From Innsbruck to the Dolomites and Corvara, Italy

Oh, Innsbruck. Our time together was too short.

On Wednesday morning, we packed up our circus in no time flat and said goodbye to the city. We were heading back up in to the mountains. Following yet another of my whims, we would be heading towards the town of Corvara, Italy.

Nestled snugly in the shadow of the beautiful Sassongher mountain, Corvara first sneaked into my brain from a photograph I saw in a travel ad. I tore the page out of the magazine and stuck to our refrigerator. I would finally have the chance to see this beautiful little village with my own eyes after looking at it for 6 months in my kitchen.

Steuibenfall in Austria

We left Innsbruck heading west where we stopped off at the Stuibenfall in Umhausen. It is the tallest waterfall in Tyrol Austria and a beautiful sight. The view overlooking the Ötztal valley isn’t too shabby either.

Snow on TimmesljochMotoring on, our route brought us up and over the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse. Like, Silvretta this roadway also had a toll. When we pulled up to the booths to pay the fee, we could see  misty clouds getting closer the higher we went. Just a few miles in to our ride, the fog thickened.

It was a chilly 4°C. It was the first time I remember seeing any standing snow on the roadway. I had to flip on the heated grips because my hands were starting to sting as the wind whistled through the perforated areas of my vented summer gloves.

Fuzzygalore on Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse

When we pulled off at the summit to see the pass museum, we couldn’t see a blessed thing of the view. We saw nothing but an abyss. The rain started to fall as we descended the mountain. Between the fog and the water on my visor visibility was terrible. I crept along, making my way down through the tunnels and hairpins trying to enjoy the ride.

Timmelsjoch in the rain

Stuibenfall Austria KTM Supermotos on Timmelsjoch Pimmie on Timmelsjoch
Pass Museum on Timmelsjoch Heli's roadside eats Our hotel in Corvara

When we reached the foot of the Timmelsjoch, we continued on to the Jaufenpass in the pouring rain. Between the mixture of cold rain and tar snakes, it turned out to be one of my least favorite passes. When I look at photos of the pass in the sunshine on the web, I can honestly say I don’t remember any of that. I just remember gray.

Jaufenpass in the rain

When we reached the bottom, we pulled off and ate a roadside hamburger. We dried up a little and made a plan to make tracks to Corvara. The cold rain dogged us the rest of the way. Sadly, the rain and fog robbed me of my view of the town below the mountain, but I had high hopes to see it early in the following morning. The sunshine was on it’s way.

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

You may also like...

11 Responses

  1. SonjaM says:

    Sorry to hear that the good weather left you. Hope it will soon get better again. So yeah, you missed some lovely views. (one more reason to come back…) I used to ski in the Oetztal area. Ah, sweet memories. Thanks for sharing. SonjaM

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      Into each lie a little rain must fall, Sonja. Although it wasn’t ideal – you know how it is. You still enjoy it through the hardship anyway. I keep finding reasons that I should go back. One day…

      @ToadMama Sorry you had the fog, too. It must be amazing to see in the bright sunshine. Maybe i picked up on the tar spots because I was going so slow and concentrating on not flinging myself off into the abyss 😀

      @Wendy – You’re so right. I’ll never forget that day. Time has a way of putting a sweetness on days like that.

      @Pims – You love my whims! 🙂

      @SpecialSymbol – That stinks. Especially because vacation time is so hard to come by.
      We really can’t complain. Out of the whole time we were there, we had less than 24hrs of falling rain. In the grand scheme of things that’s not so bad.

  2. wendyvee says:

    Wow … not one of the best days of your trip, huh!

    Still, it’s days like that make stories you’ll tell for years to come 🙂

  3. wendyvee says:

    Apparently, English is not my first language today 🙂

    I meant …. It’s days like that — that make stories you’ll tell for years to come.

  4. ToadMama says:

    Your view of Timmelsjoch looks like the one we had. It’s a shame you had rain on Jaufenpass. That was one of my favorites. I don’t remember any tar snakes. We missed that waterfall, though. I’m looking forward to seeing the Dolomites with you!

  5. pimmie says:

    You and your whims… :))

  6. specialsymbol says:

    Those photos remind me of my last tour.. rain all the way :-/

  7. GLantern says:

    As bad as rain is it is part of the adventure and i’m still absolutely jealous of the trip! I’m glad you all managed to enjoy it despite the harsh conditions.

  8. pimmie says:

    Generally you don’t seek out rain but getting caught in it or being forced to ride in it lets you ‘enjoy’ (at least I think so) a different side of riding, your riding lines differ, you focus more on your bike, the way it moves, the way it feels…

  9. Biker Ted says:

    We have been fortunate to ride the Timmelsjoch on a few occasions and never in the rain! However Guzzisue got icicled going through one of the tunnels and what Ian thought was water on the floor was in fact solid ice!

  1. October 12, 2010

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Motorcycle Stuff, Rachael. Rachael said: Blog Post: From Innsbruck to the Dolomites and Corvara, Italy http://goo.gl/fb/ayik6 […]

Leave a Reply to GLantern Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.