FYI: Tour of the Alps

[Piaw Na(藍俊彪)]

Forwarded conversation
Subject: Tour of the Alps
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From: Piaw Na(藍俊彪) <pi...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 11:56 AM
To: Jobst Brandt <jbr...@sonic.net>, Jobst Brandt <jobst....@stanfordalumni.org>


Hey Jobst, I don't know if you've left on your tour yet. We just got
back Weds night and here are our pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/piaw.na/TourOfTheGermanSpeakingAlps2010?feat=directlink

Since I was on the tandem this year, we had a couple of videos too:

http://piaw.blogspot.com/2010/07/videos-from-tour.html

We didn't get to stay with Stefan at the Hotel Posthaus since he was
closed when we went by. We did manage to stay at Hotel Gruebl with
Mrs. Kaiser, and the food was great. Andreas and Christine as still
doing well. When I asked Andreas about him, he said, "Jobst shows up
every year but nobody knows when."

Bringing a tandem means we couldn't do long hard days (and going up
Radstader Tauern pass and Katschberg pass on the tandem was probably a
mistake). Maybe next year I'll bring my single and do more "rough
stuff"... I have a good mind to do Kleine Scheidegg into Lauterbrunnen
from Gindelwald next time. Have you ever done that?

Piaw

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From: Jobst Brandt <jbr...@sonic.net>
Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 12:58 PM
To: Piaw Na <pi...@gmail.com>


Piaw,
I see that food got much picture taking.  When I saw the shots of the
Gross Glockner, I thought of the long climb from Heiligenblut and as I
saw, it wasn't always sunshine.  Did you ride the section up to the
Gerlos pass from Hotel Grübl?  That has a 500m long 17% grade.
Grosse Scheidegg is a stiff climb as well.  I hope you noticed that
the cows were Swiss Grays and munching down the high country grass.

> We didn't get to stay with Stefan Truschner at the Hotel Posthaus
> Urigen since he was closed when we went by.  We did manage to stay
> at Hotel Grübl with Mrs. Kaiser, and the food was great.  Andreas
Well not always.  Especially not when the weather isn't ideal as it
was in other years.
The Katschberg is noted for its steep grades, as are a few others in
Austria.  Just recall that the east side of the Stelvio (the world's
greatest pass) was once Austrian before Hitler ceded the entire South
Tirol region to Italy, now known as Alto Adige (the upper Etsch).

 http://tinyurl.com/2cbnpre
> Grindelwald next time.  Have you ever done that?

Don't do it.  Take the road down from Grindelwald along the Schwarze
Lütschine river and take a left after crossing the Weisse Lütschine at
Zweilütschinen.  Kleine Scheidegg is only by the Wengeneralpbahn
cogwheel RR.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wengernalpbahn
 http://tinyurl.com/2uyacbg

Thanks for the pix.
--
Jobst Brandt

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From: Piaw Na(藍俊彪) <pi...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 1:03 PM
To: Jobst Brandt <jbr...@sonic.net>


Yes. That was a strain on the relationship on the tandem. :-) Next
time I do the alps, I'll bring the single bike.
We did Grosse Scheidegg twice, one from each side. :-)
This year did seem particularly bad. Rain or heat, with nothing in between.
I did not know that!
We saw mountain bikers on the hiking road as we hiked up from
Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg. The road they were on looked
eminently ridable.

http://picasaweb.google.com/piaw.na/TourOfTheGermanSpeakingAlps2010?feat=comment_notification#5497327070476531618

Is the problem getting from Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen?

Piaw

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From: Jobst Brandt <jbr...@sonic.net>
Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 1:15 PM
To: Piaw Na <pi...@gmail.com>


Piaw,
...but did you meet the bus that owns that road?
 http://tinyurl.com/39xhzhz
Yes.  The path you show is a recently gravel-improved cow path that is
not a continuous road.
--
Jobst Brandt

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From: Piaw Na(藍俊彪) <pi...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 10:35 PM
To: Jobst Brandt <jbr...@sonic.net>


Several times!

http://picasaweb.google.com/piaw.na/TourOfTheGermanSpeakingAlps2010#5497325791374905826
http://picasaweb.google.com/piaw.na/TourOfTheGermanSpeakingAlps2010#5497325957343715442
Darn. I was hoping the improvements went all the way to Lauterbrunnen.
I remember checking with the tourist office in 2003 and they said it
was doable on a tandem. But maybe they meant "mountain bike tandem."