When this trip was first being talked about our friends from Spain suggested a book, "Motorcycle journeys through the Alps and Corsica by John Hermann. It is a great touring guide of the hundreds of passes available to ride. Though they had been to the Alps on several occassions our friends had never ridden the Passo dello Stelvio and it was their number one goal of this adventure.
In order to reach the goal we first had to climb the Bernina pass, which based on the information in the book has the best views of the Piz Bernina, the highest peak in the area and its glaciers.
Through the course of the day we crossed the border between Switzerland and Italy 5 times. Fortunately the ECU has been established and the border crossings are just a drive through. Quoting again from the book, "just into Italy is the Italian town of Torano where a turn north starts the climb of thte most famous motorcycle destination in the APLS the Passo dello Stelvio. At 2758 meters it is one of the highest pass roads in the Alps. It seems like half the hairpins in the Alps are on the Stelvio, 40 or so on each side. They are hairpins with nearly a zero inside radius."
Even on a Monday there were hundreds of bikers on the road. There is even a backside entry from the village of Santa Maria that intersects the Stelvio midway up that we swung around to after first riding it up one side and down the other. I found it interesting that some of the Umbrail pass was maintained gravel rather than pavement. Fortunately it was only a small portion, 1/2 mile at most. Then we got to run down a section of the Stelvio that we had run up earlier in the day as we returned to Livigno where we had spent the previous night and left our trailers parked.
In order to reach the goal we first had to climb the Bernina pass, which based on the information in the book has the best views of the Piz Bernina, the highest peak in the area and its glaciers.
Through the course of the day we crossed the border between Switzerland and Italy 5 times. Fortunately the ECU has been established and the border crossings are just a drive through. Quoting again from the book, "just into Italy is the Italian town of Torano where a turn north starts the climb of thte most famous motorcycle destination in the APLS the Passo dello Stelvio. At 2758 meters it is one of the highest pass roads in the Alps. It seems like half the hairpins in the Alps are on the Stelvio, 40 or so on each side. They are hairpins with nearly a zero inside radius."
What's a zero inside radius???
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