We just completed a 8 days loop Munich-Stelvio-Munich with my son, both riding our Surly LHTs. It was a wonderful trip with gorgeous weather. We climbed from the North side and descended to Switzerland. This was one of our most enjoyable alpine tours.
A few tips/notes gathered along the way:
* Spend a night at the Stelvio pass. There are a few hotels up there. The place can get very crowded in the afternoon, but after 6pm, it becomes very quiet and enjoyable. This allows to do the descent in the morning with very little traffic.
* Climb in zone 2 for comfort. My loaded bike was close to 140Kg. Garmin says that I climbed at 400m/h which is quite slow (roughly an 8% slope at 5km/h). I am normally fit (Male, 55y) and found it quite easy.
* The V-brakes performed like a charm on the way down.
I went up the Grossglockner Pass three years ago and found it more challenging. I think that the slope is closer to 10%. Climbing at 5 km/h brought me out of my comfort zone.
Happy touring!
by DudeInChief
3 Comments
Your bike was 140 kg?? The bike in the picture looks barely loaded.
Or do you mean you including your bike?
Anyway, awesome pictures and now I want to do a big mountain climb too! *(cries in Dutch lol)*
Nice! I found the Stelvio to be quite fun, though I don’t have many comparisons to other mountain passes.
Coming from the north I camped at Trafoi and did the rest the next day, starting at about 4.30am, before most of the motorised traffic arrives, which I think was a good decision.
Any other bicycle touring related items on your bucket list?
The Stelvio is one of my favorite passes! I have fond memories of it from 2015. The Grossglockner, a few days earlier, was a horrible experience. I had to turn back on my first attempt because of a heavy thunderstorm and rain. When I tried again the following day, it was so foggy that I could barely see 10 meters ahead.