Motorbike trip in the Alps – alternative to the Dolomites

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Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites

29 pictures

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Motorcycle tour: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle tour: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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“Despite the asphalt, the Gavia is one of the wild”.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Duration of the trip: two days; Distance covered: 500 kilometers.

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In the frenzy of the curves: You are often only so alone before your first coffee.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Accompany Dirk Schafer on an alpine tour against the untravelled.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Gavia’s Witnesses left a lot of traces at the top of the pass …

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Sweeping sweep of the steering wheel.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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To Graubunden on the Forcola di Livigno.

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Break at the Albula.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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In single file over the Passo di Cibiana.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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“I am converting to Gavia’s Witnesses”.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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Pure driving and nature experiences: Gavia surfing.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites
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In the downward pull to Santa Catarina Valfurva.

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Race with the sun: who is first at the top of the pass?

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The Dolomites are undoubtedly a motorcycle paradise …

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… But on the way home, like the Gavia, other passes can be discovered that make biker dreams come true.

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Motorcycle trip: Alpine tour against the untravelled.

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Motorbike trip in the Alps – alternative to the Dolomites

Motorbike trip in the Alps – alternative to the Dolomites
Alpine tour against the untravelled

What do these words have in common: Duran, Cibiana, Eira? They all designate Alpine passes. Do you know? Then you have probably already been all over the Alps. Never heard? Then you are like Dirk Schafer. Accompany him on an alpine tour against the untravelled.

Dirk Schafer

12/12/2014

Whaaas? You haven’t been there yet? ”I don’t know what affects me more: the almost hysterical question or the facial expression of artificial horror on my table neighbor. Five minutes ago we were still strangers. The lack of space on a dolomitic sun terrace brought us together. Now he explains the world to me. Especially the corners where he’s already been. He’s been pretty much everywhere. But especially everywhere in the Alps. He is also convinced that I have to go there too. Immediately. I wish one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses would sit in the remaining vacant seat.

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Alpine tour against the untravelled

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“Man, you as a biker! You must have seen Gavia once! ”I admit tight-lipped:“ I don’t have any more time. Must be at home tomorrow evening. ”“ Passo Duran, Passo Rolle, you have to come here! ”I poke around in my Strudel di Mele. He cannot be stopped. “Mendel Pass! And above all the Gavia! “Instead of a Jehovah’s Witness I am dealing with a Gavias Witness. I don’t wait for the waitress, I wedge a ten between the coffee cup and the wooden table. “I have to go!” I say and I’m rid of the man who has been everywhere.

Uphill there are fast and angled combinations of corners

I just have to fill up the tank again and then I’m off home. But when I unfasten my tank bag at the pump, my eyes fall on the map. What had the everywhere been said? Duran? Role? I finger the map. Oh, that’s just a little detour. I’ll take them with me before I turn onto the autobahn. A few extra parameters for removing white spots on my personal map.

15 percent gradient, closed to buses and anything longer than ten meters: the Passo di Cibiana welcomes me as a warm-up for the Passo Duran. An armada of naked bikes chases past me in the opposite direction. Otherwise I have the warmer to myself. If the Cibiana is almost completely forested and stingy with panoramas, the Duran makes up for almost everything. Uphill there are fast and angled combinations of corners. The shift foot steps through the gearbox. Downhill, I let it roll smoothly through a lofty arena made of steep walls and pinnacles. Take a deep breath until the pulse rises again.

It tempts you to drive fast, the Passo Rolle. The first bends are the icing on the alpine street cake. But the frost nibbled on the following bends. I iron through the first hole without sharpening it. The Transalp is struggling to forget about the agitator in the undercarriage, but I prefer to switch back one level. Right! In the next bend, the asphalt has deformed into foehn waves suitable for foreign ministers. At least the aluminum boxes on the Transe would be officially scraped over the waves. It’s good that my little detour is about to end. From Bozen the highway brings me home.

Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites

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“Bikers welcome” is written on the pass at every cafe

Looking back, I can’t say what it was exactly. I only remember how I turned in Bolzano instead of onto the motorway to the Mendel Pass. Just because the Mendel Pass was still buzzing in my head from being everywhere? Or in the end the Gavia too? Oh nonsense! I don’t allow myself to be influenced by such people. Especially not when I want to, um, have to go home. And secretly I have to agree with him, the man who has been everywhere. The track was really not bad and I didn’t know it yet. Unlike the Mendel Pass. I know him. Maybe that’s the mainspring?

The afternoon sun puffs up again, but the vertical east walls of the Mendel are already in the shade. The transe whirls from rock nose to rock nose until the warm, glowing Bolzano finally disappears behind a last bend. “Bikers welcome” is written on the pass at every cafe, at every place to stay. But if I really want to take the Gavia, that white line on my alpine road map, with me, I have to do a few more meters today. Even if the heavy evening blue is already sagging from the sky.

Nowhere is heaven closer

The next morning. I’m cold. It has to be before six. The sky has just turned light blue and the sun’s rays don’t even reach the summit of the Adamello massif. The light cone of the tranny flits across meadows and along bare rocks. Dew drops fly in my face as I drive towards the sunrise on the south ramp of the Gavia pass. The right-hand turns at the steering stop prevent the early morning lax concentration from drifting only in the direction of breakfast coffee. Likewise the tunnel in front of the pass, a designated light destroyer. Then the first rays of the sun hit me. Over there, on the Adamello, the sun is already glistening over the snow fields. Nowhere is heaven closer now. My luck could hardly be greater. Breakfast break.

I leave the Sunday disco on the Stelvio Pass to the right. Better something new: Passo d’Eira, Passo di Foscagno! Those who have been everywhere will already know it. But it’s new for me. And that’s what counts. After the narrow and wobbly Gavia, the two passports come as if called for me. They allow you to take a quick look at the rows of peaks and into the map compartment without running the risk of being swallowed up by an abyss. Past a hot mountain bike downhill route, the Foscagno glides casually down to Livigno.

Some compare Livigno to Tibet for its remoteness. The comparison with Andorra seems more appropriate to me. Because both in the Pyrenees and here in Livigno, Napoleon had a hand in the game when it came to extra sausages for the mountain residents. Since then, high-proof and scented water have been tax-exempt. And thanks to the little Corsican, the Livignian fuel price is still at the 1999 level. Fill up with fuel!

A look at the map: The next express road home is still miles away. Ofenpass or Bernina and then Albula? What would the everywhere-Geweser recommend? Doesn’t matter, doesn’t it? Just a little behind the hospice on the Bernina, the mighty Morteratsch Glacier rolls into the Bernina Valley. The glowing red Bernina Express is pushing its way into the Swiss postcard panorama. But it doesn’t get too cozy: The level crossing at Morteratsch is a ski jump that is in no way inferior to the legendary Ballaugh Bridge on the Isle of Man. Nevertheless: the Bernina cannot reach the Gavia. When I get home, I’ll convert: to Gavia’s Witnesses. You have to be there.

Further information


Motorbike trip in the Alps - alternative to the Dolomites


shepherd

Travel time: two days, distance covered: 500 kilometers.

The Dolomites are undoubtedly a motorcycle paradise. But on the way home, like the Gavia, other passes can be discovered that make biker dreams come true.

Arrival / travel time: The starting point of the journey, Pieve di Cadore, is easy to reach via the Brenner Pass. In Austria and Switzerland, a vignette is required to use the motorway. From Nuremberg you sit right up to the start
in Pieve di Cadore 520 km, from Frankfurt 740 km in the saddle. In the opposite direction, it is 410 km from Nuremberg to Lenzerheide and 530 km from Frankfurt. If you are traveling by DB Autozug (www.dbautozug.de) preferred, choose between the
Stations in Bozen, Innsbruck or Lorrach. The route is suitable from late spring to autumn. As always in the mountains, sudden changes in the weather must be expected. Information about the passability of the passes: www.adac.de, www.oeamtc.at and www.tcs.ch

The distance: The distance adds around 500 kilometers to the trip odometer. The higher passes easily overcome the 2000 mark, the Gavia is even 2618 m away from sea level. He’s certainly also the most demanding driver. Being able to make tight turns at the steering stop promotes driving pleasure. You can take it easy on the Bernina: clean asphalt, clear hairpin bends, beautiful alpine landscapes. Stay relaxed at the level crossing at Morteratsch Glacier if you don’t want to take off.
Those who manage to get up early will be rewarded with little traffic and grandiose panoramas.

Stay: On about half of the route, at the foot of the Passo Tonale, the “Hotel Chalet al Foss” (www.hotelchaletal foss.it) is an extremely pleasant hostel. Alberto Pangrazzi, the boss of the lavish chalet, knows about the wishes of motorcyclists. On a rainy day, you can warm up again in the sauna. The prices for the double room start at 74 euros.

Activities: The ride on the Bernina Express is a bit quieter than on a motorcycle, but unique. The Rhaetian Railway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Albula and Bernina lines. More information at www.rhb.ch
The Mottolino Bike Park (www.mottolino.com) in Livigno promises significantly more action and adrenaline. Bikes there mean mountain or downhill bikes. The prices for the specially prepared eleven routes in different degrees of difficulty start at 20 euros. Bikes can be rented at the valley station of the cable car. Bargain hunters will appreciate a stay in Livigno. Petrol prices fluctuate around one euro, and anyone who wants to bring alcohol, cigarettes or perfume home as a souvenir benefits from the duty-free zone.

Cards: The “Italy North” map by Freytag and Berndt on a scale of 1: 500,000 also includes the Swiss regions visited. For 9.90 euros, it makes orientation easier.

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