St. Gotthard Pass
Nufenpass
At least the bed was very comfortable, which counted for a lot after the marathon ride yesterday. They had a decent breakfast spread in the dining room, after which we made our way downtown so Jim could use the internet café we spotted last night. While he was working I went into the local market to find something we could use later to cut the zip-ties holding the Zumo on. $2 nail clippers – perfect!
The view from my windows at the Hotel Aurora
Bikes were everywhere in Andermatt
The internet cafe
Andermatt
"I'll take 'Things You Don't See In The States' for $100, Alex"
Unattended kids would result in a call to the police where I live.
That's one happy bear (even with a sword in his back)
The town was bustling with bikers getting ready to head out. On every corner, in front of every hotel, were 4 or 5 or 10 bikes being packed up and checked out. Conveniently, our hotel has its own gas station - that’s a first. While waiting for Jim to check out I was admiring the bikes outside, when a group of classic bikes pulled in. There were a pair of Horex’s (Hori?), a brand I’d never even heard of. They were gorgeous, and in perfect condition. They owners were quite happy to have me take pictures of their bikes. Another rider pulled in riding an old BMW with sidecar, really looking the part with a half-helmet and goggles.
Horex
Brakes? Who needs brakes?
Loved the gear
They sounded great as well
The fuzzy rucksack killed me
Today’s going to be an easy day mileage-wise. Great passes start almost right outside our door (not at our door like in Arabba though). We’ll ride a couple, keep an eye on the time, then Autobahn it up to Moto Mader.
First up was St. Gotthard Pass. I had read about the old cobblestone version of the pass that also went to the top, and was eager to try it out. We pulled over just past the turnout for the older road. Jim didn’t want to try his luck on the cobblestones, so we agreed to meet at the top and I doubled back to go it solo.
Once again, I was wishing I was on a smaller bike. The cobblestones weren’t so bad, but the torn-up sections filled with gravel were a bit of a handful. I made it about 2 km, and 3 gravel sections, before deciding to turn around. I was the only vehicle on the road, I didn’t know how bad it would get, or even if the road was open all the way to the top. Back I went, and then up the newer pass.
The old road over St. Gotthard. The new road (with avalanche shelter) is seen at top
Next time for sure
It seemed like just a few minutes when I saw a sign for parking and a museum – surely I couldn’t be at the top already? I better pull in just in case. Sure enough, I spotted Jim’s GS right away. There was a beautiful lake framed by the alpine peaks, with lots of tourists around. Lots of Ducati’s as well, why didn’t we see more of them in Italy?
Maybe next time I'll bring an STN or ADV sticker
Lovely lake at the top of St. Gotthard
Lots of snow
Alps 2009!
We descended the pass into the town of Airolo, where a distant runway caught his eye. Surrounded by tall peaks he figured it would be very interesting to fly into. Once in town we got a little lost trying to find signs for Nufenpass (Passo della Novena). Eventually we pulled into a service station, and pulled out the paper maps (I had not plugged in a route in the Zumo). No sooner did we unfold the map that I turned around to look at some bike going by – and saw the giant sign right behind us “Nufenpass -->” Oh.
Looking down on Airolo. You can just see the airstrip in the top center
Nufenpass was very snowy, with very few hairpins. Heading up Nufenpass I couldn’t help but notice that this region was looking very much like riding in the Rockies in the US. All you needed was a yellow line in the middle of the road and you’re riding over any number of passes in Colorado. The mountains seemed a bit higher and more dramatic, but it all still felt very familiar and comforting. I was definitely missing the “wild and wooly” feeling of Italy.
Yup, that's a lot of snow
I hate handing my $$$ DSLR to strangers
The top of Nufenpass was filled with bikes. The restaurant at the rifugio was basically a cafeteria, so we passed even though we were getting pretty hungry. The gift shop was locked up tight, so no souvineers for us. We had only been there a few minutes when the Horex and BMW sidecar riders showed up. That had to be an awesome ride on those beasts.
At the top of Nufenpass
The Horex guys made it
The BMW guy was posing for pictures.
Bling!
There were more bikes earlier
Wow
Someone coming up the other side of Nufenpass
Grimselpass
Furkapass
The ride down Nufenpass was more interesting than the ride up – the road was certainly more twisted on this side.
Me coming down Nufenpass
After Nufenpass we stopped for lunch in the town of Ulrichen at the first place that showed signs of life. We did not want to repeat the mistake of yesterday, putting off stopping to eat until eventually everyplace was closed. The restaurant at the Hotel Walser turned out to be pricy (my plate of pasta was 17 CHF), but the food was very good. Our “efficient” waitress didn’t speak English but we got by.
Lunch stop at the Hotel Walser
Tasty KTM SMT (with required BMW GS behind it)
That's a beauty!
Next up were two passes we’d been looking forward to for some time – Grimsel and Furka. We had to choose between Furka and Sustenpass as we wouldn’t have time for both. As it was, we didn’t really have time to even do all of Grimsel, just a ride to the summit and back down. It was a pretty quick ride to the top, very scenic with long, long views of snow-covered peaks. The hairpins were pretty wide and perfectly paved, so we made good time. The gift shop at the top seemed to specialize in flower-themed gifts, and souvenirs that played bird songs. The ride back down was uneventful, other than waiting for the traffic light controlling one-way traffic through a small construction zone.
Giant Hotel Galcier du Rhone at the base of Furka and Grimsel
The top of Grimsel
One of the coolest things about going down (or up for that matter) Grimsel was that you could see almost all of Furkapass on the next mountain over – and it looked terrific.
Grimsel going down in the bottom left, then Furka going up on the right and over the top
Quick pano from Grimsel. On the left Furka goes up the mountain, the road in the valley on the right leads to Nufenpass
Another quick pano from Grimsel
Furka switchbacks as seen from Grimsel
The Rhone glacier as seen from Grimsel
If I hadn't picked up the nail clippers that morning this would have been very handy (left at contruction site)
Bikes queing up at the construction traffic light for a quick getaway
The start of Furka (you can see the Hotel Glacier du Rhone on the very left middle)
Furkapass was indeed terrific. Probably the most scenic of all the passes we’d done (31 of them, I think), with, once again, perfect pavement and reasonable hairpins. You just kept climbing, turning, climbing, turning, all the while looking out over the most spectacular alpine scenery. There were some construction zones, as the Swiss are busy making the hairpins even wider. They expand them by either floating them out on stilts, or on rock walls. This seemed to be another difference between the Swiss and the Italians – you get the sense that the Swiss are ever-improving the roads, whereas the Italians pave the goat path once and be done with it.
I stopped for a lot of photos, knowing this was going to be our last pass of the trip.
Fun hairpin on Furka
Looking back from Furka, you can see Grimsel climbing on the right side
A closer view of Grimsel from Furka
I liked the three stacked hairpins
Pano from Furka
I think he spotted me
Furka
A Japanese couple took my picture
Looking back at the Furka ascent, with Grimsel in the center distance
Taming Furkapass
Another distant shot of Grimsel
Hairpins in space
The top of our last pass
We stopped for a while at the top, taking in the fabulous scenery. It was hard to get going again, as once we descended we’d be leaving the Alps behind. It had been a fantastic trip of a lifetime, and neither of us wanted to see it end.
But the bikes had to get returned, and the hour was getting late. With more than a bit of sadness we headed downhill back towards Andermatt.
Quite a view from Furka
Jim coming down Furka
The ride down Furka was great. We gassed up in Andermatt and headed for the Autobahn. The first few kms getting to the Autobahn had several hairpins and tunnels, and was quite a nice surprise. There was a lot of traffic, but we made pretty quick work of that. Some of my passes must have seemed suicidal to my passees - they didn't know I had Jim on the headset around the blind curve giving me the "all clear".
Thanks to the Zumo we had an uneventful and quick ride back to Moto Mader in Oberentfelden. Can't say I remember too much about this section, other than at some point we came up to a beautiful large lake on our right, right before we were plunged into a long tunnel robbing us of the great view.
We did a final gas-up at a service station on the Autobahn and then made our way to the dealership. We stopped just before we got there to use my newly-bought nail clippers and de-Zumo the RT. Clip, clip, no one's the wiser.
Stopping to de-Zumo the RT
Now came the part that Jim was dreading - returning the GS and dealing with the tipover damage. We were hoping to get Tommy again, as he was great to deal with in getting the bikes, but he was occupied with another customer. Another employee looked over the bike and started making faces and notes as he took in the various bits of damage. He had written up quite a list (other than the major marks on the brush-guard and side-panel, a number of other parts wore minor battle scars), and went inside for a while. Jim and I kept trading looks, like "oh man, this is going to be bad". He came out with a paper with a lot of things written on it (in German, of course), and took it over to Tommy. Tommy looked the bike over, took out a pen and started crossing things off the paper. Many things.
We went inside to settle up. I paid for the RT first, then it was Jim's turn. A lot of numbers were on his paper, and at one point we thought he was going to be paying 1200CHF in damages. This number was not terribly surprising, but it was still painful to deal with. We were confused, so Jim asked "1200 additional?" and was told "no, 1200 total". Oh yes! Tommy had crossed out every damaged item except the fairing and brush guard, and those 2 items only added around 260CHF to the original rental charge. Jim couldn't sign the paper fast enough. I'm sure he was never happier to pay 260CHF in his life.
Waiting for the hammer to fall on Jim's damage deposit
We unpacked the bikes and re-packed our suitcases, and while Jim was getting changed I went upstairs to check out their gear selection.
Oh. My. God.
I'm a gear-hound, I admit it. I've got 3 helmets, 4 jackets, 2 sets of pants, one full suit, and countless gloves. I like visiting dealerships, and checking out what jackets or helmets they have, trying things on, etc. As you know, very few dealerships in the states have a decent selection of gear. The import dealers (BMW, Ducati, Triumph) are usually better than most, but we're still talking a 10-minute browse at most.
When you come up the stairs you step into Moto Mader's discount room, which is easily bigger than many dealerships I've been in. Rack after rack, shelf after shelf, is packed to bursting with gear. Two full aisles of nothing but youth gear, full armored jackets, pants, boots, etc. They had more 'discount' gear than all the gear in any 20 US dealerships combined. Then you look across the store, and see that the discount room only takes up about 1/3 the space of their upstairs.
Kids's gear
The BMW clothing area
Just a part of the Dainese area
Can't fit the whole discount room in one picture
The 'regular' priced gear. The picture doesn't show how wide the place is.
I know it's an old movie reference, but I felt like Robin Williams' character in "Moscow on the Hudson" when he went to a US grocery store for the first time - it literally took my breath away.
Unfortunately even the sale gear was Swiss-expensive. We also didn't have much time to look around since they were closing, and the owner was going to drive us back to the train station in Aarau so we could get to our hotel in Zurich. Very nice time chatting with the owner during the drive, he says their dealership is the largest in Switzerland. I believe him. When we got to the station, we had almost an hour to kill before the next train to Zurich, so we got some food and hung out on the platform (partially to get out of earshot of the 'singer' downstairs)..
Can't believe it's over
Kids with machine guns
Transferred at Zurich HB to a train to the airport, then caught the shuttle bus to the Moevenpick hotet, which conveniently was just a 5 minute ride from the airport. Got settled in our rooms, then met for our "farewell" dinner. The hotel had 2 great-looking restaurants to choose from, so we decided to not head out. We had a great dinner (I skipped the $28US hamburger) with a lot of laughs, reliving the highlights of our week of motorcycling nirvana.
My fancy room at the Moevenpick
After dinner we said our goodbyes - Jim was flying back in the morning, while I was staying an extra day in Zurich.