Final hurrah: Austrian Alps via Grossgluckner [Italy > Innsbruck; 8/16-8/19 - 241mi, +15,973ft]

Had a lengthy morning descent through the valley exiting the Dolomites this morning, then an hour or so sipping a coffee while waiting for some rain to subside before setting off north to the Austrian border.... which is conveniently located at the top of Passo Stalle (2052M.)

on the approach to Passo Stalle

So this was a new one: the last 3mi to the top of the pass was literally a one lane road. Autos only have a 15 minute window to enter this section from either direction (ie. here at the bottom from :30 to :45; at the top from :00 to :15.) And for good reason- this section is a relentless 11% grade, with the only 'flat' sections being the apexes of the switchbacks. Tough work, but it had to be done.

The crest of the pass is the border between Italy and Austria, and there is an abandoned army barracks that I suppose was once used to keep an eye on those pesky Italians. Not a bad place to be stationed, though:

And with little fanfare, I was officially into Austria:

Wilkommen!

The next morning I was treated to a 34mi gentle descent into Lienz, losing almost 4500ft along the way. After Lienz was a 'quick' climb up to the Iselsbergpass (1204M) and along the way I was surprised to be passed by a few racers and their support wagons from the Race Around Austria (RAA.) I talked to a few of the crew members, who told me it's 2300km and 30,000M of climbing in 4-5 days. And no more than 90min of sleep per night for their guy!

I asked if he was tired. With a shrug, "eh..." It was a dumb question.

Back down into another valley for a long meandering approach to the heavy artillery: The Grossgluckner Hochalpinestrasse. The Grossgluckner itself is the highest peak in Austria (12,461ft) and this route runs just to the east of it, topping out at 2540M- the most scenic road in all of Austria, so they say. I will not argue- it's amazing.

I got about 2/3rds of the way up the steep section before it got dark. Camped (w/ questionable legality as this is a national park) on a little perch above the road, I was a little startled when I heard voices & music and saw slow moving headlights below. Eventually the late night revelers came into view- another Race Around Austria guy slowly grinding his way up the pass.

Terrific scenery from above treeline, and more lucky cows:

There's sort of two summits with a little dip between them- from the northern crest there is a great view of a string of glaciers (for the time being, anyway.)

Grossgluckner Hochalpinestrasse

I soaked it in for quite a while... this would be my last time on a truly high alpine pass for this trip. There have been some many amazing days riding up high, so many amazing vistas, so many slow ascents at 3-6mph, and so many gravity fueled burners back down.

Up and down, with nice views. I guess that sums it up.

And it was a ripper coming down- several times I caught up to auto congestion and had to pull over to let the long line of cars get far enough ahead that I could open it up. I was not about to ride the brakes down my last 12% winding grades!

Then it was a long, hot afternoon traverse through the quaint Krimml Valley and past Europe's tallest waterfall. It was dusk at this point so I couldn't pause to hike around, although the new-agey brochures promised great healing effects from the ionized mist near the falls. Instead, I healed myself by climbing Gerlospass (1640M) as darkness fell and camped next to a parking area just below the summit. Cooking dinner with the lights of the Krimml Valley villages below and the twinkling stars above was fantastic. And then another RAA racer came by well after dark- I appeared out of the shadows and gave him a cheer, he gave me a wave and "Danke shon!" I wondered if he was confused by all this, or if he thought it was a hallucination.

The next day lost almost 3500ft off the Gerlospass and through the lovely Tirol Valley into Innsbruck, the so-called "Capital of the Alps." It's a really cool historic city and I got a cheap (34euro) private room in a guesthouse that was built in the year 1425! Nearly 600 years of lodgers, staggering to think about. This was my first private room of the entire trip- what a luxury to lay around in my birthday suit watching The Simpsons overdubbed in German. I had not showered since I left Florence 13 days ago and I felt like a cowboy coming in off the dusty trail; and it took 2 showers to get clean....

And boy did I give that sink a workout with all my rank clothes....