I touched the snow!

I'm in the snow!

Well today was a bit different. I saw lots of snow, I think my fingers almost fell off from cold, I got yelled at by an artist, I got confused as to which language I was supposed to speak, and saw a bell tower just sticking out of a lake. All of it very cool!

So the weather was quite right yesterday. This morning when I woke there was even more fresh snow on the mountains around Bormio, but the sun was out so it had all past. I was still a bit nippy though, 7 degrees in Bormio and 1 at the top of Stelvio. I dressed up in leg and arm warmers, and got the rest of my layers close to hand. I started off and felt way over dressed though as there was quite a few just in shorts and short sleeve top. I don’t think they did their homework to be honest.

The pass climbs straight out of Bormio, and although the “easier” side there is still 1,500m to climb over 20kms (the other Italian side is 1,800m over 24kms I believe). The first part you just meander up the side of a hill surrounded by the massive, jagged peaks of Dolomite mountains. They are so steep and so much enclosing you that my Garmin lost GPS reception for quite a while through it. It is fairly constant through this part at around 8-10% so you can get in a good rhythm.

At about the half way point as you climb you can see switchbacks on the hill in front of you, just after a series of tunnels. At this point I was also seeing the snow line getting closer and closer, and being very grateful for my clothing choice! The switchbacks themselves are OK in terms of steepness, much the same with the odd 11 or 12% thrown in to keep you awake, but just before you start the switchbacks there is a cheeky 14% ramp for a couple hundred metres that leads you I to it. It is hard to miss as a reminder is painted on the road for you.

After the switchbacks it gets a bit easier for a few kilometres as the road once again just follows the side of a hill around. As you traverse this you start to see signs of the buildings at the top of pass, and in my instance start to see just how much snow is up there. The last 5kms or so are taken up with yet more switchbacks which takes you to almost to the Swiss boarder (Umbrail Pass) then skirts up to the very busy and touristy top. I contemplated buying a Stelvio cycling jersey (there were a lot to choose from) to remember the occasion but was too tied up in having a Bratwurst (finally!!) and building a snowman.

The snow up there was everywhere, and I even saw a skier…

Spot the skier

After spending some time up there though I started to feel a bit cold. Not as bad as Gavia I thought, but still cold (was 3 degrees). The way down does look really impressive from the top, and was pleased to see no snow on the roads.

Top looking down the descent

So I started down the hill and my hands just started freezing! I have theoretical windproof gloves so I thought they would be OK in these types of conditions, but alas no. After a few switchbacks though my hands started to go numb, so I stopped on the side of the road and did the old blow-in-the-gloves trick to try and warm them up. I wasn’t too worried at this point as if worse came to worse I would just cycle uphill for a bit to warm the body up. Anyway, after the glove trick I started out again. About a corner later my fingers were numb again so I had a decision to make: either go slow and try to reduce the wind on my gloves, or go faster letting the windproofing do their thing and get too lower altitude and hence warmer temperatures. I put my faith in the gloves and continued downhill.  

A few corners later and I saw a bar/restaurant at the bottom of the switchbacks so I thought if only I can make it there I can warm up a bit. By this time my hands were so cold I couldn’t feel or move my fingers and so was using my palms to work the brakes (was going very slow obviously). I kept focusing on the bar as my fingers went through the hurting to not hurting phase of coldness for what felt like forever! I got to the bar, walked in helmet and all, and asked for a coffee. As I peeled off my gloves very gingerly (gingerly as I had to use my teeth and was unsure if I was biting my fingers or not), and tried to start warming them up. They just hurt like anything as the feeling started to come back, and they were also very clammy (great signs of bad things happening). Once the feeling was back I rotate between rubbing them together or putting them near the fire. After one coffee I was still cold so got another one in just for good measure. Once fully warmed up again I continued happy that as I was now below the snow line and the temperature was now 5 degrees I would be OK (that and now my gloves were oven hot from sitting on the fireplace).

As I went to pay I also realised that the lady had been speaking German to me. I was a little confused but thought, well, we are near the boarder to Switzerland I guess.

So I continued down the hill, and near the bottom there were these crazy as random sculptures. Without thought I got out the camera and took a shot, but moments later a very angry guy came out and started yelling (in German again) no photos, come in a pay EUR5, and a fair amount more I didn’t understand. I decided he was the artist and I was not the first one to do this.

So on I went heading for Lago di Resia. It was quite a few kilometres after the bottom that I started to feel warm in all my clothing and realised that it was now 20 degrees – the hat, gloves, three layers of clothes probably weren’t needed anymore. I got back down to bare essentials lycra again and continued on. For the second day this trip I hit a head wind. Gutted. I hit it just in time to climb up from Malles Venosta to the lakes. The climb was around 6% so not that bad but still made it harder to work up the hill.

The climb itself was rather boring as such, as you wind up through quite flat and open farmland. I did notice though that all the names of things were sounding more German. I debated with myself about if I was still in Italy or not but was sure I was. I then went into a place to refill my water bottles and yet more German; German greeting, everyone else in there was speaking German, things were called after German names. I just wasn’t ready for it mentally and so all I could do was speak Italian. It really threw me. For a moment I thought of holding the high ground (we are in Italy, I will speak Italian) but thought better of it.

I continued on up to the lakes, which are both reservoirs. It turn out that min the 1930’s the “facist government” (the signs words, not mine) decided to build reservoirs for electricity production. They intended to raise the lakes by 5m, but by 1949 it was 22m higher. The towns were told to leave with no compensation for land or houses, and lost everything. They also ran out of money half way through so Switzerland helped finish for a year’s free power once it was complete. All in all the placard made it sound like a complete balls up. So the only remains now is the bell tower of one of the flooded town’s church. It really is quite an amazing site and really makes you ponder a lot of things looking at it.

 From there it was back down and onward to Tubre where I am staying for the night (and where once again everyone is speaking German but as we are next to the border it makes sense).

So a great day all up with a lot of new things seen and done. Tomorrow I will head into Switzerland for Fuorn Pass (contemplated doing Umbrail Pass but don’t think I will bother).

Highlight: Cycliing above the snow line!

Lowlight: The picture of my snowman not working out.

Lesson Learned: Handwarners for snowy descents may be a good idea, or just more layers in total.