HAT 2404 HIGH ALPINE TOUR

24 Aug 2024

/Axel Gert Schneider

/Kurt Franzelin

Welcome to the High Alpine Tour With Kurt and Axel Today is the Day - We will kick of this Tour today with our: Welcome Briefing and the Handover of the Bikes but before there are some of our group they like to see munich, so i will met them in the morning and we will take the train to the city of munich. And the most important thing for Kurt and Me is – To meet our riders So what are we doing in the next days? In the next days we will ride on some of the greatest roads of Europe and on top we will ride through 5 countries. Roads like the Grossglockner high alpine road and one of my favorit parts of this tour - the Dolomites will be our playground and of curse - a must do called Passo dello Stelvio is also part of our ride. We will start and finish our tour here in Erding close to Munich and from there we will go south and will ride clocke wise through the heart of the alps. And if you like to know more about our tour or you have it already on your to do list – well than return to the Blog each day and we will give you more reasons to come. See you later Kurt and Axel

After getting to know each other last night, our guests from America, Australia and Germany were clearly looking forward to their first day of riding at breakfast today. Everyone turned up in a good mood for the daily briefing, which we held right next to the motorbikes in the hotel garage. After a few last bits of help on the bikes from both tour guides Axel and Kurt, such as menu settings, mobile phone installation or case conversion etc., we set off as planned at 9.00 am. Axel, who was driving the VAN today, blocked off the traffic as agreed so that all 11 motorbikes with a total of 14 guests and today's tour guide could leave the hotel safely and in a closed convoy. The first few hours took us through the relatively flat Bavarian plain with long bends. Just right for our guests, who were able to familiarise themselves with their new bikes without any stress. After just under 1.5 hours, we reached Prien am Chiemsee, where we made our first coffee stop, which some used to take photos and others to warm up. Yesterday in Erding it had been over 30 degrees in bright sunshine, but today it had cooled down considerably to 15 degrees with a cloudy sky. Then we continued between wide meadows and fields with countless cows, sheep and goats and crossed the border into Austria after another 30 kilometres. From here it immediately became a little more winding and it was really fun to see the whole group in perfect distance like chain links in the rear-view mirror. Almost exactly 2 hours after our Chiemsee detour, we had reached the ‘Lampenhäusl’ restaurant in Fusch at the foot of the Grossglockner. For most of our guests, two hours was already the upper limit of an uninterrupted journey and everyone was happy to stop for lunch. The Lampenhäusl is perfect for this: an ultra-large car park and therefore plenty of space for 12 motorbikes, a large but very cosy garden and typical Austrian food in equally typical Austrian oversized portions. After a brief situation report with live location to Axel, who was already waiting for us at the hotel, we really got going with the bends and mountain roads. Unfortunately, the weather gods were not so kind to us, as it started to rain just as we were setting off. After a few kilometres we reached the toll station on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, where we had to pay 33 euros per motorbike. For the steep price, however, we travelled 47.8 km along the highest paved pass road in Austria, with 36 hairpin bends and a gradient of up to 12% We started with a cocktail of bends and then climbed even higher with even more bends until we first reached the foot and then, after another 10 bends on cobblestones, the highest passable point of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road - the ‘Edelweissspitze’ at 2,571 metres. We were almost alone on the summit, but no wonder, as it was now literally raining waterfalls. So we didn't stay here for too long - all the riders and pillion riders were now quite cold at 4 degrees - and we made our way down into the valley. After the last 80 km we reached our hotel in Lienz, where Axel had already opened the gate to the underground car park and instructed all the bikes to park. A good hour later, we met up again for a short walk to a restaurant that we had reserved. We reviewed the day over a really excellent dinner and everyone agreed that it had been a great and impressive day despite the rainy Grossglockner road. As a grand finale, we were able to celebrate Desiree's birthday today and shortly before dessert we presented her with a few small gifts - which we had secretly procured - and a card signed by all the guests. Kurt & Axel

The 5th day of driving also promised to be interesting, as it took us through 3 countries and over another 3 passes. The early risers were treated to an incredibly beautiful sunrise over the mountains of Pontresina. After the daily briefing, we set off straight away and after just half an hour, our guests were able to enjoy the finest bend feeling as we travelled at a brisk pace up the Albula Pass, which is certainly one of the most beautiful Alpine passes in Switzerland. On the way, we were once again photographed by our star photographer Axel in one of the most flowing serpentine sections and if his digital camera could also record sound to the pictures, you would even be able to hear the scratching of the footrests in some of the photos. After the Albula Pass, we headed towards Lenzerheide, where our first coffee stop of the day was planned. Due to a road closure, we spontaneously chose the option via Davos, where we were served a bombastically good ‘Affogato’ in Restaurant ‘La Carretta’ near the railway station. The walls of ‘La Carretta’ are covered with photos of celebrities together with the owner Antonio, from Ayrton Senna and Schumi to Ronaldo and Messi, Gérard Depardieu, and, and, and - even the current American President Joe Biden and his wife have eaten at Antonio's. After Davos, we headed back down to the flatlands and ploughed along the Rheintal country roads on our powerful two-wheelers to Maienfeld, where we stopped for lunch at Restaurant Heidihof in the land of ‘Heidi and Peter’. After an excellent lunch and a few cool drinks, we continued on towards Liechtenstein. Over lunch, I reminded my group not to blink as soon as we reached the border, otherwise we might have already crossed this mini-country. :-) With an area of 160 km2, just under 25 kilometres long and 12 kilometres wide, the Principality of Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest country in the world. Several football stadiums in the world can hold far more visitors than this small country - which lies between Switzerland and Austria - has inhabitants. Accordingly, we reached the Austrian border in no time at all. The journey at walking pace in the traffic jam through Feldkirch was pure agony in the sweltering midday heat and most of us would have liked to jump into a cool pond. Maybe that can be planned for a future tour... ;-) Fortunately, I was then able to offer my guests a ride to slightly higher altitudes, as we set off from Rankweil through the Laternser Valley towards the Furkajoch. I had warned the drivers early on that this pass was quite a challenge with its extremely narrow road, which was only 2 metres wide in places. So the motto was: full concentration once again. At 1,761 metres, the Furkajoch is not one of the highest road passes, but it is certainly one of the most spectacular. Several of my previous guests from the USA have told me that they have wider corridors at home than our mountain roads... But once you reach the top, you are rewarded with a breathtaking view on both sides of the pass. The owner of the mini-restaurant is a good friend of mine - Charly and his wife keep their ‘kiosk’ open from spring to winter until the pass is officially closed due to snow. After our last coffee stop, we headed down into the valley, with a marvellous series of bends that put a big grin on all the riders' faces. A quick refuelling stop, then we set off to climb the Hochtannberg Pass. After this last short crossing of the day, we reached the most beautiful hotel of our tour after just 2 kilometres, which was waiting for us in the middle of nowhere in Warth. Exhausted from the heat and the long day's ride, everyone was looking forward to a beer or another cooling drink. With countless pictures in our heads and on the memory cards of our cameras, we eagerly discussed the day and everything we had seen and experienced over dinner. And after this impressive and accident-free day, everyone certainly slept like babies - one or two perhaps like a bear... ;-) Tour guide Kurt Translated with DeepL.com (free version) Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

The day was bound to come: the last day of our High Alps tour had begun and already at breakfast and then at the daily briefing we heard from our guests: “oh no, what a shame, can't we add at least one more day?” Of course, today's riding day wouldn't be quite as exciting as the last few, simply because we would be leaving the Alps, which everyone now loved, and heading back to flatter terrain. After our start in Warth, however, we first rode along another motorcyclist's dream road with an infinite number of long bends, where you could easily set the cruise control to 80, 90 or 100 km/h for almost 40 kilometers, depending on your mood. The Austrian Alps bid us farewell with a veritable frenzy of long bends down into the valley to Stanzach. Here we turned off into the Namlostal valley and curved upwards one last time - over the Namlos Pass, which is only 1359 m high, and back down into the plain, where we soon crossed the Austrian/German border again, almost unnoticed. Now we had finally left the mountains behind us and one last, but very impressive highlight of our tour awaited us: Neuschwanstein Castle, also known as the “Disney Castle”. The journey to Neuschwanstein is almost unthinkable without a traffic jam and that in the burning sun... Our first coffee and photo stop took a little longer because most of our guests took the opportunity to become “souvenir shopping queens” one last time... I took the opportunity to show our guests what a “Kaiserschmarren” is and ordered a portion for everyone to taste. I had only turned around for a second and the plate was already empty and the last crumbs of powdered sugar were being licked off everyone's fingers with rapturously twisted eyes. After I had gathered all the sheep from their shopping and restaurant visits, we set off again - just as agonizingly slowly as we had come. After spending the first few kilometers in another traffic jam, we turned off and took the beautifully winding road along the Plansee, which is famous for its ice diving in winter. After the first third, a surprise awaited the guests in the form of an Edelweiss van parked at the side of the road, where Axel was waiting for us with a lunch in the form of a really well prepared picnic. Finally, Axel draped all the participants, including the tour guides, around and on an Edelweiss bike for a cool group photo in front of the sunny Plansee scenery. As we had lost a lot of time after the long visit to the castle and picnic, we took the direct route - interrupted only by the very last coffee stop of this tour - towards the hotel in Erding. After a brief handover of the motorcycles to the tour guides, everyone freshened up for our very last evening together. The farewell had come and was accompanied by Axel's countless, incredible and funny stories, by fun and laughter and fine food. At the end, every single guest and also the tour guides told us how they had experienced the tour, as well as what their worst and best moments of the tour had been. Some of these stories were very emotional - from funny to sad, from lucky to unlucky, from tired to exhilarated, everything was there - but the tenor was unanimous: the tour was simply fantastic! Our personal conclusion of this tour: The combination of breathtaking panoramas and fantastic mountain roads in the border triangle of Austria, Italy and Switzerland is hard to beat. The feeling when accelerating the powerful machines, the ultra-fast gear changes with the quick-shifter, the never-ending left-right combinations in the lean angle until the footrest scratches the asphalt, the powerful roar of the engines are all things that every motorcyclist can understand and a non-motorcyclist will never understand. To drive on two wheels through the most diverse landscapes in mountains and forests, along rivers and lakes, past fabulously beautiful castles and palaces, through picturesque villages... ...and to be able to enjoy all this together with friends - because that is exactly what we have become on this High Alps Tour - this is a unique experience that cries out to be repeated! We thank you for your trust and hope to be able to accompany you on another Edelweiss tour. Your tour guides Alex & Kurt Translated with DeepL.com (free version)