bond or The Italian Job ... in bicycle races like the Giro d'Italia or Tour de France ... not to mention in a historical context.
Since we'll only have this summer, and perhaps part of next summer, to spend serious time on Alpine passes, then a measure of success will be the number of activities we can complete in Alpine passes. Activities are likely to include hiking on our feet, cycling on our mountain bikes and driving the Lotus Elise.
Some ideas that are beyond the aspirational are:
1. Driving the loop of Tremola, Sustenpass, Grimselpass and Nufenenpass.
2. Driving the weird Splügenpass down to Lake Como.
3. Driving the Piccolo San Bernardo where the original Italian Job was filmed.
4. Cycling the Passo di Stelvio (Stilferjoch) which at 2,750m is the highest navigable pass in Europe, and subject to snow falls at any time of year.
In case you're new to this game, let me provide some websites that will help you to plan your own Alpine Pass adventures, whether on foot, bike or car.
First, the Touring Club of Switzerland (TCS) has a section on its site giving opening and closing times of all the Cols and Tunnels. It's only in French, Italian and German, but you'll muddle your way through. http://www.tcs.ch/main/fr/home/verkehrsinfo/paesse_tunnels.html
There are also many sites indicating favourites etc, such as http://www.alpineroads.com/
If you're biking it (or you just like the gradient/profile type of statistics), the http://www.climbbybike.com/ website is a must. Detailed graph of the 100's of hill profiles, with distance, % incline, altitude, etc.
So let's move onto the first outing on the Alpine Passes.
Since we'll only have this summer, and perhaps part of next summer, to spend serious time on Alpine passes, then a measure of success will be the number of activities we can complete in Alpine passes. Activities are likely to include hiking on our feet, cycling on our mountain bikes and driving the Lotus Elise.
Some ideas that are beyond the aspirational are:
1. Driving the loop of Tremola, Sustenpass, Grimselpass and Nufenenpass.
2. Driving the weird Splügenpass down to Lake Como.
3. Driving the Piccolo San Bernardo where the original Italian Job was filmed.
4. Cycling the Passo di Stelvio (Stilferjoch) which at 2,750m is the highest navigable pass in Europe, and subject to snow falls at any time of year.
In case you're new to this game, let me provide some websites that will help you to plan your own Alpine Pass adventures, whether on foot, bike or car.
First, the Touring Club of Switzerland (TCS) has a section on its site giving opening and closing times of all the Cols and Tunnels. It's only in French, Italian and German, but you'll muddle your way through. http://www.tcs.ch/main/fr/home/verkehrsinfo/paesse_tunnels.html
There are also many sites indicating favourites etc, such as http://www.alpineroads.com/
If you're biking it (or you just like the gradient/profile type of statistics), the http://www.climbbybike.com/ website is a must. Detailed graph of the 100's of hill profiles, with distance, % incline, altitude, etc.
So let's move onto the first outing on the Alpine Passes.
