for these very special photos, thanks to: Mario Labelle
Alps2000
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The road leaves the main road north of Timmelsjoch, between Pitze and Solden.
It forks part way up, to two cul-de-sacs serving ski areas.
Climbing along the Rettenbach towards the Rettenbachferner ski area.
Despite an average gradient of 11.5% (13% in many places), the cold was intense on this crisp late September morning, with most of the valley still in the shade.
The fork in the road where the Gletscherstrasse splits into the Tiefenbachferner (left) and Rettenbachferner (right) ski areas. The road to the Tiefenbachferner area goes through a tunnel which reaches 2822 metres before dipping down to the ski fields (2780), making it the highest paved road in the Alps. On this occasion it was closed due to a cave-in in the tunnel.
Bottom picture, the Otztal under a blanket of morning cloud, as seen on the descent from the Tiefenbach-Rettenbach junction; Solden would be under the blanket just left of centre, while the Timmelsjoch would be up the valley off to the right of the photo.
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