I am planning a trip next spring to Europe, including a motorcycle tour with my (German) brother-in-law in the Swiss alps. When is the earliest in the spring I should plan to go in order to avoid snowed in passes and nasty weather? I understand that the weather is always unpredictable in the mountains, but I hope I can get some advice. Would it be unwise to attempt this in mid-May?
Hope you don't mind me hijacking this thread, but I'd also like some Alps advice. I drove all over them in a car as part of a rally (One for charity in crap cars, not that awful Gumball one) and I had a brilliant time even if I did nearly die when the brakes failed. Anyway, while I was there I saw lots of bike riders having a great time and going back on a bike is on my hit list. Alpine corners concern me a bit, especially since I nearly flew off one so can anyone recommend anyway of practicing on corners like that but without the drop on one side? Or perhaps a training course?
Conditions can obviously change year on year but I would say that on the whole May would be a bit early. It also depends on what you plan to do. In May many of the larger road passes will be getting opened but the smaller, higher ones and certainly trails will still be closed. These are from my visit in June '06
i was in the alps in 2006 at grindelwald. one day was fine and sunny, then overnight had about 12 inches of snow. that was in early june and most passes were closed for a few days. grindelwald itself was cut off due to trees falling onto the rail lines and roads. this link give info on the staus of the passes, but most will be open by late june. bear in mind though that snow can fall even in july/ august http://www.alpineroads.com/passstatus.php also a good site for general alps info http://www.alpineroads.com/index.php
Arriving the last few days of May, I'm there every June and I have yet to not drive up a pass due to it being snow covered. The earliest I've gone is May 11th and that is a bit early (it was cool at times) although I did ride up to the Edelweiss Spitze in Austria on May 24th and the roads were clear. It depends on the winter they've had.
I rode in the Alps in January this year and in the few days I was there the roads varied from this in the lower areas to this in the higher areas The road was only blocked due to fresh snow once and I had to turn around. When I've been there in May and June time I've never had any trouble riding where I wanted to go but it can get a bit cold so I would recommend a heated jacket rather than stopping to put warmer layers on and off all the time. Cheers Mark
I can't comment specifically on Swiss Alps, but in general: Mid-May should work if you are flexible in your planning and leave room for alternatives e.g. go south to if north of the Alps is still covered in snow. Remember that for you coming from Idaho the distances will seem ridiculous. Do bring some warm clothes for the higher passes and be prepared that they still are closed especially if they are just tourist routes. We all get our bikes of the garage by May latest and the Alps might get crowded on those long weekends in May as pentecost, ascension and corpus christi are all public holidays here in Austria and I guess in most of the alpine countries. Cheers, Rudi
Hi, I live in Chamonix (France) near to the borders if both Italy and Switzerland. I have ridden a fair bit around the Alpine cols of France and Switzerland and in general I ride all year around (when there is not snow/ice). When cols open depends totally on weather and traffic. A lot depends on how much snow there has been over the winter and whether the road is either popular or busy. The ski season tends to be all over by mid May pretty much all over the Alps. From experience, I have found that cols that are either on a main route or that are a secondary route to major destinations will tend to be kept clear all year around. Outside of that, they are generally left to clear themselves which is again weather dependent. As an example, some lessser cols were not officially open this year until mid July. It is not always the lower ones that open first as perhaps may be expected. Like I said, it tends to be the main routes that are either kept clear (ploughed/gritted). Check out this site http://www.swissinfo.org/ger/infos_zur_schweiz/verkehrsinfo/index.html?siteSect=490 for info on the state of the cols. It is in German but your brother-in-law should be OK with it. As has been stated before, you should always be able to find alternate routes if you are flexible on your itinerary and there are plenty of cols around. There is some fantastic riding to be had around the Alps but the roads can get busy from June onwards. The will be many camper vans around the Alps in the Summer months. Many cols have VERY tight switch back turns which need to be done slowly and carefully!!! Good luck and I hope you enjoy your alpine tour.
I was there from May 8-19 this year. Some of the best times of the trip were on snow blocked roads. But I never had any lodging reservations so my schedule was fairly flexable. Jim
cd: The will be many camper vans around the Alps in the Summer months. Indeed. That's why as much as possible one should always be on a motorcycle (and therefore able to overtake them), and not stuck behind them in a car As others have said, mountain weather can be fickle (the Furkapass was closed briefly in early September due to snow, only a few weeks after I rode it in bright sunshine), and a few years back some passes were closed for a several days at a stretch in July due to adverse weather. However, most routes will be open by the end of April/early May. Also be aware that some minor passes and forest roads (in the Jura, for example) are not closed due to snow, but because of winter rockfalls which are sometimes not cleared before the end of May. Some years ago I took at rather naughty shortcut (had ridden back from Paris in one go and wanted to get home), down a forest road that was open from June 1st to October 30th, according to the sign. There was no barrier so I carried on, and it seemed fine at first. However it soon got a little more challenging, avoiding (hundreds of) rocks as big as yer head all over the road (incuding just round blind bends) for the next 15kms or so :eek1 Michael B.
OK, last passes, Susten- and Pragelpass, this year did open on June 13th and June 14th. There was all others opened much earlier. So if you come mid or late May, that will work fine. Check the links above to check the situation before you leave. Than you can stitch the tour toghether in advance if you just can't live without it. Make sure you're going to pop when you ride through!
Thanks, everyone, for the helpful information. I understand the fickle and changeable nature of mountain weather; we have a few mountains here, too. We will have lots of flexibility, but I just didn't want to show up and find that most or all of the passes were still snowed in. Around here, there are lots of areas that don't open until late June in a typical year, so I wanted to be sure that wasn't the case there. Um, not sure I understand this comment . . . can you explain? thanks
Sorry. I ment "pop in" or "show up at my place" so I can buy you a drink and have a bit of a gaz-talk
Sounds great - that makes more sense now. I had thought it was an obscure Swiss saying that I wasn't familiar with.
If you just wanna come here for all the "Big Stuff" you might be disapointed, when you come mid may. I usually give the advice to come Mid June to Mid September, to do them kind of things. So in general all them roads should be open. It really depence what kind of winter we are having here. That results in early or late opening of the big passes. Anyway. If you come earlier, as you said mid may, there is still plenty of other stuff to do. If you make it to my area, let me know. I would love to join you and Cooltours for that gaz talk! Don't look down! Sorry about that. Good question! I never really was thinking about this matter, as I grew up here in the Swiss Alps. So I guess, I am used to it. Look at it this way. How many turns are on this planet? Who knows?!? Well, there are 2 turns! A left and a right turn. You might ask yourself what this has to do with your question? Well, I'm sure, you have some corners where you live too. Go and practice on them. Once you are here, its all down to speed! If you think, you have to ride our passes like Valentino Rossi, won't be too good. But if you take your time and concentrate on the road and not on the scenery, you should be fine. To say it with the word of my grandfather and he was a mountain guide: "Look where you are going! If you wanna look at the scenery, stand still!" Or meet up with me and I willl come a day out with you and show you how its done. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
Thanks again for all the advice. My trip was delayed - will be arriving in early September. Looking for more specific routing advice here in this thread.
Furka was closed first week of June this year. As for going off the cliff what really concerns me is that it won't be an instant death-- you'll have time to comptemplate how bad it will be:huh
