A journey through the (snowy) alps in mid June 2019

[caustics]

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Hey everybody,

as I promised in the 1addicuts-tour thread, I finally found the time to summarize my roadtrip for you.

Early this year, it became clear that I wanted to do a small roadtrip through the alps. I had hopped that we could organize something with more forum members in the 1addicts planning thread - but that didn't materialize.

Sometime in spring, mjn77 and I got into contact to maybe do a trip together. He had some of his route already planned out, and I planned accordingly. Unfortunately, a few weeks prior he had to reshedule to later in July - but I couldn't. So I drove alone (almost - I met two instagram friends on Stelvio).

For those of you who want to see a little bit more - I posted a 3-part blog series on my blog: https://www.drivescape.de/en

For everybody else, I'm going to summarize it here.

First - since I love droning and filming, I created a small trailer.

My journey started on a Tuesday. I went from Franktfurt to Basel. I wanted to visit the Sole Uno. I stayed at a friends house on the french border to basel for the night.

Wednesday - First day.

I started on the french side near basel and went straight south. Destination of the day was Klausenpass, but since it's not about the destination, but about the journey, I didn't go by motorway, but through the countryside.

First, I went through the Regional Nature reserve Thal in Switzerland. Wow, what a landscape. Beautiful hills everywhere. Due to bad wether, I wasn't able to to go over the Passwang Straße, but had to take a detour through... well, just have a look yourself:



By the way - this was the first time I was ever chedked by swiss border patrol when crossing over from France.

I continued south - next stop would be Glaubenbergpass. While the road itself is pretty great, as is the scenery, the passroad is constantly interrupted by cattel bars. So it's almost impossible to go fast, because every 250 m, you have to slow down again.

http://www.drivescape.de/wp-content/...ps-part1-1.jpg

Once you head over the Glaubenbergpass, this opens up:



After Glaubenbergpass, I initially planned to go over Pragelpass and then head up Klausenpass from East. But it was already getting late, and I had been sitting in the car for 5 hours already, so I skipped that and went straight up the Klausenpass (where I had booked a hotel - the infamous Hotel Klausenpasshöhe, which isn't standing straight anymore, but is skewed).

Nevertheless, Klausenpass is breathtaking. But see for yourself:









And my hotel for the night:



Let's say it has its charme - but it's special and far from luxurious. They say they tear it down later this year and starting next year, it will be completly rebuild.

That was it for day one.

Thursday - Day two

Up until Thursday, I had pretty gread weather. Sunny, dry. But that changed on Thursday. Destination for the day was Airolo, south of San Gottardo. But not straight from Klausenpass - I wanted to see Sustenpass and then head over Grimselpass, Furka and then Old San Gottardo.

My main problem, next to bad weather - the highest section of Sustenpass was closed. It was possible to drive up, but not completly. So I had to take a bigger detour (about 1,5 hours) from Klausenpass along Lake Lucern and then go up Sustenpass from the west.

But it was worth it. Wow, what a road, what a landscape. Sustenpass is probably now my favourite pass, even though I wasn't able to see everything. But see for yourself.







I was soaked after finishing 2 drone batteries, but it was worth it. (The best shots from the trailer where from Sustenpass).

I continued towards Grimselpass. I have been at Grimselpass before (we went up the Gelmer Funicular before - quite an experience), but it was in an unexciting Opel Signum, so driving it in my BMW M140i was definitly more fun. The sun came out in the valley - but up at the pass, there was snow everywhere.





After Grimselpass, I crossed the Furkapass. While I do like the west ramp of Furkapass at the Rhone Glacier (with that instagram-famous Hotel Belvedere), there aren't many road I hate as much as the east ramp of Furkapass. It's just to narrow for me to feel comfortable, and in combination with bad weather it's even less fun.

So I didn't even stop there and went straight to Old San Gottardo and Airolo.

Friday - Day Three

On Friday, I had initially planned to go back up Old San Gottardo, the Lukmanierpass south again, go up San Bernardino (which we did last year), then south again over Splügenpass (which we did last year aswell), and finally take the Julier pass (from our trip 2017) north again to my hotel in Lantsch/Lenz. But when I started at Old San Gottardo, I realized that the Tour de Suisse was about to cross Lukmanier and Gottardo this day, and I already had trouble going up the old San Gottardo Pass in the morning, I decided to take it slow and went straight to Lenzerheide / Lantsch/Lenz and have a day off too much driving.

Nevertheless, here is Old San Gottardo:





Saturday - Day Three

Taking that day off was a great idea - I was feeling much more relaxed on Saturday morning. My route today took me over the Albula Pass (blog post form 2017 here - so I won't repost those photos again) through the Swiss national park up the Umbrail Pass up to the infamous Stelvio Pass. I hadn't been to Stelvio yet, so this was a first. And it was great a first. I took a break, had a hot chocolate.

And then I looked outside.



When I came up there, it was dry. An hour later, the car was snowed in. With summertyres. And it was still snowing. And I still had to continue to Meran this day. So I started go down very slowly. Todorov, who was there in the X5 you see there next to my car, had no problems at all. But there were few moments were I felt the car slip, and the wall coming closer, and I didn't enjoy it at all.

In the end, nothing happened though. I got down safely, and about 500-700m down in height, the snow was only rain and it was fine to drive.

I spend the night in Merano but I had an appointment early up at Stelvio with Julian and Todorov(@mybmwadventures and @todorov5 on instagram) for sunrise.

Sunday - Day four, final day



Well, there isn't much to say, other then Stelvio at sunrise. Quite, about 4 cars, nobody else.

I will just leave a few photos here.









After that, I started my journey back home (took me about 14 hours in total, thanks to traffic jam).


So, that's it, I hope you like it. End of september, I will go to the Dolomites (Sella!), so I will have more to share later this year.

cheers,
David

[mjn77]

Nice

Maybe next year we’ll be more successful?

[caustics]

Originally Posted by mjn77

Nice

Maybe next year we’ll be more successful?

Yes, we have to!

[mjn77]

There is a pretty cool hotel on the French / Swiss border. Half the hotel is in France, the other half in Switzerland. They have two restaurants, catering to each country. It is the same hotel Sean Connery stayed at whilst he was filming at the Furka Pass for Goldfinger.

[Dackelone]

Such a great adventure with such amazing photos and video!!

Very well done Sir!


Dackel

[Miko M]

Very nice OP

It's amazing out there, I was growing up in Austria and lived in Germany a d I have to say from experience it's a Beautiful scenery!!!

The air is just so clean and the views are breathtaking

[BMW DIY Guy]

Just gorgeous.. thank you for sharing and these trip reviews just make my heart ache for doing a euro delivery some day.

[cfm56d7b]

Stunning scenery and an endorsement for a new Discovery channel with BMW vehicle in every video ....

Thanks for sharing!

[qdtjant]

Stunning pictures !
Thank's for sharing.

[Captain Blood]

Stunning pics! I especially liked picture #2. Wish I could take my 135 there!!

[M3 Adjuster]

Awesome photos. What a fun adventure!

[dutchm2]

This is awesome! I want very much to do this with some of the boys of my club!

Love Alps and that's All

[Gonven]

When a BMW is part of a great atmosphere, congratz m8

[lawsonsdl]

Thanks for sharing and very well done sir!

You've got some admirable photography and video skills. I was fortunate enough to take an Alps driving vacation 4 years ago and agree with your assessment of Sustenpass. It is also one of my favorites.

[Captain Blood]

Originally Posted by caustics

Yes, we have to!

Just out of curiosity, is it more fun going up or down those roads? Dallas is pretty flat.........

[caustics]

Thank you all, it means a lot that you like it. And it's amazing this got posted on the front page! Thank you!

[caustics]

Originally Posted by Schwarzschild Radius

Just out of curiosity, is it more fun going up or down those roads? Dallas is pretty flat.........

I actually prefer up... because you can rev higher

[Fritzer]

Beautiful imagery! Looks like a dream trip for me, hope you enjoyed it. Straight out of a Bourne/Bond cinematic sequence, love it!

(the car is cool too )

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by caustics

Thank you all, it means a lot that you like it. And it's amazing this got posted on the front page! Thank you!

Your Welcome!

Your images and video were just to awesome not to share with the rest of the forum!


Dackel

[positiveions]

Great well written journey. Thanks!

[mjn77]

Originally Posted by Schwarzschild Radius

Just out of curiosity, is it more fun going up or down those roads? Dallas is pretty flat.........

Up, every single time

[Joop!]

Great trip and thx for sharing...

...finished our annual road trip through The Alps, this year across the Dolomites, a week ago. So you’ve got a(nother) nice trip waiting.