CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Out of Thomatal, one way: 90 km, roughly 1 h 56 in the saddle. It goes by way of Eisentalhohe and Schiestelscharte. The highest point is about 2,050 m. Eisentalhöhe and Schiestelscharte are open in summer only - check it is open before you set off. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
15 km on Nockalm Road.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Innerkrems is the top end of the Krems valley, a scatter of farms, hotels and ski lifts at around fifteen hundred metres in the Nockberge, the rounded green mountains of western Carinthia. Unlike the sharp limestone of the Dolomites or the glaciated peaks of the Hohe Tauern, the Nocks are soft, grassy domes, shaped by ice and worn smooth, and they roll away in every direction like waves frozen in place. They are protected as a biosphere reserve, a landscape of alpine pasture, dwarf pine, lakes and stone huts that is among the gentlest in the Alps.
Read the complete Innerkrems write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Innerkrems is where the day begins. Next is Eisentalhohe.
At 2,042 metres, the Eisentalhöhe is the highest point on the Nockalm Road, and it earns the title in a gentle way. There are no needle peaks here, no glaciers hanging on a cliff. The Nockberge are rounded, grassy mountains, the sort that look like sleeping animals under a blanket, and the road crosses them in a succession of curves that feels almost private, as if the mountains had been designed for riding.
Read the complete Eisentalhohe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eisentalhöhe comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Schiestelscharte.
A Scharte is a notch in a ridge, and the Schiestelscharte, at about 2,024 metres, is one of the notches the Nockalm Road threads through on its way across the Nockberge. It sits only a little lower than the Eisentalhöhe, a few kilometres away, and the two are often grouped together, but the character is different: the Schiestelscharte feels more exposed, with the hillside opening out suddenly and the road swinging round the shoulder of a ridge.
Read the complete Schiestelscharte write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 17 km into the recorded legs you reach Schiestelscharte. Next is Ebene Reichenau, mostly downhill.
Ebene Reichenau lies in the Gurk valley of Carinthia, at the lower gate of the Nockalm Road, and it is where the toll booth sits across the road, with a car park and a cafe beside it. The village is small, with wooden farmhouses and a church spire, and the fresh air, the sound of a stream and the smell of mown hay make it feel far from anywhere. It lies at about eleven hundred metres, so the climb to the top of the Nocks, which begins right behind the village, has about a thousand metres of height to gain.
Read the complete Ebene Reichenau write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ebene Reichenau closes the day.
Innerkrems → Eisentalhohe is 15 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Eisentalhöhe → Schiestelscharte is 2 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schiestelscharte → Ebene Reichenau is 73 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.