CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
A 176 km loop that starts and ends near Sölden, about 2 h 52 of riding. On the way it passes Timmelsjoch, Obergurgl and Merano. The highest point is about 2,450 m. Timmelsjoch is subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. It crosses from Austria into Italy - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
A cross-border pass from Solden, Austria to Merano, Italy, via Obergurgl. Key character: high Alps; switchbacks; motorcycle museum. Surface: paved.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 13 km this is Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Sölden lies at about thirteen hundred metres in the Ötztal, a long Tyrolean valley that runs south from the Inn into the high, glaciated mountains on the Italian border. In winter it is one of Austria's big ski resorts, and in summer it is a base for hikers, cyclists and riders heading for the Timmelsjoch. The village is a bit loud and a bit brash, with large hotels and plenty of apres-ski, but the setting is genuinely impressive, with peaks above three thousand metres on all sides and a river running clear and fast below.
Read the complete Near Sölden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Solden is where the day begins. Next is Timmelsjoch.
Timmelsjoch, at 2,474 metres, is a border pass between Austria and Italy, linking the Ötztal valley with the Passeier valley, and it is one of the great high Alpine roads. The Italians call it Passo del Rombo. It opened in 1968 as a toll road, built partly to connect the two sides of the old Tyrol, which had been divided after the First World War, and it remains a toll road today, with a charge for motorbikes collected on the Austrian side.
Read the complete Timmelsjoch write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Timmelsjoch comes up 24 km in. Next is Obergurgl.
Obergurgl sits at the head of the Ötztal in Tyrol, at about 1,900 metres, and it is often described as the highest church village in Austria. A cluster of timber-trimmed hotels and a modest church are wedged into a bowl of snowfields and peaks, with the Gurgler Ferner glacier and a ring of three-thousand-metre summits behind. It is the kind of place where the road simply runs out of valley, except that in summer it does not: the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road continues up and over into South Tyrol.
Read the complete Obergurgl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
49 km in you reach Obergurgl. Next is Merano.
Merano has a climate that surprises people. Sheltered by high mountains on three sides, it has mild winters and warm summers, and palm trees, cypresses and even a few vines grow in the town, which sits at about three hundred metres where the Passer river joins the Adige.
Read the complete Merano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Merano, late in the day. Next is back to Solden.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Near Sölden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at back to Solden. That is the ride.