Stelvio Pass

[icb]

Anybody done this, looks amazing and doing it in September. Any advice welcome.

[dcb]

icb said:

Anybody done this, looks amazing and doing it in September.
Any advice welcome.

This one has been done to death on multiple occasions.

Yes, it is one of the highest in the Alps, but it
isn't the best.

On www.alpineroads.com/engadin.php#stilfser they reckon
it's a nightmare. I'd agree with them. I'd also recommend
having a look round on that website for other passes.

My personal favourite is this one www.alpineroads.com/tyrol.php#timmelsj
Three yards of snow stacked on the side of the road in July.

[Gruffy]

icb said:

Anybody done this, looks amazing and doing it in September. Any advice welcome.

1. Make sure you get a couple of hotdogs from the stand at the top. It might just be the view and the mountain air but I swear they were the best hotdogs I've ever tasted.

2. Young pads/calipers and braided hoses are useful if you don't intend to hang about. Your brakes will get extremely hot going down!

3. I much prefer to go up the West face and down the East face.

4. If you're there on the 13th you're likely to see something in the region of 150+ Elises tackling the pass together. Quite a sight.

[burriana]

Take a look at the P.Heads EuroHoon forum, we are doing this in September, in fact, come with us, just a little 8 day jaunt down to Monaco with about 20 P.Heads loons

[dazren]

burriana said:

Take a look at the P.Heads EuroHoon forum, we are doing this in September, in fact, come with us, just a little 8 day jaunt down to Monaco with about 20 P.Heads loons

We're not, we did the Stelvio on last years megahoon. This year we'll be ripping up the main gorges and cols in the French Alps above Monaco (Think Col di Torini, gorges where topgear filmed the RS4, Goldeneye Aston v 355 opening sequences etc).

The Stelvio is one of those roads I always wanted to drive up, but having done it I won't bother again.

Too narrow, too much traffic and too many fitness junkies on fecking bicycles weaving all over the place. The whole thing was more of a procession despite about 35 overtakes (not icluding bicycles!).

DAZ

(If you are going to do the Stelvio get there as early in the morning as possible, to minimise the above outlined issues).

Edited by dazren on Friday 23 June 13:31

[TonyHetherington]

dazren said:

The Stelvio is one of those roads I always wanted to drive up, but having done it I won't bother again.

Totally agree. Glad we did it, proud to say I've done it, but wouldn't go out of my way to do it again. If you're going that far there are plenty of other (perhaps better) roads to play with in that region

[Monumental]

As you will have guessed from what the others have said it really depends on when you do it. I was there on last year's Eurohoon and while it was certainly a challenge it wasn't much fun on the way up. I did it again 2 weeks ago and it was one of the best drives of my life. So here are my tips

-Most important! Go up the west side (from Bormio) and down the east.

-Stay in Bormio the night before so that you can be up there really early, you'll have the pass almost to yourself. I can recommend the La Genzianella hotel. Truly the hottest hotel receptionist I have ever had the pleasure of meeting

-Do it on a weekday morning.

-Do it 2 days after it opens. OK, I know that you can't do that but you should be OK in September if you bear the above points in mind.

I'd also recommend looking at the Alpine Roads site mentioned earlier. In particular, do the Dolomites loop that they suggest near Cortina. That was without doubt the best morning of driving. Ever.

Any excuse for a pic or two!

On the Eurohoon:


A couple of weeks ago:

[icb]

Thanks everyone. Don't have any choices as going with TVR Power tour.

[pwig]

Looks boring to me.