Pass Bagging Nich Brown swings through the passes
There’s nothing like being on a bike way up in the mountains. On a good day the air is clean and crisp, the sun is clear and bright, you can see further than you ever thought possible with both feet on the ground and all the while your spirits will soar – assuming you don’t suddenly find yourself standing in a layer of cloud a hundred feet thick or that it’s blowing a howling gale of course. Road engineers have found ways to make tarmac cling to mountain-sides in ways that can delight and enthral; from sweeping curves meandering along the natural contours, to switchbacks zigzagging in fits and starts or, better still, staircases of hairpin bends hewn from the rock face a dozen at a time, no greater variety of roads can be found other than on a mountain side. More than any other environment we bikers encounter, mountains demand to be ridden in three dimensions. It’s not just the spectacular bits that make the whole mountain experience worth going back for more. The start and finish of many great mountain roads is both colourful and gentle. Rising upward from the valley floor, you might encounter broadleaf woodland covering the lower slopes. Tarns and lakes can be found at almost any elevation. In the upper reaches there may be desolate plateau or roads cut through snow-fields. Micro-vineyards clinging to the lee side of exposed meadows at the top of many Alpine peaks. There may be wayside markers, cairns and monuments that are worth investigating along the way. And yes, there will be spectacular vistas. So, if you haven’t done so already, get on your bike and ride it up a proper mountain to the highest point you can.
Making a pass
Once among the peaks you’ll notice the highest point the road goes over isn’t the very summit. More likely it slips between peaks, either passing gently over a saddle formed by the flattest high-ground in the area, or rising and falling away quickly through a narrow notch on the skyline. It is this highest
point on the route that is the ‘pass’.
Because y wha
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The names of passes around the world are familiar to many; the Hardknott and Wrynose passes of Cumbria (I’ve seen both quoted as 393 metres the former is said to be a shade higher than the latter), or Bealach na Ba ‘the Pass of the Cattle’ (626 metres) in the Scottish Highlands. These seem modest compared to the Great St. Bernard Pass (2,473 metres ) in the Alps, the Khyber Pass (1,027 metres) between Afghanistan and Pakistan, or the Karakoram Pass (5,540 metres) on the old Silk Road between China and India.
Passes are typically marked by a signpost at the roadside giving the name of the pass and its elevation above mean sea level. Because they are often the mid-point between two places, and because mountain weather can change dramatically, there is often a place to stop for food and drink or simply shelter.
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Such places attract tourists, especially in the Alps. Where souvenirs abound there may be weather-proof stickers giving the name and elevation superimposed over whatever the defining image of the place might be – an artist’s depiction of the rest-stop itself, or a snow-capped peak, some cuddly representative of the local wildlife, or perhaps a flower found mainly in those parts. Consequently, it’s not unusual to see well-travelled bikes wall-papered with a montage of mementos covering bodywork and luggage. They act as mementos and conversation starters but can be the innocuous pre-cursors to a serious Pass Bagging addiction.
Pass bagging
It starts when a friendly waitress at the Albergo or Rifugio (where you’ve just had real strudel like Helga makes) will ask, with convincing innocence, “would you like a sticker for your bike..?” A little voice on your shoulder whispers ‘go on, everybody else is doing it, it doesn’t cost a lot and it looks fun’ and you’re hooked. You know you’re hooked when your heart starts to race on the approach to every peak; what if there’s no place to stop, or worse still, there is but they don’t bother with their own sticker here? Sometimes you suspect they keep the good
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