INTO THE ALPINE UNKNOWN

Having conquered the famous peaks of France, Italy and Spain, mountain masochist Simon Warren heard whispers of brutal climbs in the Austrian Alps - and set out to tackle them all in three days

- Simon Warren

Over the years I've been lucky enough to ride up hundreds of mountains, across Europe and beyond - but nowhere matches Austria for savage gradients and spectacular scenery.

It's a country of towering 2,000m-plus peaks, each so remote that no one can hear you scream. Having visited twice already and cut my teeth on famed climbs such as the Kitzbüheler Horn, the Grossglockner and the dreaded Rettenbachferner, I wanted to search for something different - to look past the well-trodden ascents and head into Austria's unknown high parts. And that is what brought me to Carinthia.

Carinthia is Austria's southernmost state, bordering the regions of Salzburg to the north, Tyrol to the west, Styria to the east and its neighbouring countries of Italy and Slovenia to the south. It is the least populated and least visited part of the country. Of course, fewer people means fewer cars, so its roads are blissfully empty.

It wasn't just the promise of quiet roads that brought me here, though; it was the lure of three extraordinary climbs I'd read about, a triple threat that had my mouth watering and my heart racing.

They go by the names of Oscheniksee, Hochwurtenspeicher and Grosssee. The stats alone are enough to scare people away: kilometre upon kilometre of double-digit gradients, even harder than the big Alpine climbs of the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. They make Alpe d'Huez and the Stelvio Pass look like Box Hill.