Bike Rebel Without a Cause

*** Information page on the Grossglockner here ***

On our way to the OEMC 2009 in Baden, I planned on climbing the Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße a.k.a. Grossglockner High Alpine Road.

This is one of the more famous alpine high roads (in Austria) and with 11 kilometers over 10%, it’s ranked 5th in Europe on that list.

As a reference: the Stelvio only has 6.2 kilometers over 10% on the Prato side.

The profiles I found were are a bit confusing, as there are two extra or separate ‘forks’ you can take: the Edelweissspitze and the Kaiser Franz-Josef-höhe.

I was planning on the climb from Fusch, get up to the Fuscher Törl first, then take the extra loop to the Edelweissspitze and after that get up to the Franz Josephs-höhe…

The profile of the climb from Fusch to the Edelweissspitze, is the second profile card on the info page. The start of that, is just before the last 150 meters to the Fusher Törl, at the parking to the left.

During the Austrian Open of 2007 in Feldkirchen, we had a trip to a nearby “Blumenalm”, the Gerlitzen.

From a distance, it doesn’t look like much of a mountain, but much to my dismay, it turned out to be an impressive climb.

Since I did not have my bike with me, I was forced to get up by car (or by foot, but I was lazy) and since the car had difficulties getting there, I figured it must be steep.

I looked up the profile and indeed, it was: about 12 kilometers at an average of over 10%.

I made a vow I would be back with my bike the next year.

During the course of the year, I extended the trip with a prelude in the Bavarian Alps (Bad Wiessee, Tegernsee) and even the Gerlitzen was eventually demoted to an appetizer, as we would ride on to Prad, Italy, to “storm” the Stelvio Pass too…

Grossglockner 2009

Stelvio Pass 2008 (Prato)