Stelvio Pass in a Prius

HaHaaaa!

We drove the Stelvio pass(and de Passo del Tonale, and a few other really nice roads)

In a Prius.



I was lucky. I had Beautiful, Clear weather on the drive up from Piran, via Venice and Trento, over Passo del Tonale, and because of a closed road all the way via Aprico, and then up to Bormio.

The scenic route through Parco Nazionale, was already closed due to snow. I have to come back for that one some time.

More details to follow if I get time and inspiration to draw up a complete post.

Here are some pictures (click pictures for full-size).

Lumbering up...
(spot the Prius)


Halfway up:


Another view (spot the Prius)


Top:


At the Top, the GPS on my phone reported 2747 meters above sealevel. But how to take a picture of the GPS reading if the camera is the gps and the phone...

On the way down, northern slope


Snow at the top was more then knee deep, I even spotted some skiers.

As it was 16:00 in the afternoon, and thawing, you could hear snow rumbling down a few time. At one point, a cubic metre of snow came sliding down just in front of me.

Unfortunately, opportunities to stop are less on the way down in the Austrian direction. Here was an occasion to park (anxiously looking upward tho):


The last part on the way down, me and another car (a Honday Civic Hybrid!) gently followed a snowplow on patrol. I imagine they have a permanent job keeping that road clean.