Austria 2019

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Saturday July 13, 2019
drive from Heiligenblut, AT to Prutz, AT

Sunday July 14, 2019
Kaunertaler Gletscherpanoramastraße

Next
Monday July 15, 2019
Ötztaler Gletscherstraße

I woke up way too early (as always)
I was apprehensive (as usual) because the weather was supposed to get worse later today.
I packed my pack and left it in the room as instructed, they'd move it to my new room for me.

The goal for today is the fifth highest paved road in the Alps
Kaunertaler Gletscherpanoramastraße 2750m 1886m vertical 38km
from Prutz 864m

The road to the ski area at 2750m was completed in 1982.

I drove to Prutz, eventually found a place to park, and started my ride.
Once the road turned south up the valley it got prettier.

2019/07/14 07:43
looking south, up toward Kaunertal

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toll booth - it wasn't even open yet, but cyclists are always free...
the entire valley and ski resort above are privately owned by a lumber company,
they make a big deal over how much money they spend maintaining the road...
while conveniently neglecting to mention how much money they make butchering trees.

2019/07/14 07:58
Indianer..
perhaps the most politically incorrect thing I saw in Austria

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there were waterfalls all over the place, it got prettier and prettier as I continued south up the valley

2019/07/14 07:59
looking north back to the toll booth

2019/07/14 08:22
looking north back the way I came again

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the sun was starting the break through.
the winds were almost dead calm, the entire valley is a big box canyon that seemed to protect it from the winds.
it was becoming very very pleasant :)
I quickly decided this was probably my second favorite climb ever behind Nivolet...
I can't imaging anything being better than Nivolet, but I'll keep searching!

2019/07/14 08:42
I reached the entrance sign where you can first see the dam and decided to set up my tripod and cannon and take a picture of myself cycling.

Soon I reached turn 29, the first of 4 hairpins below the dam, then I climbed up the dam

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Gepatschspeicher, looking south from the dam
The higher I climbed, the prettier it got...

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Looking north from the top of the dam back the way I came.

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I encountered 4 cows that took up basically the entire road (not as pictured above, they were more spread out).
They kept walking uphill.
I slowly followed them, trying to find a good place to pass them
Finally one of them turned and moo'd right at me as she kept walking.
It didn't really seem like a dire warning, but it didn't seem very friendly either.
After a few minutes a couple of cars came up behind me, I motioned for them to continue on and pass me.. and the cows.
The cars disrupted the cow convey, and I quickly followed the cars past the cows.

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Above the dam the turns started again...

2019/07/14 09:59

Ferner Garten

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The turns above Ferner Garten

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Ferner Garten
PANO - scroll right

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It was simply gorgeous and getting better with every turn up the mountain.
I decided to take another cycling selfie....which took quite a while...perhaps I'll get better with practice...

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PANO - scroll right

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PANO - scroll right

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I stopped to take enough pictures that some cyclists passed me... which was fine by me...

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PANO - scroll right

2019/07/14 12:16

I made it!
I've climbed 8 of the 10 highest paved roads in the Alps!
It is gorgeous!
There is a restaurant!
They have beer!
The weather is nice and it isn't raining or freezing cold!
I ended up seeing maybe 25 cyclists, 30-40 motorcycles, 30-40 cars, and 2 buses today.
Kinda remote here.

2019/07/14 12:25
ok, the messy ski area wasn't exactly gorgeous, but if you ignore that its really nice...

2019/07/14 12:25

Kaunertal 2750m !

PANO - scroll right

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Beer, coke, and some fairly tough pork product.
The rice and butter were excellent and provided much needed calories.
I left most of the tough pork product.

2019/07/14 13:04

The glacier has retreated quite a bit, it looked pretty sad for a ski area.
I walked to a snowbank, decided it was way too far to try to reach the glacier itself, grabbed a mouthful of snow and swallowed it... then spit out some grit...

2019/07/14 13:04

I didn't have either a hat or my sunglasses, I tried to be careful to avoid frying my eyes as the sun made its appearance.

2019/07/14 13:04

The top of this lift is more or less the Italian border.
I really loved this climb.
This entire valley should be a national park.
Finally, I reluctantly started down the mountain.

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PANO - scroll right

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I stopped along the lake for one last look back up to the glaciers of Kaunertal.
The sun was pretty much gone, I'd been really lucky with the weather.

2019/07/14 13:48
the way north / down / forward

2019/07/14 13:58
The first / last turn, 29

I got back to my car and drove to the Fliess Archeology Museum
I'd seen it on tripadvisor while researching the area but had forgotten about it until I saw signs for it along the road.
While I waited for it to open I checked out the church in Fliess.

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Two other groups were waiting for the museum to open as well.
They spoke German of course, I was the only non-German speaker.
Once the museum opened I paid my 8 euros to discover a few small Roman artifacts with almost no English descriptions.

Here's a link to an almost complete museum visit with German descriptions, which is a bit much even for me.
I've only included the best pictures below

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Homer J in front of the museum in Fliess Austria

The guide spoke almost no English, but he quickly phoned his high school aged son who did speak some English, and then we all waited maybe 10 minutes for his son to drive up.
Turns out the real museum is across the street in back of the church.
Once his son showed up we all went across the street.

Beyond the few Roman trinkets in the annex, the museum has two major exhibits.
The first is a hoard found by a farmer while plowing nearby, discovered within the last 20 years.
The second is a different hoard found under rocks (rocks pictured several frames below)
One of the hoards was Celtic, I don't recall the details of the other hoard other than it was something like 3000 years old
One of the hoards featured objects like swords that were deliberately broken as a sacrifice as they were given to the gods.

The guide gave a German presentation to the rest of the group while I got a very broken English version.
Both the German and English speaking groups went around the room in opposite directions.
I ended up seeing the best stuff last since the German group saw it first.

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This was undoubtadly the best artifact on the ground floor.

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Next we climbed up the first floor.

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The bottom crushed helmet is one of the oldest metal helmets in Europe.
The top helmet is a modern reconstruction.

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Swords and daggers broken as a sacrifice and buried

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picture of the spot where the second hoard was found

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We ended up spending just over an hour in the museum, probably twice as long as I would have spent if I didn't have my own personal guide, but it was great to get a tour.
They probably only get one English speaker a month, if that...

2019/07/14 17:02

Finally I got back to my the hotel and got to my new room.
I went on a short ride before dinner to see what there is to see in Ried im Oberinntal... which is not very much.