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rollerski up Stelvio



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 21st 05, 01:13 AM
Ken Roberts
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Default rollerski up Stelvio

I was driving up from Bormio to Passo dello Stelvio, and I saw this guy with
rollerskis and poles. He had reached the (only) moderate section of the
climb, so he had gotten into a little kick-double-pole. I took some photos
and talked with him a little -- asked if he was the first one to climb up it
on rollerskis -- but he didn't speak any more English than I speak Italian,
so this didn't go very far.

Stelvio (also called "Stilfserjoch") is a big climb (1500m / 5000 ft
vertical) up to a high pass in northeastern Italy. Nobody I know paid much
attention to it until this guy from Colorado rode his bicycle up and over
the pass one summer while it was snowing. Maybe this Italian guy was trying
the reverse concept -- climb it on skis but without the snow.

He was on classic rollerskis with rather wide wheels (? around 50 mm ?), and
they were red and had the word "BULL" printed on them in large wide black
letters. His poles had normal baskets and he wasn't wearing any gloves. (?
maybe somebody should try to sell him some proper full rollerskiing
equipment ?)

I liked seeing him do it because here was a guy (no longer in his twenties)
going for a big achievement on a beautiful day. Not because it fit some
race-training program -- just to do it.

I haven't done any rollerskiing myself in so long I can't remember. Actually
I had thought about trying to climb Stelvio on inline-skates. But then I
remembered that it would be hard and painful to skate up something that big
and steep -- and I might not succeed. Very happy this summer just doing
some semi-serious bicycle-training and fun inline-skating.

He was already through the hardest parts, so I assume he made it to the top.

Ken

P.S. A few days later out on my bike in early evening, I saw two other guys
in their 20s on rollerskis, double-poling up to Passo Falzorego from the
Cortina side -- not as long or steep or famous a climb as Stelvio. Looked
like doing one of their regular after-work training workouts. I felt no envy
of their rollerskiing power, since I was going down the hill as the finish
of a great day of riding.




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  #2  
Old September 22nd 05, 01:45 AM
John Forrest Tomlinson
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On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 01:13:21 GMT, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:

Nobody I know paid much
attention to it until this guy from Colorado
rode his bicycle up and over
the pass one summer while it was snowing.


I hope you're not talking about Andy Hampsten, who rode over the Gavia
in the snow on the way to winning the Tour of Italy. And in that year
I think the stage over the Stelvio was cancelled or rerouted to avoid
that climb.

JFT

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  #3  
Old September 22nd 05, 11:59 AM
Ken Roberts
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I hate to dash your hopes for me, but I was indeed thinking of Andy
Hampsten. And now I believe you're right, it was the (nearby) Passo Gavia he
rode over in the snow. Thanks for the correction.

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote
I hope you're not talking about Andy Hampsten, who rode over
the Gavia in the snow on the way to winning the Tour of Italy.


I rode my bike from Bormio over Gavia the day before in the morning (likely
at less than half the speed of Andy Hampsten), then west over Passo Aprica.
When I got back to my hotel at 4:00pm, I thought, "Looks like enough
daylight left for another climb". So I rode my bike up Stelvio and enjoyed a
very fun descent back to Bormio. (one of the delightful paybacks from having
a bicycle with a third small chainring and having the discipline from
ski-training to go long and slow with it.)

I don't think that guy climbing on rollerskis would have enjoyed that
descent of the west side of Stelvio in the same way. Actually I don't he did
the descent at all on rollerskis -- since I saw there was a car and driver
who pulled over and conferred with him just after I left him.

Ken


  #4  
Old September 22nd 05, 12:55 PM
beorn
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Ken Roberts wrote:

I don't think that guy climbing on rollerskis would have enjoyed that
descent of the west side of Stelvio in the same way. Actually I don't he did
the descent at all on rollerskis -- since I saw there was a car and driver
who pulled over and conferred with him just after I left him.


I was in fact wondering how could somebody descent on a road like that
on rollerskis!
It's a lot of bends and tight hairpins (48) with asphalt in bad
conditions (many holes esp near the summit).
And if you descent towards Switzerland, there also is a gravel section
where you must pay attention even by bike...

--
beorn
"You've got to learn to crawl
before you learn to walk"
Aerosmith (Amazing)
  #5  
Old September 23rd 05, 02:54 PM
Ken Roberts
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beorn wrote
I was in fact wondering how could somebody descent on a road like that on
rollerskis!


I've heard some scary stories of people who did one of those big climbs in
the U.S. and did try to descend on their rollerskis, mentions of surprises
and scar tissue.

I've tried walking + running down, which for a big steep climb sometimes
leaves my legs sore for a couple of days from the repetitive impact. Or I
first use my car to leave my bicycle somewhere near the top, then drive back
down to the bottom to start my rollerski or inline-skate climbing. That's
how I skated up the upper half of Col de la Croix de Fer in France. But that
takes a lot of time, so it's better to find somebody else to drive the car.

Stelvio has a lot of bends and tight hairpins (48)


That's the east side of the pass (toward Prad Stilfserjoch in Sudtirol /
Alto Adige region). The rollerskier was climbing the west side (toward
Bormio in Lombardia region). The east side is more famous because of that
count of switchbacks, and that when you're about halfway up you can see all
the remaining switchbacks above you all at once. I think actually the west
side has similar steepness in its steep sections, but not as sustained --
and for it has more variety and interest as a climb, and much more fun as a
descent.

I did not enjoy descending those 48 switchbacks on the east side -- next
time if I climb up the east side again I would descend Umbrail (including
its 3km of gravel as noted by beorn) and make a loop back to Prad through
the Mustair valley in Switzerland.

Switchbacks -- When I have bicycled or skated up these big alpine climbs, my
experience has been that "switchbacks are my friend" -- the steepest
sections of these climbs are usually in between the switchback sections. I
suspect that once the engineers decide to put in switchbacks for some
section, they show off their design skill by limiting the steepness. So when
I made it up out of the trees on the east side climb and saw all those
remaining 22 switchbacks above me, instead of being intimidated, my reaction
was, "This one's in the bag".

Ken


  #6  
Old September 29th 05, 08:19 AM
beorn
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Ken Roberts wrote:

I've heard some scary stories of people who did one of those big climbs in
the U.S. and did try to descend on their rollerskis, mentions of surprises
and scar tissue.


I guess so! :-)

I think actually the west
side has similar steepness in its steep sections, but not as sustained --
and for it has more variety and interest as a climb, and much more fun as a
descent.


you can check the two profiles he
from Bormio:
http://www.salite.ch/stelvio.htm
from Prato allo Stelvio:
http://www.salite.ch/stelvio1.htm

as you can see, the latter is a bit tougher, but nothing impossible (at
least by bike, that's the only way I did them...I never tought about
rollerskiing up there 'cause I would not know how to come down!).

Since this is a nordic skiing NG, there is a funny, recent piece of news
about Stelvio: one of the italian national team x-country skiers (Tomas
Moriggl) was lost up there last weekend: he went for a running training
in the late afternoon, then he got lost somewhere and he spent the whole
night up at 2500 meters in shorts and tshirt...he said he kept on
running the whole night to avoid getting too cold...then they found him
the following morning :-)

I did not enjoy descending those 48 switchbacks on the east side -- next
time if I climb up the east side again I would descend Umbrail (including
its 3km of gravel as noted by beorn) and make a loop back to Prad through
the Mustair valley in Switzerland.


yeah, that's very nice, but also descenting the 48 swithcbacks is nice :-)
last time I did it it was raining and hailing, but it was cool :-.)

Switchbacks -- When I have bicycled or skated up these big alpine climbs, my
experience has been that "switchbacks are my friend" -- the steepest
sections of these climbs are usually in between the switchback sections. I
suspect that once the engineers decide to put in switchbacks for some
section, they show off their design skill by limiting the steepness. So when
I made it up out of the trees on the east side climb and saw all those
remaining 22 switchbacks above me, instead of being intimidated, my reaction
was, "This one's in the bag".


I understand what you mean :-)

--
beorn
"You've got to learn to crawl
before you learn to walk"
Aerosmith (Amazing)
  #7  
Old September 29th 05, 08:59 AM
Anders
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Default


Ken Roberts wrote:

Stelvio (also called "Stilfserjoch") is a big climb (1500m / 5000 ft
vertical) up to a high pass in northeastern Italy. Nobody I know paid much
attention to it until this guy from Colorado rode his bicycle up and over
the pass one summer while it was snowing. Maybe this Italian guy was tryi=

ng
the reverse concept -- climb it on skis but without the snow.


FWIW Passo dello Stelvio is where the Swedish national team (sans
Elofsson and Fredriksson) just stayed for three days (living at 2.750m
and training at 3.200m) before continuing in Livigno (1.800m). One
Johann M=FChlegg also used to spend periods in Stelvio.


He was on classic rollerskis with rather wide wheels (? around 50 mm ?), =

and
they were red and had the word "BULL" printed on them in large wide black
letters. His poles had normal baskets and he wasn't wearing any gloves. (?
maybe somebody should try to sell him some proper full rollerskiing
equipment ?)


Ahh, the natives have their own odd preferences everywhe-) BTW the
rollerskis were the Italian Ski Sketts, model Bull. The wheels are
indeed wide, 60mm, and of rubber, which would make for a soft and
stable ride.
http://www.skiskett.com

BTW the most popular Swedish and Norwegian rollerskis have 50mm wheels
(with a roughly 70mm diameter), but in Finland the favourite models
have 40mm wheels (with a 80mm diameter).

I suppose you mad daredevils in N.A. go for the narrowest wheels you
can find?:-)


Anders

  #8  
Old September 29th 05, 06:04 PM
Gene Goldenfeld
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Which brands? It sounds like Pro-Skis (50x~70mm) in Norway and Sweden
and Marwe in Finland (40x80mm).

Gene

Anders wrote:

BTW the most popular Swedish and Norwegian rollerskis have 50mm wheels
(with a roughly 70mm diameter), but in Finland the favourite models
have 40mm wheels (with a 80mm diameter).

I suppose you mad daredevils in N.A. go for the narrowest wheels you
can find?:-)

Anders

  #9  
Old September 29th 05, 07:54 PM
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BULL are rollerskis by SkiSkett. They are as porper rollerskis as it
gets. A friend of mine who lives in MD has them, he ordered the skis
by mailorder directly from SkiSkett.

  #10  
Old September 30th 05, 07:25 AM
Anders
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Gene Goldenfeld wrote:

Which brands? It sounds like Pro-Skis (50x~70mm) in Norway and Sweden
and Marwe in Finland (40x80mm).


Yes, also Swenor and Elpex in the former and Start in the latter.


Anders

 




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