Documentary Shot: Mount Zoufplan (1999m.a.s.l.), Its "Destroys Tires" Dirty Road and "The Supercar" Driving Experience after the First Snowfall; Carnia, FVG, Italia
02-november-2021: thanks to the "Supercar" I reached the limit of transit allowed with motor vehicles, the one in the photo, one of the highest in the whole of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and which arrives in one of the most spectacular environments of this Alpine sector.
It did not seem true to me, also given the impossibility for my ankles to do more than 8-9km and 3-400m in altitude on foot, to be able to get up there, one step away from the sky of 2000m of altitude, without prohibition signs transit, without barriers, without ambiguous signs such as "if you go ahead it's just your choice, don't cry then!", widely used by the mountain municipalities of this region in order to avoid the heavy expenses to keep these roads, subject to landslides and avalanches, or the typical knowledge of the rainy and tormented Carnia, maintained.
The "Supercar", for its part, did not betray and in the top part, the fresh snow (average 12-15cm, with sections of about 30-40cm due to windy accumulations) was still floury and therefore with good grip despite the hairpin bends, the tires summer/all terrain type, rather worn, but the 4x4 made up for it.
I do these roads without a goal, in the sense that if they are passable I go as long as the road conditions allow, ready to reverse if I am not sure of my means.
Here everything went well, but there was a surprise, a nasty surprise, after all it all seemed TOO easy to me.
On the way back, descending from 2000m to about 1600m, just above the second houses (tourist houses) of "Pian delle Streghe" (1450m), where, from the valley, the road is perfect and largely asphalted, the snow had melted on the pavement and I noticed how the ground chosen for this cart was not gravel or beaten earth, but stones, as big as a fist (railway embankment type!), messily placed, according irregularly to fords and water work, decidedly pointed (probably only tracked vehicles go there...uhm...), absolutely not rounded by the (evidently) non-existent traffic, to the point that I went down with the small electronics of my non-off-road vehicle (it's a well-equipped SUV, not a real off-road vehicle) trying to avoid the sharpest stones, but almost all of them were sharp, and, as they say in Italian, I felt like "walking on eggs".
After Mount Tenchia and the detour to the summer farm "Zoufplan bassa", around 1600m, the ground changes and becomes accessible to all vehicles, while from Pian delle Streghe, as mentioned, the road is mainly asphalted down to the valley bottom, in Cercivento (607m a.s.l.).
The ridge of the Zoufplan, widely panoramic, grassy and flowery, with glacial lakes and marine origin fossils, is one of the most beautiful environments in Carnia, and it is possible, on foot, to do the whole soft chain, which reaches the first (and highest) summit, to the west, that of Mount Crostis (2251m a.s.l.), at the base of which peak, at a little less than 2000m, there is a summer farm/farmhouse, also reachable from the valley by car (for short periods), from Tualis village, thus being able to take a long circle, the highest part of which, between Crostis and Zoufplan, must be on foot.
If the road from Tualis to Crostis is often closed and inaccessible, the one from Cercivento to Zoufplan is, on the contrary, almost always open and the responsibility of continuing it as far as I was is left to the driver...and I agree with this choice: if you are not able/willing to maintain a road, the person who chooses to continue on (partly) abandoned roads must have the necessary to change a tire (and know how to do it) must have a sense of measure and must know how to get out of trouble by himself to a large extent, preferably with a full tank, clothes, a portable hoist and a shovel in winter.
Always better than bans on bans.
Anyway..., I strongly recommend everyone not to go beyond 1600m of altitude, best of all to stop at the comfortable "Pian delle Streghe" and, for those who can do it, do everything else exclusively on foot.
The cart track is still many kilometers long, but there is an almost "vertical path" that cuts through all the hairpin bends, for those with thighs and lungs in excellent condition.
My driving experience up to the top was certainly good from a naturalistic and photographic point of view, but I returned to Trieste with a flat tire, and the others, already worn, further shredded.
Fortunately, the day after, I had an appointment for the new set of thermal tires and the decision to do away with that day's A/T tires had been made a long time ago.
Documentary Shot: Mount Zoufplan (1999m.a.s.l.), Its "Destroys Tires" Dirty Road and "The Supercar" Driving Experience after the First Snowfall; Carnia, FVG, Italia
02-november-2021: thanks to the "Supercar" I reached the limit of transit allowed with motor vehicles, the one in the photo, one of the highest in the whole of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and which arrives in one of the most spectacular environments of this Alpine sector.
It did not seem true to me, also given the impossibility for my ankles to do more than 8-9km and 3-400m in altitude on foot, to be able to get up there, one step away from the sky of 2000m of altitude, without prohibition signs transit, without barriers, without ambiguous signs such as "if you go ahead it's just your choice, don't cry then!", widely used by the mountain municipalities of this region in order to avoid the heavy expenses to keep these roads, subject to landslides and avalanches, or the typical knowledge of the rainy and tormented Carnia, maintained.
The "Supercar", for its part, did not betray and in the top part, the fresh snow (average 12-15cm, with sections of about 30-40cm due to windy accumulations) was still floury and therefore with good grip despite the hairpin bends, the tires summer/all terrain type, rather worn, but the 4x4 made up for it.
I do these roads without a goal, in the sense that if they are passable I go as long as the road conditions allow, ready to reverse if I am not sure of my means.
Here everything went well, but there was a surprise, a nasty surprise, after all it all seemed TOO easy to me.
On the way back, descending from 2000m to about 1600m, just above the second houses (tourist houses) of "Pian delle Streghe" (1450m), where, from the valley, the road is perfect and largely asphalted, the snow had melted on the pavement and I noticed how the ground chosen for this cart was not gravel or beaten earth, but stones, as big as a fist (railway embankment type!), messily placed, according irregularly to fords and water work, decidedly pointed (probably only tracked vehicles go there...uhm...), absolutely not rounded by the (evidently) non-existent traffic, to the point that I went down with the small electronics of my non-off-road vehicle (it's a well-equipped SUV, not a real off-road vehicle) trying to avoid the sharpest stones, but almost all of them were sharp, and, as they say in Italian, I felt like "walking on eggs".
After Mount Tenchia and the detour to the summer farm "Zoufplan bassa", around 1600m, the ground changes and becomes accessible to all vehicles, while from Pian delle Streghe, as mentioned, the road is mainly asphalted down to the valley bottom, in Cercivento (607m a.s.l.).
The ridge of the Zoufplan, widely panoramic, grassy and flowery, with glacial lakes and marine origin fossils, is one of the most beautiful environments in Carnia, and it is possible, on foot, to do the whole soft chain, which reaches the first (and highest) summit, to the west, that of Mount Crostis (2251m a.s.l.), at the base of which peak, at a little less than 2000m, there is a summer farm/farmhouse, also reachable from the valley by car (for short periods), from Tualis village, thus being able to take a long circle, the highest part of which, between Crostis and Zoufplan, must be on foot.
If the road from Tualis to Crostis is often closed and inaccessible, the one from Cercivento to Zoufplan is, on the contrary, almost always open and the responsibility of continuing it as far as I was is left to the driver...and I agree with this choice: if you are not able/willing to maintain a road, the person who chooses to continue on (partly) abandoned roads must have the necessary to change a tire (and know how to do it) must have a sense of measure and must know how to get out of trouble by himself to a large extent, preferably with a full tank, clothes, a portable hoist and a shovel in winter.
Always better than bans on bans.
Anyway..., I strongly recommend everyone not to go beyond 1600m of altitude, best of all to stop at the comfortable "Pian delle Streghe" and, for those who can do it, do everything else exclusively on foot.
The cart track is still many kilometers long, but there is an almost "vertical path" that cuts through all the hairpin bends, for those with thighs and lungs in excellent condition.
My driving experience up to the top was certainly good from a naturalistic and photographic point of view, but I returned to Trieste with a flat tire, and the others, already worn, further shredded.
Fortunately, the day after, I had an appointment for the new set of thermal tires and the decision to do away with that day's A/T tires had been made a long time ago.