Assietta Kammstraße – stuck in snow
On the second day I planned an off-road track between Turin and Grenoble, the “Assietta Kammstraße”. In Susa, the place where you turn off to the track, I meet two Austrians at a gas station, who were also traveling by motorcycle. We chatted a little bit. When a convoy of 4x4s drove past me, which looked like they were going to leave civilization for days, I followed them. I thought: They for sure go up there too – and I was right.
At the beginning it was a very curvy narrow paved road. I overtook the convoy, because they were quite slow. With increasing altitude it got colder, until I disappeared in the clouds at about 2000m. After a few kilometers, the paved road stopped and turned into a gravel road. In the dense fog I barely could see 10 to 15 meters and because of the melting snow that was still lying around in large masses, the track was often very muddy. I also overtook 3 cyclists and thought to myself: “Looks like I’m not the only idiot who is taking this track in this weather.” From time to time I had to cross a few muddy snowfields.
Moving on I got stuck in one of these snowfields. I would never have expected to get stuck in snow with the motorcycle one day. What now? Panic? No, that does not happen that fast anymore.
I have to admit, I did not try very hard to get the bike out of this situation. Usually something like that happens in the desert in deep sand. Usually what you do is, you put the bike down, pull it on firmer ground and move on. But: “I don’t want to scratch my new boxes! Take them off and dragging the bike through the dirt? No .. I’ll take photos first. There are 3 cyclists and a convoy with SUVs behind me. Somebody for sure will help me.” I was just done with the photos, when one of the cyclists was approaching. His name was Keith and he was from Canada. While he was holding the motorcycle on the handlebar, so that it would not fall over, I raised the rear tire on firm ground. We were chatting a little bit afterwards before I moved on.
After a few kilometers the road was blocked anyway by snow. I took a short break and was a bit disappointed, I was not even at the starting point of the planned route. When I heard the convoy of 4 wheelers approaching, I turned on the hazard lights. The road was narrow, you still were able to see only a few meters in the dense fog and I did not want to be run over by the cars.
The people got out of their cars and looked disappointed too. On the way back I meet Keith again and later the other two cyclists. I explained what it was looking further on, but all three decided to continue driving. With the bicycle it may have been possible to bypass the snowfield on foot, but who knows what is waiting behind it. Further on I met two Swiss with big bikes. They immediately turned around after I showed them the photos.
I mean, would it have been too much to put up a sign at the beginning of the road, indicating in different languages, that the road was still closed? Like this one here .. at the beginning of the road. 🙂
But I had to laugh, because there were around 15 people, in the 4x4s, that looked like they would go on safari in the African bush, and nobody read the sign. I hope they prepare better when they do more extreme tours.