Stelvio Or Bust, September 2002

Participants from all over Europe converge at the Stelvio Pass (second highest road in Europe and scene of the early tests of the Elise S1) on Friday 13 September. No one was quite sure how many cars turned up on the day - it must have been around 100 though. See Tony Churly's "Official" Stelvio Site- the man whose idea it all was!

Stelvio

Wednesday

For my trip, I had originally planned to join the group at Pontresina and then drive with them upto Passo dello Stelvio (Stilfser Joch) for lunch, then onto Obergurgl. At the last moment however, I realised that I could leave the previous day and join the BEND group in Airolo for an addition days playing in the passes :-)

So Wednesday I blasted along the German autobahns towards Lake Constance (Bodensee) and then across Switzerland to the Passo del San Bernardino and to Airolo.

Airol

Thursday

Thursday was a complete joy. The BEND guys had worked out a lovely circular route of passes: Passo de San Gottardo (2108m), Furkapass (2431m), Grimselpass (2165m), Sustenpass (2259m), Oberalppass (2044m) and onto the final pass of the day, the Julierpass.

Delores Weber was waiting to greet all Elisers crossing the Julierpass. After a short break there to pick up the stragglers (like the infamous tut :-) it was off to Pontresina.

Friday

Pso del Mortirolo (1852m)
Pso di Gavia (2621m)
Pso d. Stelvio (2757m)
Pso del Rombo (2474m)

Starting from Pontresina, Fridays route meant crossing the Bernina Pass to Tirano, then heading north towards Bormio, but turning right over the Passo de Mortirolo (Passo della Foppa), and then onto Incudine and over the Passo de Gavia (Gavia-Pass) to Bormio.

This picture of Gavia had me questioning my sanity before I had even left, but it was a joy!

The Passo di Mortirolo is a small road that doesn't even appear on many maps, so here it is in all its glory:

Passo de Mortirolo (Passo della Foppa)

Technically it is the Passo di Foppa, the true Mortirolo pass being a rough crossing to the north-east - but all the road signs are for the Mortirolo. For a cyclists view of the pass click here. For another cyclists review of both the Mortirolo and the Gavia pass, click here.

Quote from Tony:

Mortirolo is a little turning on the right about 5 K out of Tirano on the Bormio road. It serves 3 purposes.

1. It’s a nice little pass - very twisty and narrow.

2 There is a nice little lake at the top which makes a good spot to stop, take pics etc. (you get there by turning right at the top of the pass at a T junction with a parking place in front of you).

3. It allows you to do the Gavia which is one of my all time favourite passes (rough as hell but spectacular beyond belief).

Gavia Pass was longer and higher. I was rather glad that cloud cover meant that I couldn't see the sheer drops that I knew must be there. About halfway up, I paused for a rest and to let a biker past - and was surprised to see an Italian registered Yellow Elise come thundering past me too. I was well impressed - I hadn't thought there was room for a car to pass at all there.

And as if that wasn't enough it was onwards and upwards to Stelvio for lunch.

Somewhere in the vicinity of Stelvio, I became aware of the sound of screeching of tyres from somewhere behind me. A short time later I was greeted with the sight of a familiar face grinning from behind the wheel of a Stelvio Or Bust stickered rental Peugeot! I'll mention no names in case the rental companies read this (needless to say, the car was a bit of a wreck by the time it was returned)

And just to prove I was there, here's a still from the Stelvio webcam on the day itself (that's my car in front of the yellow one in the foreground).

Pic © Liam

After lunch it's a quick blast (well insomuch as the traffic would allow) east to Merano then north over the Passo del Rombo (Timmelsjoch) to Obergurgl. Phew!

Passo de Rombo

By the time I had crossed the Pass I was convinced that my brakes were about to pack up (they were whistling in a complaining sort of way) and that my gearbox was going die (it felt like it was about to seize up), but after a short pause the car was happy again.

What a great little car! :o)

More associated links:

Bobs photos

Guys photos

PaulGs website

Tony & Janes photos

Rob Earles webpage

Kevs photos

TomR

Liam

Fabians photos

http://www.cinghialoni.org/stelvio2002/index.htm