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Thonon Trieste: Fred Singla cc 5173

Day 5: from Livigno to Malles-Venosta: The Stelvio: DANTESQUE but WAHOU!

95 km - 2200 m of den+ and 🌧🌧🌧🌧

How do you climb the Stelvio without a car (or a bike...)? It's very simple, just follow points 1 to 6 :

1. Leave Livigno and start the day's stage by climbing the Passo d'Eira.
2. Then descend into a small valley to pass Trepalle (beautiful fresco) between the passi d'Eira and di Foscagno.
3. Climb back up to the Passo di Foscagno before embarking on an anthology descent to Bormio in pouring rain 🌧🌧. We were spared nothing on this descent: rain, avalanches galore, roadworks and traffic from hell. Certainly not the best part of the trip!
4. At Bormio, you come up against a sign announcing that the road is closed.
5. Running into an Italian taxi driver who lifts the barrier, passes us by and says "OK, it's forbidden, but there's absolutely nothing there and it's fine".
6. Taking a chance, as Bruno and I are doing ... a little worried all the same. What will we find at the end?
7. Being lucky enough to have Jean-Marc waiting for us at the bottom in case we have to go back down.

It's a really strange climb. The two of us are alone in this vastness.

 On a positive note, we didn't see the taxi come back down. After about ten kilometres, we passed a car. I signalled for it to stop, but the driver thought I was waving and waved back without stopping. Another 3 km and we pass another car (they're the only two we see getting out). This one responds to my calls, stops and the driver confirms that "it's on". In fact, the configuration at the top is identical to the one we had at the bottom: a barrier, but it's not blocked, so it's possible to lift it.
Of course, there's no network! Another 2 km and telephone communication is possible. I immediately call Jean-Marc and tell him, "Go for it! It's either that or a 5-hour diversions...
By the time he arrives, we're climbing a few more bends. There are 40 on the Lombardy side. I confess that, stressed by the situation, I didn't count them.

3 km before the summit, a quick return trip to Switzerland's highest road pass, the Umbrail Pass at 2501 m. The last few kilometres are solid and we finally arrive at the Stelvio, the highest road pass in the Italian Alps at 2758 m (the highest in the Alps being the Iseran).

Finally together (phew!!), we're enjoying this hot chocolate. With cream, please! Thanks to Jean Marc, who is in charge of the catering, we'll be able to put on extra layers and long gloves.

Our descent, on the South Tyrol side with its 48 bends, takes place in pouring rain 🌧🌧🌧.

We arrive in Malles-Venosta soaking wet. Our room soon looks like a camp.

Alternatively, if you want to climb the Stelvio without a car, but with plenty of bikes, two days after our visit there will be a special "Stelvio without a car" day.
And if you want to climb the Stelvio in the sunshine, come on a day with good weather 😉 ... I was delighted to climb this legendary pass. Admittedly, we didn't do it in optimal conditions. Having said that, when we were preparing our trip, I'd got used to the idea that the climb might be impossible. I was thinking about a possible snowstorm. So I'm positive and I'm coming out of this adventure very happy. And, for the record, it snowed heavily the next day at the summit. As seen on the webcam at the summit.
We didn't find out until the next day, but the road was closed due to a red alert: bad weather in Lombardy. So, of course, I'm keeping a low profile - it's obvious that we shouldn't have gone through. But thanks to this Italian taxi driver!