STELVIO - De Pass !

[gary_de_tam]

Has anyone cracked this baby in the April time frame,
what were the roads like ! guess there is still snow
around.

Anyone can advise on a great 1 week route from Calais
or anyone planning to go and we could get a crew together.


Thoughts ?

[DIW35]

There's a very similar thread already running about alpine passes early in the year. There's every chance that the Stelvio will be still closed in April due to snow.

[Furyblade_Lee]

We did this last year, and again doing it this year. What we do is 1st day, drive from Calais to St.Die des Vosges, in Lorraine region, which is due north of the French Vosges mountains. Boring 350ish miles on motorways, but get the beers in in St.Die. There is not a great deal to see in that part of France anyway, just get your head down and get there. Remember, Europe is a huge place and never try to cover too much ground too quickly. fatigue will catch up with you after a few days and you will not be 100% concentrating when driving the awesome roads, NOT a good idea.

Next morning you are at the north of the Vosges Mountains, which is where Sebastian Loeb taught himself to drive fast as a teenager. Roads are awesome and quiet, ski resorts such as La Bresse are there. Head due south over the mountains then turn East into Switzerland. We stay at the Poxmontana Hotel near Fleuli ranft, (google it). Superb. About 200 miles that day. Get the beers in.

Next morning, well, you are not far from the start of the Grimselpass... From here you cross Switzerland in one day, awesome passes including the famous "Davos to Stelvio" route Top Gear did in the Green GT3, Superleggera and Aston N24. They said it is the best piece of driving road in the world. It is certainly one of them!!! You will hit the Stelvio just over the Italian border early evening. Mega. 25 miles south of the Stelvio is a town called Tirano, mega friendly and we found a cracking bar...

We then did 7 more days taking in Monte Carlo, Col du Turini, about 8 other Monte Carlo Rally stages and the Route Napoleon en route back to Calais. Main thing when planning these trips is do not try to do too much and be realistic how many miles you can cover over the mountains, 250 average miles per day is more than enough. Any more you will get fatiged and miss out driving and enjoying the roads properly. HAVE FUN! If you want a great 10 day itenary PM me and i will forward them to you. 9 of us did it in 9 cars, awesome.

[Furyblade_Lee]

SCRUB THAT! Just realised you said April. I would not bother spending my holiday tokens before June. You can still ski in April, if certain passes are closed its a long way round....

[V8 GMS]

Ah, Passo dello Stelvio
This is me from last summer (after Lemans in June)



3,000 miles in a pick up truck

[tinman0]

This is the live webcam.

Looks a bit snowy

June is the earliest you can rely on Stelvio being open. It does open in mid May but often gets closed again. At the end of May (and I mean the end) they make a concerted effort to keep it open.

There is still a small chance it'll be closed on 1st June, however, if its open it is superb because no biker groups will be out. The big biker groups don't hit it until mid June when they know it will be open.

Hope that helps.


edit;

this is what you want it to look like (same buildings)

Edited by tinman0 on Wednesday 11th March 16:14