Swiss Alps in July

Gianni

Will be riding from Geneva to Verona ( Italy ) starting on
14th of July. The plan is riding to Chamonix, along the
Rhone Valley up Furkapass, Oberalppass, Fluelapass and sweet
last italian's favourite Stelvio pass ( sweet 2757m ).
Suggestions welcomed from anyone who has been riding parts
of this route or if you are going to be around there at the
same time let me know. Gianni

Per LöWdin

Sweet ride, particularly the Rhone valley in Wallis, liked St Moritz and
Livigno, splendid passes, nice to do the Stelvio via Umbria Pass. Just one
reservation, weather can be hell around Furka, sleet and snow on bad days,
even in July.
http://www.lowdin.nu/MTB/singletrac...leTrack2000.htm

Per

"gianni" <giannifilippini@yahoo.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:18b6b32d.0407090152.4334d05@posting.google.com...
> Will be riding from Geneva to Verona ( Italy ) starting on
> 14th of July. The plan is riding to Chamonix, along the
> Rhone Valley up Furkapass, Oberalppass, Fluelapass and
> sweet last italian's favourite Stelvio pass ( sweet 2757m
> ). Suggestions welcomed from anyone who has been riding
> parts of this route or if you are going to be around there
> at the same time let me know. Gianni

Torsten Amundse

Having just come back from biking vacation in switzerland I
would give you the following advice. I would recommend
taking the route over the albula pass instead of going over
the fluela pass. The albula pass is much quieter and nicer
(and little steeper) and you will also be closer to the
st.moritz area when you get to the engadina valley. If you
like railway and spectacular sceneries you could always take
a rest-day (or even 1/2 day) in albula or engadina valley
and catch the train over to tirano over the bernina pass and
marvel at the most incredible railway in europe. (roundtrip
takes perhaps 4 hours?) Stelvio pass is nice over umbrail,
however, the famous stelvio climb is from prato on the
eastern side which when coming from ofenpass I think you can
reach just by continuing down the valley instead of turning
off for umbrail.

and yes the weather is extremely volatile in this area. I
think this year has been quite miserable up until now.
During my vacation I had a lot of rain and even snow. One
advice I would give regarding the cold weather is that make
sure your legs (and especially your knees) are kept warm at
all times.

Torsten Amundsen

"gianni" <giannifilippini@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:18b6b32d.0407090152.4334d05@posting.google.com...
> Will be riding from Geneva to Verona ( Italy ) starting on
> 14th of July. The plan is riding to Chamonix, along the
> Rhone Valley up Furkapass, Oberalppass, Fluelapass and
> sweet last italian's favourite Stelvio pass ( sweet 2757m
> ). Suggestions welcomed from anyone who has been riding
> parts of this route or if you are going to be around there
> at the same time let me know. Gianni

Roberto Divia

gianni wrote:
> Will be riding from Geneva to Verona ( Italy ) starting on
> 14th of July. The plan is riding to Chamonix, along the
> Rhone Valley up Furkapass, Oberalppass, Fluelapass and
> sweet last italian's favourite Stelvio pass ( sweet 2757m
> ). Suggestions welcomed from anyone who has been riding
> parts of this route or if you are going to be around there
> at the same time let me know.

I would suggest to follow this route:

Geneva to Aigle along the Lake Leman, flat and easy Col
de Mosses or Col du Pillon (nicer the second option): up
and steep Gstaad to Interlaken: small uphill, then all
down or flat

In alternative, you could take via the Jura and cut via
Bulle through the Jaun pass and end up in Bottigen on the
route to Interlaken. The Jaun is quite steep and the route
is not as spectacular as the first one, but it is a bit
shorter and easier.

Interlaken to Meiringen: via the lake or via the
Gr.Scheidegg (flat and nice the first, steep and wonderful
the second - IMHO a must in that region)

Geneva to Meiringen can be done in one day, but it is a bit
limit (for me, could be a piece of cake for more trained
biker, e.g. Jobst ;-) )

Once in Meirigen, you can choose between the Susten or the
Grimsel-Furka. I have no experience here...

To get into the Engadin, I would recommend the Albula. A bit
steep but lovely and with little traffic.

Ciao,
--
Roberto Divia` Love at first sight is one of the
greatest
============= labour-saving devices the
============= world has ever seen.
Mailbox: C02110 CERN-European Organization for Nuclear
Research E-mail: Roberto.Divia@cern.ch CH-1211 GENEVE 23,
Switzerland

Alex Rodriguez

In article <18b6b32d.0407090152.4334d05@posting.google.com>,
giannifilippini@yahoo.com says...
>
>
>Will be riding from Geneva to Verona ( Italy ) starting on
>14th of July. The plan is riding to Chamonix, along the
>Rhone Valley up Furkapass, Oberalppass, Fluelapass and
>sweet last italian's favourite Stelvio pass ( sweet 2757m
>). Suggestions welcomed from anyone who has been riding
>parts of this route or if you are going to be around there
>at the same time let me

Do a google search and read Jobst Brandt's reports on his
riding in the Alps. I think this is also the time of year he
is riding there, so you might run into him.
-------------
Alex

Rick Warner

"Torsten Amundsen" <amundsen_torsten@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<40f289d2$1@news.wineasy.se>...

> Stelvio pass is nice over umbrail, however, the famous
> stelvio climb is from prato on the eastern side which when
> coming from ofenpass I think you can reach just by
> continuing down the valley instead of turning off for
> umbrail.

Yes, definitely a more dramatic climb from the east side.
And you can get to Prato by the route you suggest; instead
of turning up the Umbrail he can head down to Maistra, cross
into Italy and take SS41 and then SP50 to Prato. I think
that direction (from Prato through Trafoi and up) is the
better ascending route, and the west side is the better
descending route; do not need to brake so much going down
that side, though it is good to have a light to see the road
surface in the tunnels.

> and yes the weather is extremely volatile in this area. I
> think this year has been quite miserable up until now.
> During my vacation I had a lot of rain and even snow.

I second that. We had to hold up for a day because of heavy
snow on Stelvio the day we were going to climb over (June
20th). We went over on June 21st and there was light rain at
lower elevations and attempts at light snow flurries at the
top - then a good dusting of snow again that night. Seems to
keep repeating. High temp at the top today was
3.8C, low was -1.1 .... and there was some light rain.
Seems to be a persistent pattern, and the storms seem to
keep coming.

- rick

Per LöWdin

> I second that. We had to hold up for a day because of
> heavy snow on Stelvio the day we were going to climb over
> (June 20th).

We had icy sleet http://www.lowdin.nu/MTB/singletrack2000/I-
t2000/Italy2000_files/CH20000035.JPG were freezing, knees
knocking and teeth clattering in late July or early August.

Per http://lowdin.nu