alps

Roycropper63

just watching the tour de france and am amazed at where the roads go ie,, they seem to be stuck onto the mountain side which is fabulous to look at on tv but i wonder are those roads open in winter? as quite a few have villages etc dotted through the mountains,,anyone ever drive them while on hols?

CiniO

Except with some cases of very heavy snowfall or snowstorms, why wouldn't they be open in winter?

Roycropper63

seeing as in ireland we get an inch of snow and country comes to a stop,,, how do other countries travel with snow?

CiniO

Roycropper63 wrote: »

seeing as in ireland we get an inch of snow and country comes to a stop,,, how do other countries travel with snow?

Main differences would be:
1. They use winter tyres.
2. Drivers don't expect car to behave the same in snow as on dry road, and drive adequately.
3. Drivers have skills like controlling of skids, etc.
4. In some countries roads are gritted.
5. Snow is much drier, with not much ice, making it not as slippery as 1 inch of snow covering black ice which is what we usually get here in Ireland.

edburg

Alps are some finest roads I have driven over years. Some of the more bare area's would be abandoned for winter while some are specific winter skiing area's and only populated in winter.

France has winter rules for driving on there roads as in its illegal in area's to not have winter gear (tyre's,chains), think Swiss/Italians are same but not sure to be honest.

Been watching tour de France for years and took it upon myself to drive a few of the main mountain stages plus couple of Top Gear driving route's. Have had 3 holidays now (7 weeks approx) covering a lot of the well known roads from Monaco to Jura mountains by Switzerland border. Great experience.


Alp's have quite a few route's closed as they are less populated and more baron being higher mountain range's. Pyrenees on other hand not so high are more populated and have more life.


I put up pics but not able to.

Ardennes1944

Pm me a link to your hosting site and ll put em up Would love to see them

edburg

Pm sent chap.

Ardennes1944

Just a couple from Eds trips, some fantastic scenery in the pics, I just tried to keep it motor related.

Ed, you werent on BlitzandGriffin Opel forum were ya?!

edburg

Cheers ardennes, yeah that's me feisty grumpy git with astra hahahaha

Preset No.3

I got back from my 2nd year of doing the wacky rally. One of the days involved going up and down the alps about 4 times. I think in total we did about 270 miles and it took 12 hours. Lots of hairpins, up and down etc. Its well worth it, and its a good petrol head route to take. One of the high points was the grand st bernard pass between Italy and France at 3000m

wackyrally.co.uk

Ardennes1944

edburg wrote: »

Cheers ardennes, yeah that's me feisty grumpy git with astra hahahaha

I remember you had a full OPC brake kit for sale second hand I was tempted to buy it off ya, OPCed

Preset No.3

Some shots of the Alps on the wacky rally

sham58107

Have cycled and driven most of alps great, but was caught by avalanche in JUNE luckily there was another road down.
Signs are very good though plenty of warning if pass closed.

edburg

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

I remember you had a full OPC brake kit for sale second hand I was tempted to buy it off ya, OPCed

Great deal that was lol.

St Bernard at 2500m was cool one, but didn't go over fully as didn't have vignette for Switzerland, petit st Bernard was more fun to drive.

I drove the biggest pass in alps, the col du bonnet/restefond at 2850m was fresh tarmac but only single track bloody scary as bits of gravel fell down road.

Love to do stelvio pass and Austria, looks absolutely stunning in Austria.

edburg

sham58107 wrote: »

Have cycled and driven most of alps great, but was caught by avalanche in JUNE luckily there was another road down.
Signs are very good though plenty of warning if pass closed.

You done well riding bikes there, some climbs to be doing.

Popoutman

edburg wrote: »

St Bernard at 2500m was cool one, but didn't go over fully as didn't have vignette for Switzerland,

You only need the vignette for the Swiss motorways, you can traverse most of the country without using the motorway/expressway network.

I've driven a good few of the Alpine cycle routes due to being in the area for kayaking trips. I love the Col d'Izoard, driving up from Queyras into Briancon. I'd love to get something powerful and RWD up some of the hairpin routes..

TrailerBob

I'm just back from the Stelvio.. have a pic already here....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=91163793&postcount=1242

It's my 3rd time in the Alps, including Gorges du Verdon in France and a bit of Switzerland.. amazing stuff and road surface is generally good. As said already, signage in place for the really high passes for closures. Some stunning drives are less obvious and not well known. I found the Stelvio breathtaking.. but hardly got above 25mph on it... Whereas on a little by road close to Cannes, it was like a rally super special... Great fun.

Roen

Plenty of roads close in the alps in winter. Some are just not cleared and become impassable and some are actually physically barred. I've been caught in the ecrin alp region by closures. Chamonix is a bit on the busier side and has more kept open.

The Rannoch moor road (A82) in Scotland is closed in times of high snow fall. They physically bar it. So you don't have to go as far as France to get road closures.

"The snow gates on the A82 at Crianlarich have been shut and police said conditions on the A86 Spean Bridge to Roy Bridge road were poor."

From Feb this year.

edburg

Popoutman wrote: »

You only need the vignette for the Swiss motorways, you can traverse most of the country without using the motorway/expressway network.

I've driven a good few of the Alpine cycle routes due to being in the area for kayaking trips. I love the Col d'Izoard, driving up from Queyras into Briancon. I'd love to get something powerful and RWD up some of the hairpin routes..

Really didn't know that, I saw people being stopped at french side at border control posts at lausanne side of Lake Geneva, thought they were checking for vignette. So never ventured far enough next day on grand st Bernard.

Didn't do d'izoard, came into Briancon from Italy and headed to la grave for hotel and drove alp d'huez, galibier, la croix and another I didn't mean to due to road works as circuit. Missed val d'isere to.

Think best one's I drove were off the col du turini down south. Part of the col du brain which gets used on the monte carlo rallye. Plus followed a gauge somewhere which was wide and free flowing, all walls were bright clay red around you, think that le martin vesubie.

TrailerBob

We passed through Swiss border twice on this year's trip in a fully loaded landcruiser.. Lots of wine etc.. the border guards were only interested in our vignette... But it is only for the motorway..

edburg

TrailerBob wrote: »

I'm just back from the Stelvio.. have a pic already here....It's my 3rd time in the Alps, including Gorges du Verdon in France and a bit of Switzerland.. amazing stuff and road surface is generally good. As said already, signage in place for the really high passes for closures. Some stunning drives are less obvious and not well known. I found the Stelvio breathtaking.. but hardly got above 25mph on it... Whereas on a little by road close to Cannes, it was like a rally super special... Great fun.

You did it in truck??

Still need to do it myself won't satisfied if don't.

TrailerBob

edburg wrote: »

You did it in truck??

Still need to do it myself won't satisfied if don't.

Yep.. I don't own a 2 seater rwd sports car, but I do own a big Toyota.. and it's very practical for 3 weeks on the continent!! It has been to many places that Porsche owners dream of tbh

I'd go back to stelvio tomorrow.. it's that stunning even if it is slow and dangerous!

edburg

Excellent stuff. I wouldn't be safe in lightweight RWD, what am I saying I wouldn't fit into one to start with lol.