It’s been about 20 years that I’m dreaming about riding the Grand Saint Bernard pass on bike before the pass is officially opened, thus avoiding the herd of motocyclists.
The challenge being that the opening day changes each year, as it depends on snow conditions. The window to safely climb the pass before the official date is narrow, a few days at best. The pass being over 2300m high and the pass usually opening at the beginning of June, weather forecast plays a significant part in choosing the right day.
For 20 years, I failed to match the right conditions: a free day, a sunny day, not too much snow (dangerous). This year is no exception, the pass opened before June and bad weather prevented me to climb up there. I then postponed my plan once more and rescheduled a visit to the Saint Bernard area without climbing up to the pass.
I wasn’t exactly lucky. I rode all the available trails that were either closed or destroyed by some wood chores. I had to turn around, chose another path, change my plans, etc. It was a bit strange, because usually my mind is set when I plan a day in the mountains. And I had to replan several times, leaving me with a feeling of something unfinished.
Anyway, I enjoyed the landscapes a lot.
The heavy trafic, not so much.
On the fail side, I spent a ridiculous amount of money to upgrade my aging computer hardware, as it took most of the evening to encode 10min video. Guess what? it takes now even longer. I wonder who is coding this stupid video editor (which I won’t name).
Here is the video.
