Day 54 - Gomagoi to Müstair - Oh The Places You'll Go - 2025

June 3, 2025

Day 54 - Gomagoi to Müstair

We got the t-shirts

Just another great day of cycling, but it didn’t look like it would be to start. Given the weather yesterday, which was fine for going to an indoor ‘museum’, but would have been pretty dreich for cycling, and the fact that Yr.no had indicated that the day was going to be much better than it turned out, left us with low confidence in any forecasts.

Nevertheless, the forecasts we did look at said that it would be raining in Gomagoi until around 8 and that there would be no rain with mixed sun and cloud all day at Stelvio.

Over our (very good) breakfast at 7:30, we were both looking out the window at the rain that was falling. Not hard, but persistent, and the cloud ceiling was low.

So was our enthusiasm.

Although every part of the tour has had its highlights and have been integral to the whole, there were a few days that were by design, focal points. Today was one, as was Alpe de Suisi … and we all know how that turned out.

I’m a firm believer in options, in particular if they are low or no cost. Since the forecasts all showed that the weather was supposed to be better to the west, if we started riding west towards Trafoi and things weren’t looking better, we could turn around and take our plan B, which was to backtrack down to Prato Allo Stelvio and then turn north back along the Claudia Augusta to Glurns and then head west up to Mustair. All very doable, about the same distance as our original plan, and all at low altitude and low risk.

And another classic ride we’d have to try to pencil in for a later date.

By the time we got packed up and got the bikes loaded the rain had stopped, the cloud ceiling had lifted and we even spotted a ‘sucker hole’ of blue sky above us. So west and up we went.

As the first line said, a great day. It helped that it was also Tuesday, my favourite day as a retired guy.

The sky continued to clear, the temperature gradually started to rise, as did we on the constant 7% grade road. We were soon at Trafoi and it was glorious. We saw the first Tornante sign, number 48, just past Trafoi. Time to get this party started.

By the time we saw Tornante 24 about an hour and a half later, we had 4 roadies pass us, maybe a dozen motorcycles and about the same number of cars. We both commented that we’d take the trade off of having fewer accommodation and dining options for the relative solitude we’ve got in places like this early in the season, rather than fight the crowds through the main part of summer.

It was just past Tornante 24, pretty much the halfway point of the climb, where we came across the Berghotel Franzenshöne and they were open for lunch. It was a well timed rest stop and we both got our water bottles refilled, a little caffeine boost and a warm bowl of soup into us.

The rest of the climb was more or less above tree line and in the area where you see the classic, and somewhat intimidating, pictures of the stacked up hairpin turns and the ski facilities seemingly hung off a cliff above you. Traffic picked up a bit but was still light by any measure and at a little after 2 pm we were at the Tonante 1 sign … well the post for the Tornante sign … some miscreant had made off with the sign. That left us with straight 500 m or so to the summit circus of Stelvio.

We did it.

We were the only folks on loaded bikes, and in fact, there were very few bicycles there, mostly motorcycles, but many of them tipped their chapeau’s in recognition of what these two geezers did.

We’ve ridden bigger cumulative days of elevation, but this was the biggest ‘in a oner’ that we’ve done and it was a pretty satisfying feeling.

And we got the t-shirts to prove it!

Well, very nice lightweight wind jacket for me and matching vest for K. So cliche, but you’ve got to do it!

I have no idea why my Garmin watch had a freak out at lunch mid way through our climb (need to zoom in to see it). I did go to the bathroom (maybe TMI) but not 500 m uphill from the restaurant we were in.

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Although hitting the summit was a real highlight, we weren’t done yet. We still had to get down to Müstair for the night.

This is where the weather gods gave us some payback. We spent about 30 minutes at the summit getting pics, chatting with people and ‘transitioning’ for the downhill. The weather was also transitioning at the same time and what we thought would be a ‘tights’ and new wind jacket decent turned into another ‘head to toe to finger Goretex’ event.

Yes, it started to rain, real rain, just as we took off downhill. Luckily, we were dry to start, and with our Gortex encasement we stayed that way. It was amazing to see not only the quick transition in the weather, but also the immediate transformation from spring to winter as we started to descend on the north aspects of Stelvio. There’s a reason there’s a summer ski training facility here. It was full on snow everywhere except for the black ribbon of asphalt we were riding on. Since we were going to Mustair and not Bormio, after a couple of km’s and about 250 m of descent, we peeled off north up Umbrail pass (a brutal 20 m climb), over the border into Switzerland and down to Müstair.

The ride down was exceptional. Fortunately the rain stopped after we lost about another 300 m of elevation and then the sun started peeking out. The rest of the descent was pure ‘Swiss Postcard’. No Joke.

Once we reached tree line we pulled over to take off some layers and as we stopped, the first thing we hear are cowbells. This is sooooo Switzerland.

Anyway, it’s late, we’ve got two more big days in front of us (Ofen and Albula passes) before another ‘focal point day’, so I’m going to wrap this up and get to bed so I don’t fall behind several days.

Light touch on the captions … a bunch of (quite beautiful) climbing pics, a few of the summit circus, and then more (again quite beautiful IMHO) descent pics.

Start of the day at Hotel Gaillia, a great place to stay

The rain has stopped, the clouds are lifting as per the forecasts

…. And there’s the sucker hole …. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t

After this, 47 more to go till the summit

Look along the ridge on the right … first sight of the Stelvio ski area infrastructure (lift station and gondola cables) … yes, that’s where we’re going

Great shot by K, three levels of road stacked one on another. Shows how steep the slope is here … and why there are so many hairpin turns

…. And of course that’s me, several hairpins behind K the Climbing Machine

And here’s the upper half of… quite intimidating when you can see it all, but the fact is the sections we just rode through the trees gained the same elevation over the same distance. It’s better sometimes when you can’t see where your going!

Brilliantly located lunch and caffeine stop

Back to the climbing program … relentless … but a doable 7% (on average)

Who decided to build this ….and an even better question … who decides to ride a loaded bike up it?

I guess she does …. Part of the Smiley group.

One of the iconic shots of Stelvio…. Most I’ve seen though don’t have much snow in them!

Tornante 1 … take her word for it … someone stole the sign!

And we’ve got a marmot to greet us at the summit

The last 500 m, and we’re going to have to race these motorbikes!

A near religious experience for us … so a pic by the church (there’s one on every pass isn’t there?)

I guess we need the ‘official shot’. Somewhere under the stickers it says Passo Stelvio 2757 m. Graham Mann … I’m pretty sure these are the first Mannmade’s on Stelvio!

Gordon G and Super Mom got their pic’s too

The North Side … still winter, and full on rain. At least we were dry to start and are fully encased in Gortex … we stayed dry … and warm

Pass number two, Umbrail, and the Swiss border. It really is a only about a 20 m climb to hit this off the main road that continues down Stelvio to Bormio

Still lots of hairpins on Umbrail, we lost almost the exact amount of elevation getting to Mustair in the same distance. Here’s were looking back to Stelvio …very wintery!

Dropped a lot of elevation quickly and we were soon into Heidi Land, Cows, Cowbells and perfectly manicured Swiss alpine meadows … I’m not kidding

Hitting tree line and the pastures and meadows start to appear

That’s Ofen pass on the horizon … tomorrow’s climb … a bit easier, but it’s not the only one!

Stereotypes exist for a reason … beautiful

We pulled into Müstair just before 5 and checked into the very nice Hotel Münsterhof … got upgraded to a large suite also … had our post ride recovery bevies, and then got cleaned up and had a great ‘classic Swiss’ dinner at the restaurant at Hotel Helvetia. Maybe some pics of the hotel tomorrow, but that’s it for now, time to retire.

Once again, a great day.

SOTD

I was thinking Queen’s We Are the Champions’, but really we just rode a bike for a few hours …

What’s more fitting is this classic from Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr. -

‘Just the Two of Us’

I see the crystal raindrops fall
And the beauty of it all
Is when the sun comes shining through
To make those rainbows in my mind

- sounds like our day, and it was just the two of us for the first hour or so .. who get’s that on Stelvio!

One for the record books … turns out this was World Bike Day too! We did our part. Good night from Müstair

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 2,327 km (1,445 miles)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	4

Rachael AndersonI love Just the two of us but We are the champions would have been more appropriate. To do Stelvio in good weather is an amazing accomplishment but even more so with the bad weather!
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1 week ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonWe were very fortunate that our climb was on the warm ( but not too warm side) of the pass.
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1 week ago

Betsy EvansCongrats!!
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1 week ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Betsy EvansThank you
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1 week ago