(Very) High Alpine Tour - HAT1603

Time to round it all up...  Riding Day 6 - the last one already, from Warth back to home base Erding...  Riding Day 5 - Pontresina to Warth (the proper riders' day!)  After the somewhat shorter riding day yesterday, tour guide Björn and Wim figured that our super group of riders deserved a little treat to make up for it. They fitted in not one, but three fantastic mountain passes in the morning's ride out of Pontresina. A wonderful start to a day that would end... Well... Just as wonderfully in the stunning scenery around Hotel Jägeralpe in Warth. Some impressions? Get ready to watch some seriously pretty scenery...  Riding day 4 - Bolzano to Pontresina Today we started to the Vinschgau valley, the main apple growing region in Italy. Good thing for the Belgian tour guide: they turn the fruit into cider afterwards. Phew! Our first stop was at Glurns, a little town that is still surrounded by its old city wall. After that we went up the mother of all pass roads, the Passo di Stelvio with its 48 tight switchback turns. Everybody made it to the top without problems and we were already awaited by Bruno who served us sausages and Sauerkraut for lunch. The ride down to Bormio on the other side was even nicer than the way up and after a short stop in Livigno we took the Berninapass into Switzerland and arrived at the hotel in Pontresina, just before the road was blocked due to a festival going on tonight. What a wonderful day! Restday in Bolzano Did we say very high alpine tour? Or did we say very HOT alpine tour? Temperatures were off the scale in Bolzano today, but there was an adapted program to everyone's needs and likes. The riders split up in two groups. One did a ride up the Passo Mendola and enjoyed the views down into the valley from Monte Penegal with tour guide Wim. The others went back into the heart of the Dolomites to get up and down eight mountain passes with tour guide Björn. Again proof of the considerable difference in fitness between Björn and Wim, has to be said. Oh yes, and then some other guests went to visit iceman Otzi in the museum, and one guest went not very high, but the highest possible... We explain here:    Riding Day 2 - Lienz to Bolzano, Benvenuti in Italia!  Riding Day 1 - Erding to Lienz Arrival Day in Erding