“THE PLAN“
In May/June 2017 I’ve done a big dual-adventure-ride along the Carpathian and Balkan Region for ten days and nearly 5000km or 3100mi. Only two months later the desire for another little adventure was again itching.
It wasn’t long before the next ride was planned. On a long weekend at the end of August 2017 I took the opportunity and went with my trusty black beauty Чернотa right into the Austrian- and a short piece of the Northern Italian-Alps.
“The long weekend ride in the Alps” started (as always) in Vienna. From there Чернотa and I went on along mostly on back country roads through Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Eastern Tirol (AUT), Southern Tirol (ITA), Tirol and finally back to Vienna via Salzburg, Styria and Lower Austria. As you can see on the “detailed” plan of the route above, I had chosen a few assorted waypoints along this route.
The special thing with these waypoints is the following:
Most of the people say: “Hey! Let’s go for vacation into the Alps with our motorbike and let us crunch a few high mountain pass roads there!” Some people answer: “Sounds good, lets do this!” Other ones, let´s say the super-duper teammates, say: “Oh no, I’ve already been there and did the highest pass roads there. Nothing special, I want to do this and that and not that kids stuff, bla bla bla … .” With such saying they often kill the conversation, especially in the long and frustrating winter months ….
I can’t bear this super-duper type of motorcyclists, especially when a nice biker-talking-round about interesting motorcycle roads, not the most common and also not the highest ones, get destroyed from such people with their killer-argument.
On one hand side I want to have an argument against such arrogant people.
(I’ve already done the 5 highest legal drivable points of the Alps BUT I mentioned it only 3 or 4 times since the ride in 2016 and don’t use it as a killer argument to destroy a great conversation about alternative routes to them, or put myself in the middle with it. Not even I give this past trip besides a few notes a platform here on dualadventure.com, because everyone who is able to use google will find plenty of stuff about this highest legal drivable points of the European alps).
On the other hand side I was looking for some remote areas within the alps for some nice camping off the beaten track. For fulfilling these intentions I planned a few waypoints for that weekend and the most direct connection between them was my final route. The waypoints have been:
No. 1:
Mallnitz Valley and Mölltaler Gletscher: The Mallnitz Valley is a quite remote valley in the Austrian state Carinthia. It was set as the goal for the first day.
The Mölltaler Glacier is just a few km away from the Mallnitz Valley. On the way up this supply road to the skiing area along the Innerfragrant/Mölltal-Valley a few big water dams are located. On top lies a skiing area and Austrias highest weather station is just nearby.
No. 2:
Northern Tauern Valley: A side valley in Eastern Tirol. The only entrance road into this dead end is a support line which was built for the construction of power lines leading over the alps.
No. 3 and 4:
look no. 8
No. 5:
Hinterer Wurmkogel: The try to scratch the height of 3000m or 9842ft within Austria on a motorcycle. On its top is a scenic mountain-restaurant located which only has open in winter time. According to the owning cable car company its located at a height of 3080m. Topo-maps say the restaurant is located short below 3000m. Чернотa and I’ll check this. ^_^
No. 6:
Gaislachkogel mountain station: At least here the 3000m altitude-line should be overridden. James Bond was also there for a short visit a few years ago.
No. 7:
look no. 8
No. 8:
Staller Pass road (no.3) , Timmelsjoch (no.4), Gerlos Pass Road (no.7) and no8: Oberinntal Valley: Just a few nice to ride high alpine areas which have been passed along this ride.
The total distance of this long weekend ride was estimated around 1800km or 1120mi. Doable in four days?!?
Sounds proper … .