criterium of the first snow

[steve shea]

Palm trees, beaches and Porsches may be cool, but for me, Porsches belong in the mountains. Today we had our first measureable snow in the Tetons. I fired up the old 73S and went for a drive over one of our local alpine passes. What a blast! A very Wagnerian' Flight of the Valkyries' playing on my newly purchased Becker Mexico, thanks to member Cabot. Heat on, wipers and lights. It just does not get any better. Good clean livin', Porsche style in the mts. Remember sportsfans the original test track for Gumnd production was the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse. The first competition for any Porsche anywhere was the Voralpen Gelandefahrt. The cover of the first Christophorus was a winter 356 shot. The ultimate romance of driving these cars is in full conditions in the mountains. Think the Maritime Alps rallies.

In 1979 I had the good fortune to be able to do the 4th American ascent of the Eiger North Face. It was late autumn and we had a rather eventful climb but that is another story. One of my best memories of that trip was hitchiking back to Chamonix where I had been living. My climbing partner went immediately back to the US so I was on my own. I decided to go through the Kanderstegg Tunnel so set up a roadside bivouac some miles to the North. I had very bad luck getting a ride but really was in no hurry. I was enjoying that sweet fatigue and sense of accomplishment after doing a big route. Of course the first car to finally stop was a 911. The driver was Austrian, owned a small brewery and drove like Niki Lauda. What a ride! we had to stop of course and load the car on the train. While on the train we had one of his beers. We got through to the south side and the fun began again in rain and snow. I'll never forget that whole trip into Switzerland for obvious reasons, but the highlight might have been that 911 ride in the weather through the Alps. SS#2

[Chuck Miller]

GREAT story Steve.....

[fryardds]

Photos to go along with this most excellent experience?

Sounds like great fun.

[steve shea]

Brian, i do have photos from the Eiger but none of the trip back to Cham. Sorry, SS #2

[911T1971]

This is my No. 901 post, so here my favorite 911 pics from the swiss alps - it was....mid of july, Fluela pass.

[Cabot]

Steve - Great to hear the Mexico works and has been put to good use. Here are some Porsche winter advertizing shots.

Jim

[steve shea]

Jim and Karim that's what I'm talking about!

[NorthernThrux]

This is what I dream of for my car. The benefit of a bare tub restoration with all the protection afforded by full glavanization and modern undercoating means I should be able to do this from time to time and not have the car melt under me.

Some decade when I sell my car, the Ad will not say "never driven in rain or snow".

Thanks for the inspiration.

[beh911]

Palm trees, beaches and Porsches may be cool, but for me, Porsches belong in the mountains...
...The ultimate romance of driving these cars is in full conditions in the mountains.

Completely agree with you.

Sunny and dry conditions are kinder to them, but I think they reward their owners more so in a four season climate, especially with elevation change...

[Chuck Miller]

This thread is making me a little nuts and envious………


Before I went another step up in suspension and entirely gave up on street tires I would drive my old car anytime, anywhere… for about 18 of the last 23 years.

But now with a pretty aggressive set-up and 2 sets of RA-1 DOT's I try not to take the car out in anything but nice weather……

Just this weekend I was going to visit my family up in Wrightwood CA. (ski community) in my ’73 through some great back roads.
Sat. morning started clouded over and sprinkling at my house 80 miles away.
Seeing Wrightwood is almost 6000 ft. I figured ‘why chance it’, so I went up in the commuter car.

Damn if the further from home I went the better the weather got, until I got to my bright and sunny mountain destination… all good, all dry, all clear....

And man was I pissed that I over-thought the whole thing into a fairly disappointing drive.... (still took the back roads in the VW)


Will they EVER make another set of good, aggressive street tires (like the old S0-3’s) for 15” wheels again ….Probably not...

…. Sorry for the rant