Kaunertal Glacier Road – Austria’s secret tip for mountain pass cycling

#Kaunertal #Alps #biking
Count down the 29 turns up the Kaunertal Glacier Road – a quiet dead-end road ideal for mountain pass cycling.

My route on komoot:
https://www.komoot.com/tour/887154227?ref=itd

the countertop glacier road is the secret tip for mountain pest cycling in austria the glacier road goes up towards the vice seashbitse which is a mountain in the alps the pass is located in tyrol austria the average gradient of the road is 10 percent the maximum is 12 we started our tour in the village brutz which is 25 miles away from the top the gradient at the beginning is about 5 so a smooth start into the day pretty soon you will reach the first of three tunnels so make sure to bring a bike light the second and third tunnel have a shoulder on the right side of the road that is wide enough to bike on it early in the morning the roads are less busy so i would recommend starting the tour early and you can enjoy them the beautiful nature around you better after seven miles we passed through four little villages that are close to each other and in between these villages you can switch to a paved bike path next to the main road then comes the toll station for the glacier road cars and motorcyclists have to pay a fee of 25 or 15 respectively to go up the remaining 16 miles to the top but it’s free for cyclists after the tow station the gradient starts to increase into the double digits for short sections in these sections i was zig-zagging my way up the road because even in my lowest gear it was still too hard you will soon see a massive dam ahead of you behind the dam is the gi patch baijia an artificial lake that also feeds a hydropower plant you will notice the green and brown turn signs that count down the number of turns up to the top it’s a bit like on the famous stelvio pass in italy except that these signs also tell you the current elevation in meters and in which alpine zone you’re in halfway up the mountain you will reach the lake and there’s a cafe in bathrooms it’s ideal for taking a break the road continues to the left side of the lake but there’s also a path for cyclists only to the right side of the lake we decided to take that one but 1.2 miles into the road we saw that it was closed that is why we turned around and went back on the regular road again which isn’t too bad there is not so much traffic going on since the road is basically a dead end because the road ends at the top so you don’t have any through-going traffic but only the day tourists that want to drive to the top of the mountain pass and then turn around again in this regard the glacier road is better suited for cyclists than for example the famous stelvio pass gorgeous views so the gradient here is 12 and i’m zigzagging my way up here so i’m here at 2100 meters elevation and i still have 600 more to go so the lake is about halfway regarding the meters in elevation there is a rest stop you can fill up your water bottles there and also buy some food or eat whatever you brought it’s nice there me so the views here are amazing look at this really really nice it’s quite hot up here it’s august and i hope on top it’s a bit colder i’m kind of sweaty but at least for going downhill it’s gonna be cold when you go up the road you pass through all of the six alpine zones from the green meadows in the collins zone up to the glaciers in the nivel zone the ibex signs count upward going up the mountain they are markers for the points of interest on the road ibex seem to be the theme animal in the counter hall you see it everywhere on the points of interest signs as sculptures and on traffic signs they are everywhere beautiful huh i have six more turns to go and then i’m up turn number six woohoo these turn signs can be so misleading so turn 20 to 10. they came suck suck suck right after another maybe only 500 meters in between them but now it’s really mean distances increase now at least between eight and seven and seven and six and six and five tricky so i’m almost on the top and yep it’s definitely cold up here five four three two one finished the top of the mountain is at an elevation of 9022 feet so you gain 6200 feet if you start the tour in the village brutz and then comes the way downhill you go back the same way as you came up be careful to break enough before the turns because it is very steep and you gain speed so quickly in the winter the countenantal glacier is a ski area it even has the steepest slope in europe the black ibex with 87.85 percent the slope is steeper than the strife in kitzbuhel so also in the winter the countertop glacier is an insider tip you