Stelvio Pass

Just got back from a similar trip. Plan was to do the Stelvio pass as well, but we only left ourselves a day to get from Venice to Calais, so decided to just take the shortest route.

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

Corking Matt

Was the road Icy when it started snowing, or is that a purely English thing

On the way up the road was wet, but not icy - that meant I could keep the car in 'dynamic' mode (stiffer suspension, brakes 'pre-loaded', tighter steering, better throttle response) rather than having to switch to 'normal' or 'all-weather'

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by Exi

Just got back from a similar trip. Plan was to do the Stelvio pass as well, but we only left ourselves a day to get from Venice to Calais, so decided to just take the shortest route.

You could have still done it(just!) - we left Venice (Mogliano Veneto) at about 11:00 on Saturday morning, and got to Calais at 10:00 on Sunday morning - we kept to the limits on the autoroutes and stopped for a kip for couple of hours.

[Geodude]

Great pics and that road looks ace but i doubt i would have the talent to ride them Maybe one day i will give it a try.

Is it hard work or do you get better as you go?

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by Geodude

Great pics and that road looks ace but i doubt i would have the talent to ride them Maybe one day i will give it a try.

Is it hard work or do you get better as you go?

Three of the bikes in the photos were tippytoing themselves all the way up, a combination of being not very confident riders and **** weather conditions - we overtook them three times on the way up, they went past us when we stopped for photos, then we would overtake them again.

At the top however, they all had massive smiles on their faces.

Second part (Swiss side) there was armco instead of solid walls, and the corners were a bit more 'open' - this meant that you could look through the corner to see if there was anything coming, and then taking a wider line on the way in. The better weather on that side helped too. The tunnels on the way down were 'interesting' though - narrow single track, carved out of the solid rock (i.e. walls not lined at all), twisty with no lighting - luckily we didn't meet anything coming the other way.

I would suggest that you do not need 'talent' to ride/drive these roads, just the right levels of confidence and common sense. If however you do have 'talent' then you could have a right hoon.

[Geodude]

Cheers for that and i think the tippytoing part describes my riding well. So i just need to get me some more of this 'confidence' stuff then i might earn me one of those massive smiles

The stelvio pass top gear episode is on dave ATM, what a coincidence, me likey

[Luckypants]

Am I the only one who cannot see the photos? Seems like I cannot see images on the Google user content server thingy

[mattSV]

You should be able to see them LP, if not I have also put them on Facebook so you should be able to see them under my photos on there...

[Paul the 6th]

Cracking pics buddy, but.... I'll see your stelvio pass and raise you with pordoi pass in northern italy







Top of the dolomites (feels like top of the world)


If you've never been to the alps, put it on your bucket list...