RoosterBooster
01-25-2012, 02:15 PM
i cleared out a long forgotten box of Slides ... i scanned them and figured some of you guys may enjoy to see them ;)
the pics are from ~ summer 1991 :p
... at this time my brother and i (and sometimes a bunch of other enduro bike friends) enjoyed to explore the rich WorldWar1 history of the Italian/French Alps.
many of the mountain top Fortresses like the Fort Malamot (located at 3000 meter high) have been places of intense battle during WWI .
build in late 1800 to early 1900 they have been placed at peaks that overlooked strategic important areas like rare Alp crossing roads.
usually they have been armed with mid to large caliber artillery guns that have been armored or carved deep into solid granite mountain sides, connected with an amazing spiderweb of tunnels.
to supply the Fortress with solders (and the large guns with ammunition) roads have been carved and blasted into the backside of the mountains.
at the time of construction the mountain top Forts have been considered untouchable;
no enemy artillery could get close to reach up to the mountain top without being shot to pieces by the downwards firing heavy guns of the Fortress.
however, advances in gun/ammunition power & precision as well as the invention of aircrafts made them completely obsolete and sitting ducks.
the lower part of the supply road to the fort was an interesting and fun to drive array of endless switchbacks
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-pkUHves0eEY/Tx5A1NxtwII/AAAAAAAAAQo/Ik3prnPs9LI/s800/Scan023.jpg
the lower elevation (at ~2000 meter) Fortress in the background was used to house the replacement troops as well as ammunition.
winter in the Alps are very harsh ... i bet troops had to be rotated down from the peaktop Fort very frequently.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6QMeT8b2Xik/Tx5ApUVDWmI/AAAAAAAAAQc/7QwANV3JjwA/s800/Scan022.jpg
but soon the higher part of the road started to show some damage from 100 years of rough winter and the force of the resulting summer melting water
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qKH6JdykAKo/Tx93lAH3RUI/AAAAAAAAATs/Tev0QOdZpVA/s800/Scan026.jpg
easy for an enduro ...
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9NOtO1yWeBQ/Tx94NMjmevI/AAAAAAAAAUM/2kHfhyulbXk/s800/Scan033.jpg
... but starting to get a little more challenging for my typical "Euro" Jeep (any larger tires than that are next to impossible to get street legal :( )
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2AwEgqoxXOk/Tx931UFPLpI/AAAAAAAAAT0/TNmNDUk2d1M/s800/Scan027.jpg
to be continued ;)
the pics are from ~ summer 1991 :p
... at this time my brother and i (and sometimes a bunch of other enduro bike friends) enjoyed to explore the rich WorldWar1 history of the Italian/French Alps.
many of the mountain top Fortresses like the Fort Malamot (located at 3000 meter high) have been places of intense battle during WWI .
build in late 1800 to early 1900 they have been placed at peaks that overlooked strategic important areas like rare Alp crossing roads.
usually they have been armed with mid to large caliber artillery guns that have been armored or carved deep into solid granite mountain sides, connected with an amazing spiderweb of tunnels.
to supply the Fortress with solders (and the large guns with ammunition) roads have been carved and blasted into the backside of the mountains.
at the time of construction the mountain top Forts have been considered untouchable;
no enemy artillery could get close to reach up to the mountain top without being shot to pieces by the downwards firing heavy guns of the Fortress.
however, advances in gun/ammunition power & precision as well as the invention of aircrafts made them completely obsolete and sitting ducks.
the lower part of the supply road to the fort was an interesting and fun to drive array of endless switchbacks
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-pkUHves0eEY/Tx5A1NxtwII/AAAAAAAAAQo/Ik3prnPs9LI/s800/Scan023.jpg
the lower elevation (at ~2000 meter) Fortress in the background was used to house the replacement troops as well as ammunition.
winter in the Alps are very harsh ... i bet troops had to be rotated down from the peaktop Fort very frequently.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6QMeT8b2Xik/Tx5ApUVDWmI/AAAAAAAAAQc/7QwANV3JjwA/s800/Scan022.jpg
but soon the higher part of the road started to show some damage from 100 years of rough winter and the force of the resulting summer melting water
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qKH6JdykAKo/Tx93lAH3RUI/AAAAAAAAATs/Tev0QOdZpVA/s800/Scan026.jpg
easy for an enduro ...
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9NOtO1yWeBQ/Tx94NMjmevI/AAAAAAAAAUM/2kHfhyulbXk/s800/Scan033.jpg
... but starting to get a little more challenging for my typical "Euro" Jeep (any larger tires than that are next to impossible to get street legal :( )
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2AwEgqoxXOk/Tx931UFPLpI/AAAAAAAAAT0/TNmNDUk2d1M/s800/Scan027.jpg
to be continued ;)