Ask not for whom the road tolls, it tolls for thee…
Story and photos: The Bear
The Austrians are quite keen on charging you to ride their roads. To use their motorways, you need to prepay with a “Vignette”, essentially just a computer printout, available from service stations. Several of the alpine roads are tolled separately, with this one the most expensive. It costs a Euro per kilometre to tackle the 33km limited access section of the 48km Grossglockner High Alpine Road, but it’s worth every cent. Not only does it take you up to the 2571m pass on excellent surface, but it offers a minor Disneyland of additional attractions.
The fun starts before you even reach the road itself at Kaprun, to the north. Voetter’s Hotel, part of the MoHo motorcycle hotels association, offers not only the usual MoHo services like motorcycle and helmet cleaning facilities, dedicated tours and even a repair booth with tools, but also a motor museum. This has an intriguing collection of Austrian, German and other European bikes among the cars. A display traces the story of VW – Ferdinand Porsche is buried nearby at Zell am See. For enquiries (not about being buried), Tel. +43 6547 71340, hotel@voetterskaprun.com or www.voetterskaprun.com.
Your 33km for 33 Euros starts at the toll point near Fusch, and despite the warning to keep your speed down, it becomes competitive very quickly on the way up to the Edelweiss-Spitze, the highest point accessible by road. A section of its parking area is dedicated to motorcycles; this is not the only place along here where we get special treatment. While this section of the road is highly enjoyable, the run onwards to Schoeneck is even more exciting. It’s important to remember, though, that despite everything it offers us, this is not a dedicated bike road. It’s a tourist road, built as such in the 1930s, with all the limitations like cars stopped in corners to allow their passengers to take photos or find parking to sample the other attractions.
There is a round dozen of exhibitions, museums and loop trails along the pass road including the impressive glass frontage of the Kaiser-Franz-Josef- Heights on a spur road at 2369m. Special parking is not only available for bikes here, it’s free. Electric bike charging is on tap as well. For more information see grossglockner.at.
But the Grossglockner High Alpine Road is about riding, not parking. I didn’t even attempt to count the hairpins and gentler corners, but I can tell you there are a lot. Going south, as the road winds up out of the Fuschertal valley you first reaching the tree line and then the vegetation line before you find yourself in extensive snowfields. Two tunnels keep the road below major layers of snow.
That snow looks a little weird, by the way. Much of it has a yellow coating, which brings to mind Frank Zappa’s admonition not to eat the yellow snow – but it is actually caused by dust blown all the way up here from the Sahara. Climate change in action, or so they say.
From Zell am See south to Heiligenblut, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road – also the humble route 107 - is a remarkably impressive ride in a country of impressive rides. Should you ever get the opportunity to spend that 33 Euros to tackle it, do it. You won’t miss the money after you’ve had the experience. Although there is a cheaper way of crossing the same range, a little to the west where the Felbertauern tunnel only costs 12 Euros. But I for one really don’t mind the extra cost.
The Bear rode the Grossglockner High Alpine Road on a rental Yamaha 700 Ténéré kindly lent to him by Edelweiss Bike Tours. Edelweiss is launching a series of tours equipped solely with Yamahas. Check it out!