Best time of year for Stelvio

[G Man]

skodamanpat said:

RPM1200 said:

A small group of supercar drivers are doing the Stelvio as part of a 5 day Europe tour end of May, if anyone wants to join. Just cost of 4 hotels, fuel and tolls, no admin fee. We're leaving 24th May if anyone interested in coming too. Should be fun.

Blimey I was hoping for a mild spring and thaw by the 20th of June, you guys are hoping for a miracle, good luck!

Just checked the Stelvio webcam I think there is between 4-6ft of snow on the road

Edited by G Man on Tuesday 27th April 15:37

[Mustang Baz]

We are a group of 6 TVRS and one Porsche heading off to the Alps next month so I am following threads on here with great interest. Departing Sun 13th, the route will take in the following;

Day 1: London-Dusseldorf; overnight motorrail train down to Munich
Day 2: Munich-Chur and then Oberalp, Furka, Grimsell Pass and potentially Passo Della Novena; staying overnight in Andermatt (500km)
Day 3: Andermatt, Gotthard, San Bernadino, Julier passes en route to Bormio. (300km)
Day 4: Bormio - Gavia, Stelvio, Offen, Fluela pass and return to Bormio (250km)
Day 5: Bormio - east via Mendel Pass; day in Dolomites returning to Innsbruck. Overnight motorrail back to Dusselldorf. (500km)
Day 6: Dusseldorf - London.

All in all about 1,500 kms, of which 4-500 is getting from Munich to the Alps and returning to Innsbruck. So about 1k in the mountains/Dolomites.

I would be interested, given current pass conditions, on the views of the PH experts as to whether we are pushing our luck on any of these in terms of height/likelihood of passes being clear. This is 5 weeks away so we have some time, but equally, I don't want to be on a trip which sees us in pouring rain constantly and with cloud cover so low that we won't see a jot. Clearly very dependant on weather at the time, but history is often a good bellweather.

[skodamanpat]

TBH it is pot luck, could be open when you set off and under ' of snow when you get there.
http://www.alpineroads.com/passes.php
gives you some official pass open dates but some will be open sooner if not cleared as frequently.

This site will give you more current open and closed details:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c...fficial&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&usg=ALkJrhhlfiIL575LJ_fNY0wBEdaqxHi_5Q

and here

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c...

Edited by skodamanpat on Monday 10th May 18:20

Edited by skodamanpat on Monday 10th May 18:25

[snapper8v]

Photos from Stelvio today:-
http://www.webcams.travel/webcam/1200420839-Weathe...

Edited by snapper8v on Monday 10th May 19:15

[skodamanpat]

They got it like that over the weekend, gotta give em points for trying

[dcb]

Mustang Baz said:

Day 1: London-Dusseldorf; overnight motorrail train down to Munich

...

Day 5: Overnight motorrail back to Dusselldorf. (500km)

Creative - I'd have thought any sports car owner
would have been keen on a Vmax run on the autobahns,
but you appear to be railing that bit and doing the
dull trudge across Belgium instead.

Each to their own, I suppose.

Mustang Baz said:

whether we are pushing our luck on any of these in terms of height/likelihood of passes being clear.

You are pushing your luck at any time of year with the
really high passes.

I've seen snow on the Stelvio in July.

Best have a plan B - not including the Brenner obviously.

[Sortie 10]

I did it in combination with the Furka Pass a few years ago - on midsummer's day.
A sunrise blast up the Furka was met with 8 foot snow banks on the side of the road; more surprising was rounding a corner at enthusiatic pace to just miss a bear ambling across the road

As far as the Stelvio is concerned, I (in an MX-5) trounced fellow PH-er MikeN (Noble) on the ascent on the northern side - the GTO-3R did not have the lock (or ground clearance)to make swift progress around the tight hairpins and steep apexes (apices?) - tables were turned on the descent in to Italy, where the wider flowing bends were Noble territory.


Keep a camera at hand (I wish I did) as you may scoop a disguised prototype - even in the height of the tourist season it seems Stelvio forms part of a test route for some manufacturers (gives you confidence that if cars are tested on roads like this, people like us will enjoy driving them).

[snapper8v]

You might be in luck with Stelvio as tarmac can now be seen ,


but take heed as we arrived Sunday 11th October last year it was cold (-2) but clear

and woke to this, and none of us had snow chains!!! Four wheel drive, yeah right.

[Mustang Baz]

dcb said:

Mustang Baz said:

Day 1: London-Dusseldorf; overnight motorrail train down to Munich
...
Day 5: Overnight motorrail back to Dusselldorf. (500km)

Creative - I'd have thought any sports car owner would have been keen on a Vmax run on the autobahns,
but you appear to be railing that bit and doing the dull trudge across Belgium instead.

Each to their own, I suppose.

Yes - each to their own; we have limited time unfortunately and like most things in life, had to prioritise. We either spend time on the autobahns or more time in the Alps - and the latter appealed more. After years of driving autobahns and french roads, time for a change.

[sportscars]

From our Shelby Run Europe trip in July 2012. We had a snowball fight!