Sunday July 21, 2019
drive from Leinz, AT to Corvara, IT - the Dolomites
Today's goal is the 15th highest paved road in the Alps
Großsee AT – 2470m 1449m vertical 15km
from Döllach 1009m
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Looking up the mountain
The road made one long switchback before heading up the valley above
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I found a place to park across the street from a school and started up
the mountain
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Looking south to Döllach
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Looking north toward Grossglockner.
One of those mountains is probably Grossglockner but I'll probably
never be able to tell for sure.
Zirknitz is a collection of a few farms and nothing else.
At least two farmers were out in the hills chopping large number of
trees with their tractors, I assume for wood for the winter.
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This sunny path was a yellow brick road...
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This waterfall was awesome.
Pictures don't begin to do justice to how gorgeous this valley is.
The lower valley is farmed and chopped, and the road and dam are
privately owned, but the ridgelines and high
Alps surrounding this valley are park of Nationalpark Hohe Tauern.
The border of the park in this area is generally the treeline, leaving
most of the trees vulnerable to chainsaws.
This entire area should be part of the Nationalpark.
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same waterfall, different view
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Looking west back the way I came
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A few buildings - I'm guessing they were part of the lumber company.
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Both here and Kaunertal I saw many more stacks of dead trees on the
side of the road than I would have liked.
Both places were gorgeous and worthy of national park protection.
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I stopped here for a while and took perhaps 15 pictures of the shadows
of the clouds crossing the mountain above me.
The road was very, very steep, and it was so nice here I had very
little motivation to keep pedaling uphill.
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One or two cows gave me the eye as I rode past.
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PANO - scroll right
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Kegelsee and the dam for Großsee high above.
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The road above Kegelsee
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PANO - scroll right
Kegelsee and the dam for Großsee high above.
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I don't think I've ever seen a large snowbank this close to the road
while riding.
I had to stop and take pictures.
Did I mention it was gorgeous?
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PANO - scroll right
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PANO - scroll right
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Großsee dam and the single turn above it leading to the service door at
2470m
I reached the close / right side of the Großsee dam.
The road then drops quickly down below the center of the dam before it
hits a punishing grade to climb up to the other side of the dam.
Crazy steep and painful.
The road up here was covered with more and more rock shards the higher
I went.
It made one more long hairpin above the top of the dam.
The road was now almost covered with rock shards, it was quite a job to
try to ride between the biggest shards and hope I didn't get a flat.
On the very last stretch approaching the service door the road was
covered with snow for perhaps 30 meters.
I got off the bike, pushed it up in the mud next to the road, then got
back on for the final short stretch to the top.
2019/07/20 12:17
I made it!
The service door above Großsee is behind that snowbank.
My last big climb of this trip.
The weather was sunny and warm.
For the first time on this trip I was able to relax in short sleeves at
the top of a ride and enjoy the sun.
Did I mention this place is gorgeous?
This is my now second favorite ride after Nivolet, Kaunertal is now my
third favorite ride.
I enjoyed my well earned lunch.
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PANO - scroll right.
This is my new favorite picture..
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Hochwurtenspeicher
Mölltaler Gletscherstrasse is just over that ridgeline straight
ahead.
I finished my lunch and noticed another cyclist slowly making their way
up the mountain.
Then I heard very loud motorcycles, and watched as two motorcyclists
crossed the dam, one very quickly, one much more cautiously.
A fall off either side of this dam is pretty much certain death.
The third motorcycle took the road, avoiding the dam.
The motorcycles were not here legally and were disturbing my peace and
quiet....
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My new second favorite picture.
The last stretch up to the service door above the Großsee dam is on the
far left.
You can see the snow I had to walk around.
Another cyclist is approaching the left side of the dam.
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The cyclist continued up toward the service door as I checked out the
dam.
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PANO - scroll right
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The two motorcycles that rode across the dam were trapped by the locked
gate.
They pushed their machines around the gate without too much effort to
avoid retracing their path, then continued up to the service door
Finally they turned those damn loud machines off so the silence
returned.
The cyclist came back down, he said he didn't get all the way up to the
service door, I assume he stopped where the snow started, he'd already
been up to the top once before.
He'd also ridden across the dam before
4 meters wide, and a big problem if you fall off the dam...
He wasn't going to ride across the dam again, at least not today.
We played a bit of tag as we headed downhill, I kept stopped to take
more pictures.
He was the only other cyclist on the road today.
It started to rain a little right after I got in the car and started
driving back to Leinz.
I laughed gleefully out loud at the weather.
2019/07/20 14:57
Today was market day in Lienz.
I walked over to find the train museum.
When I got there I was the only guest.
The woman who took my money asked if I'd like a tour and of course I
said yes.
In a few minutes an older guy showed up.
Right about that time an Austrian family arrived, so we toured together
in German and English.
The tour guide's English was pretty good.
They only have one engine that still runs, and electric that I didn't
see.
They use the electric to a few nostalgia trips per year called the Südbahn Express
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Steam locomotive Sulm-B 1, series 32d, year of construction 1907
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Steam Locomotive
DR 52 3816 ÖBB 52.3816 Year of Construction 1944
The Nazis built 1000s of these war locomotives for WWII.
The tour guide called this "world famous", but that may be a bit of a
stretch.
He said it had 7000 parts and took 20 hours to warm up to get running
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the conductors office
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Electric locomotive BBÖ 1170.222 – DR E 45 222 – ÖBB 1245.622 – ÖBB
1245 522-6, year of construction 1938
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Electric locomotive DR E 94 006 – ÖBB 1020.023-6, year of construction
1940
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He very proudly showed off the working signal lights.
One of these lights was Austrian pre WWII.
They were all replaced with German lights by the Nazis as soon as
Germany annexed Austria.
Steam locomotive SB – BBÖ 629.59 – ÖBB 77.244, year of construction
1927
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At the end of the tour the guide sat us down for a powerpoint / slide
show on their big screen.
He was in many of the pictures, clearly this is his life's work to keep
this place alive.
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The train station is undergoing a great deal of construction, it was at
least a kilometer to walk from the heart of town down the street, under
the bridge back to the
museum.
The museum's tracks are now orphaned, the trains can't go anywhere.
All that will get fixed eventually.
2019/07/20 16:13
They have saved the old turntable as part of the construction.
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New bridge over the river to access the station
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Still market day in Lienz.
2019/07/20 18:17
tonight I decided to try something different for dinner
I went across the parking lot to the Garage Küche and Bar
my hotel, Vergeiner's Hotel Traube as seen from the Garage
You can see the pool and spa on the top floor.
That's pretty much the only really updated part of this hotel.
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18:45 Europe time 09:45 California time
Dusty: Beef cheeks...
Dusty: had light rain, just heard thunder, enjoying being outdoors yet
under umbrella
18:47 Europe time 09:47 California time
Dusty: Fun fact - beef cheeks melt in your mouth
18:51 Europe time 09:51 California time
Dusty: Think I'm headed to Corvara in Badia in the heart of the
Dolomites for the next 4 nights...
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19:29 Europe time 10:29 California time
Dusty: And now you know where to get gelato in Lienz
