Strada della Dolomiti

Italy owns parts of the Alps' greatest mountains, Monte Bianco, Monte Rosa, Monte Cervino, all in the northwest. In the northeast are the Dolomites: generally lower, not glaciated, formed more by wind and rain than other things. They are extremely picturesque, however, something no mountain aesthete could pass up. From the Brenner Pass we drove on to Bolzano, a nice-enough looking small city, but with no obvious parking for RVs, so we headed straight-on, up ever-climbing roads, generally east, to the Strada della Dolomiti, which we followed a good number of miles. It was serious mountain driving, however.

Peaks and crags everywhere, much limestone

In a small town

Tower on a larger mini-massif

And other features too

Back down in a valley, before heading up to Cortina

I am not sure whether it is boasting or serious road

information, but they number the hair-pin turns on these

roads

The road to the Pass Giua had 28 such hair-pins; the roads

are good, however, nice and wide; no tour busses up here

We found an aire, of sorts, just beyond this peak, and

stopped for the night

Other views in the vicinity

Parked at our "aire"

Table with a view: tomatoes and mozzarella and veal

piccata

The view

Brenner Pass

After Zugspitze, we took the Brenner Pass back down into (very nearby) Italy, to see the Dolomite Alps

Our campsite, a Tyrolean lay-by, en route to Brenner Pass

Mountains on the Brenner Pass

The Pass is littered with old fortresses, to guard the pass,

and to charge tolls...nowadays, a mere 8 euros

Another

Descent of Zugspitze

Alas, as on Pilatus, part of the deal was walking the long trail down, this time nearly 6,000 feet, into Germany, then across a pass, and another, into Austria, and Ehrwald, and back to the campground where we had parked

Rugged little flowers in the glacial moraine

The trail signage was minimal...for the longest time I did

not know whether I was walking down into Germany or

across over into Austria

Looking back up to the summit area

Sheep eating snow

Finally, the Munich Alpine Club's Knorrhutte, where I

had lunch

And saw a sign

And a couple of sumo climbers

And some German bathroom humor

A last look toward the summit

The German/Austrian border, at 7,000 feet

Trail down the Austrian side, more

iron-mongery

More of the Austrian side

And a last cable-car to the bus, and to the campground,

weary...

Ascent of Zugspitze

Zugspitze in the morning; the summit is the far left peak

As with Pilatus, and for the same reasons, I took the cable-car up

Climbers on the huge Austrian face of Zugspitze

The mountain is shared by Germany and Austria, the

sloping side Germany's, the sheer side, Austria's

It is Germany's highest peak, and therefore its highest

bier-garten

9:30 in the AM; breakfast of champions



I had coffee, melange, on the more sedate

Austrian side



After climbing to the summit; interestingly,

to get to the summit of Zugspitze, you have

to abandon the comforts of restaurant,

visitor center, and bier-garten, and

And actually climb a bit, the last 100 feet or

so, unprotected, like these folks are doing

I gave serious thought to blowing this one off...the

exposure was terrific, but there was iron-mongery to hold

on to, and, hey, it cost 30 euros to ride that cable-car up..;

summit self-portrait

The summit mast

Other views from the top

Lermoos, Austria, below

And looking east into the Tyrol

The rest of the summit area

Tirol

We drove on from Fussen into the Tirol and headed straight, as well as mountain roads afford, for Ehrwald, at the Austrian foot of the Zugspitze, the big mountain in this area, and Germany's tallest.

Approaching Ehrwald, almost like the Tetons

Ehrwald cattle drive, probably staged for tourists

Alpenglow on Gruenstein

Ditto on Zugspitze; the summit is the farthest peak left

Gruenstein again

Typical Tirolean mountain view

And a field view, hay-sheds everywhere

Koenigschlosses

From Switzerland, we crossed into western Austria, then, avoiding the toll-roads, into Germany, Fussen, and the Koenig Schlosses, the castles of mad King Ludwig, who was, certainly, mad, but also Wagner's royal friend and benefactor; for a while.... We had visited them in 1989, so settled for a mere drive-by shooting.

Hohenschwangau in its Alpine setting

Closer up

Closer up still

And Neuschwanstein, a mile or two away

Closer-up; Ludwig had this thing about Schwans, from

Wagner, mostly; said now to have been inspired by

Disney...

Pretty Fussen, where we also had the good luck of finding

a water pump to replace our leaking Shurflo model 2088; I

 installed it immediately