BMW GS vs Alpine Snow | Italian West Alps Reroute

BMW GS vs Alpine Snow | Italian West Alps Reroute

Coming up in this series. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Well, guys, look where we are. I mean, you can’t see it right now, but I’m sure from the intro you saw it. We are back in Italy. I’ve been wanting to revisit Italy ever since the first time I came here. I’m in a different area. I’m down towards uh Liura. I’ve seen a lot of videos on it and it looks freaking amazing. So, I really want to do it. Anyway, I’ve got a couple of days. I’m going to do a tour around the West Alps, hitting the Tet all the way along and then some not Tet as well. Whether or not I complete that route properly, let’s find out. And yeah. Yeah, I’m excited. It’s fun to finally finally be back in the Alps. I haven’t been riding for a week now. It’s been yeah maybe just over a week since riding with Yan in Germany. I was initially going to be camping. Um but the temperatures are like where I can camp. The temperatures are about one degree going down into the minuses and I don’t have the gear for that. So, unfortunately, I’m not going to be camping, but I’m still going to have loads of fun. So, I’ve just made a small climb on the Where are you? Here. I’ve just made a small climb on uh Asphalt Road, and now it’s just turned to dirt. I have no idea what to expect in this section. So, let’s find out. I’m also in the fog, if you couldn’t tell. But, let’s see. Let’s see what we got. I’m also in my winter gear and I feel incredibly heavy. Like I really don’t like the winter gear. But I mean, what are you going to do? It’s winter or it’s close, too. Oh, but it feels good to be back on the dirt even though I can’t see Jack. Bloody hell. Can’t see much. There’s so many leaves as well. Leafies. Suppose that’s what happens when you come this time of year. Also, one of the roads that I really want to do might be closed. So, that’s another risk you take by coming at this time of year. You get quieter roads, but you also get a lot of road closures. So, yeah, you need to be aware. I’m I’m just aware that that can happen. I can come up to a closed road. Okay, so be it. I shall go to a different road. Woo! It’s chilly up here, though. Good thing I did bring my winter gear. I’ll get used to the weight of it. Lovely fog. It’s funny when you can’t see too much because then I don’t know, maybe your brain doesn’t let you realize where you are. So, right now I’m just back home in Australia riding one of uh one of the little roads that I know, but really I’m not I’m not up that high. But actually, I’m up very high. Got to be careful in this fog as well. Like, uh, you know, I can’t see what’s ahead too far. I can see maybe 40 m. Yeah, about that. And I can’t see what’s underneath because of all the leaves. So, that’s great. Really good. Oh, they’re going down. Really? Okay. Okay. Also, just um last night it poured down rain everywhere. And I think on the higher peaks it may even be snow. So, let’s find out. I suppose there’s only one way to find out. That’s by doing it. Okay. So, this has been a good warm up. Just coming back down out of the fog. Couple of tight twisties, couple of uh wash out ruts as well. So, good warm up for the day. Just covering the brake with the one finger. That’s all I seem to need at the moment. Got the rear brake if I need it. Just every now and then there’s a big wash out rut. It can catch you off guard very easily. It’s nice to be out of the fog. can see again. Hopefully you guys can see as well. Still just being a little bit cautious. This is my first first time back on the bike. The first time back in the mountains, so still just taking it easy. Not letting it rip too much. Looks like we’re back to the tarmac. Okay, I think we will be on tarmac for a while. The only unfortunate thing is when you get onto the tarmac, it’s usually when you get back into the trees and then there’s all this on the road, all these leaves and they’re just so slippery. So, you just got to be very careful. Anyway, pick us up a bit later, I suppose, on the next summit. Next one should be a good one. Okay, so I just stopped for a small cappuccino, as you do. Oh my goodness. Uh, and there was two other motorbike riders there and they said they’d just come down from this road because close to the summit there was ice, which is a bit unfortunate, but we’re going to give it a go. We’re going to have a look anyway. And who knows, by the time I get there, maybe it’s no longer ice. We shall see. But I asked them uh whether or not it was worth at least doing up to the ice, and they said, “Oh, yes. It’s a very lovely road.” Couple of nice German chaps. Anyway, I love motorbikes, man. I love that in Italy I meet some Germans who are happy to speak to me in English about motorbikes. It’s so cool. I should have gotten a little video of it, but anyway, it was a short encounter just because day is running out. Especially if there’s ice up here, I want to see if I can do it. So, they were on very, very street biased tires, but they were still doing off-road, so kudos to them. Oh, that place is for sale. Cool. But it was pretty cool. They had all these paper maps, so I was showing them my route on the phone and where I planned to go and they were grabbing out their paper maps and showing me their route, which is pretty cool. Like it’s nice to have a physical map, I suppose. So maybe I should start doing something like that. Seems like a pretty good idea. Oh, my rear tire just slipped very severely. Wow. I need to be careful. Bloody hell, that was a big slip on the rear. Wow. I don’t know if you guys picked that up on camera. probably you didn’t cuz you never you never pick anything up on camera. You don’t see how steep it is. You don’t see all the cool burnouts I do. You don’t see the gnarly times where I’m almost coming off. Like I’ll say on video, oh my god, I almost had a big off and on video it looks like I did that. Pretty funny. Anyway, I just had a big slide on the road. So, I’m going to slow it down. But let us see how icy it gets up in Italy. I’m such a poet. I’m a poet and I didn’t know. Okay, sorry. I’m going to shut up. Stop being stupid. Stupid to be stupid. I can see some blue sky up there. That would be very nice. Can the blue sky come through to melt a bit of the ice? Bloody hell. I need to focus. Also, I’m I’m kind of going up here cuz some people’s interpretation of impossible is different to other people’s interpretation of impossible. So, I’m not saying that they are wrong. I’m saying that I would like to inspect it for myself. Probably they’re right. Probably it’s impossible. But let us witness it with thou eyes. Okay. Uh, obviously I’m in a good mood, so I’m talking a lot of [ __ ] Oh, man. Just getting the first first proper glimpses of these mountains. And look at all the colors. Oh, it just looks absolutely amazing. Oh, just look at the scenery, though. Absolutely stunning. And I’m not even up there yet. So, I love off-road, but I I I also love road. So, like I have a preference obviously, but I love all riding. Just riding in general. I love it. I love it. I remember last time in Italy it was just like every corner you were just you were stunned by the scenery and then the next corner it got even better and then the next corner even better again. And just look at it. Absolutely gorgeous. Oh, we’re getting up here. Wow. Oh, look at the views. Got to stop to admire the views. Oh, man. And look at the color. And up here it’s green and down there it’s red. I wonder why that is. Are they evergreens and they’re not evergreens? Oh, and the fog in the valley. H man. I’m I’m so excited to be back, guys. This is awesome. Just wow, guys. I’m so excited to be here. Woohoo. Now, I am looking at that and seeing there’s a lot of snow up there. So, I mean, these two German fellas could be right about not being able to get through, but oh, just totally worth just coming up to do this to see it. Oh, starting to get a bit bumpy. And we go all the way there. I wonder if like that’s actually the pass up there. It does kind of appear to be that the that’s the pass. I think these these German fellas said they got 2 km from the top. So it looks about right. Oh man, beautiful road as well. I love it when it’s twisty, but you can see the other side of the corner, so you know no one else is coming. Watch these wet patches. There could be black ice. So yeah, we literally just had a storm that came through uh last night. Quite a big front that came through from France. So that’s where all this has come from. So far it seems all right to ride on. Little bit of snow. Let’s crank these heaters on. Eh, it’s uh 5°. And I gather it’s going to be cooling down a lot more. Actually, I think it’s probably colder than 5°. It’s just it’s not registered yet. Wow, look at these places. Absolutely stunning. I’m going slow cuz I have no idea if there’s ice on the road. Sometimes you can see ice, sometimes you can’t. It’s just the way it goes. Oh, I can feel my heated grips kicking in now. That’s nice. Oh, man. It’s so cool to be back here. To be back in Italiano. Wa. See, like a corner like that, if there was ice and I can’t break, I’m going straight off the edge. Now, these German fellas said it was all ice. Like, I’m looking at that road over there. I think that might be the road I need to take eventually, maybe to get through this uh pass. Like looking at that, that looks like ice. Yep, there’s some ice there. Well, actually, that was more just slush really. But super careful now. There you go. A car has been here. Wow. Looking up there, it looks like that might be the top of the pass. I have a little bit of experience with icy roads, but not experience with mountain icy roads. Although, no, I suppose I do have a bit of experience with mountain icy roads. The last time I came to Italy. Oh, here you go. Oh, that’s slippery. Yep. Go down to first. We need to be careful. TC is kicking in. Oh, there’s a car. Cola is where I am. Is where I’m about to summit. Yeah, slippery. Oh, and we’re going even higher, are we? Okay, this could get dicey. Let’s see. Looks like we’re going this way and then the path goes up over there. But I wonder for how long it’s like this. This is a little bit dodgy. Nothing I haven’t done before. I see some walkers out there. Okay. It’s just if it goes up to this peak up here, could be a bit of snow. And it looks like it’s bumen, which means not going to have the greatest grip down there. Kind of looks like off-road. Problem isn’t so much if I can get down there. The problem is if I can’t get up that side, can I get up this side? Chilly. Wow. Amazing though. Absolutely amazing. Let’s uh consult El Mapio. I am currently at 2417 and the pass that I would have needed to go is like at 26 or something or 25 something and I think I can’t risk it. I think it’s uh it could be a lot deeper snow up there. Like you can see that’s the pass up there. I just uh yeah, I don’t know. I think that’s the pass up there. It might go that way, but I think that’s the pass over there. So, instead, I’m going to go back just a little bit. And then there’s another road that goes off through there. And I think it’s a little bit less, but let’s see. Just turn this bike around. I’ve got it running to get the heated grips heated. Just realized I got me bloody vents open. No wonder my legs are cold. Uh, can you find me again? Thank you. So, I’m going to do this road here, which maybe is okay. Although, looking at it now, it still looks covered in snow, doesn’t it? A little bit dodgy, but let’s do it. I mean, it’s not a climb. And I can see this road here. Like it it stays at about this height, I think. Let’s give it a go. I have done more stupid things and I’m taking it very slow. Oh, just the views though. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Oh man, look at the you. I got to focus a little bit cuz now it’s getting icy. So dangerous. Oh, and the drone lost me. Fantastic. Right on time. Oh my. Oh my. Okay. So far, we’re all right. I have no idea if this road continues going up or down. Okay, it just seems like this was the snowy section. This actually feels like I have quite a decent amount of grip here, which is nice. But yeah, that’s very good. Oh yeah, bit of ice. Uh-oh, it’s going to go up more. Okay, I can see the road though. It doesn’t go up too much more, which is good, I think. Wow. GoPro is recording, isn’t it? Yeah. Just wow. Look at the view. Oh my god. And looks like I’m going down there. Oh no, my drone’s going to return home. The battery. Stop. Cancel that. Stop. >> Return to home. >> No, don’t return home. this on. Hello. Jeez, it’s just gonna My drone was just going to run away from me. >> Low battery to hold. >> No, don’t tell me what to do. Bloody hell, drone. I think cuz it’s cold as well, the battery is not lasting as long. Land. Thank you. Okay, I’m going to have a little moment up here. Okay, so I’ve just figured out I was looking at the maps that the road that I’m turning off from is really the road I really want to do. But rather than risk going through that one section, I’m going to go down here. It kind of cuts this road section. I’ll show that on the map where I’m cutting. And then I’m going to go back up as far as I can go to see that road because I think it’s it’s one of the ones that I really want to see. And we’ll see how far up we can get. Anyway, let’s go.

Snow stops the plan on day one in the Italian Alps near Cuneo as this adventure motorcycle journey takes an unexpected turn. Riding a big adventure bike through the Italian West Alps, I hit alpine snow that blocks the route and forces a real-world decision. This episode is ADV motorcycle travel, featuring big bike off-road riding, BMW GS adventure vibes, alpine trails, route planning, and problem solving on the fly. If you love adventure motorcycle travel, GS riding, off-road challenges, moto camping, overlanding, and exploring Europe by motorcycle, this ride is for you. The adventure continues, just on a different road.

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