The Mortirolo is a climb I’d read numerous horror stories about prior
to travelling to Italy. Lance Armstrong was even reported as saying it was the
hardest climb that he had ridden! With this in mind, I had been non-committal
about riding the Mortirolo – Gavia loop; only deciding to ride it the night
prior.
The main reason I finally chose to ride this harder loop rather than
riding out and back over the Passo dello Gavia was the weather. It was forecast
to be raining, falling as snow down to 2500m! By going over the Mortirolo which
only hits 1852 metres, I’d be only facing potential snow the once rather than
twice.
The evening before was still quite pleasant, so I went to sleep
optimistically thinking the meteorologists may have got it wrong. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and I woke to
the sound of falling rain. Luckily I'd bought all my wet weather gear for just this very contingency.
Road to the Mortirolo
The way to the start of the Mortirolo was along a mix of old roads
that have now been superseded by numerous tunnels that I really wanted to
avoid due to the heavy traffic they handle.
Other than facing wet conditions and one short steep section of road I
wasn’t expecting due to a bikes only detour, I made the village of Mazzo marking
the start of the Mortirolo warmed up and ready to go.
Mazzo
The climb started innocently enough as it wove between houses into the
forest. There were a few steeper pinches, but that was to be expected. I
already knew that the middle 6 kilometres were the ones to fear. The easiest
500m in this section averages 10.8%; the rest range from 11.2% to 14.2%! Due to
the wet surface, I had to ride the steeper portions seated to keep traction and
could only stand when the angled eased. I didn’t end up stopping as often as I
thought; firstly because photos weren’t showing how nasty the climb really is
and secondly it was a pain trying to get started again!
Mortirolo
Interesting fence made with all old pieces of iron including horseshoes and bolts welded together
The kilometres slowly crept by till finally at tornante 11 the Patani
memorial came into view. This marks the end point of the steeper middle section where the gradient became somewhat saner again. It was also around here
where the rain finally stopped too and it was now only low clouds and mist for
company till the summit.
Tornante 11
Near the top
Top of the Mortirolo
The descent was challenging due to the minimal visibility at times
plus still wet roads. I ended up being forced to ride the brakes down much of
it till I hit the SS42 just past the village of Monno. Although the start of
the Passo dello Gavia is marked as Ponte di Legno, it was to mostly uphill for
15.5km as soon as we hit this road. Finally
the sun had even made an appearance, so this stretch was pleasant enough.
Descent
The road signs to the Gavia actually had me ride up and around Ponte
di Legno, so I didn’t get to see much of what looked like another pretty
mountain village. I only stopped to refill my bidon’s at a park on the edge of town and kept
on my way.
Looking back down the valley ridden from the loop up and around Ponte di Legno
The ascent began again
innocently enough following a path of least resistance up a beautiful valley.
All too soon this changed and the road morphed instantly from a pleasant two
lanes with shoulder to a steep one car width lane through the forest. There
were road signs suggesting pinches of 16% and 14%, but neither section seemed
too bad after having already ridden over the Mortirolo earlier.
4km to go
Above the tree line the road continued to snake upwards towards
the menacing clouds. At around 3 kilometres to go, it began to rain again and
then started falling as sleet! Here the main road continues through a long
unlit tunnel, but a second option for those without lights exists; the original
single lane cliff road that is still open to pedestrians and bikes.
This old road is the backdrop for an epic
cycling photo taken of Jobst Brandt that initially appeared on the cover of the Palo Alto Bicycles 1980-81 catalog and has
since been reposted numerous times online!
Photo © Palo Alto Bicycles
Unfortunately since it isn’t trafficked by cars anymore,
the surface is now extremely rough and consisting mainly of large stones. I
made it about half way riding till I was lurched sharp left towards the railing which was only a piece of twine guarding the precipice! Common-sense thus prevailed and I dismounted and
walked the last few 100 metres till I met the road again.
For the final few kilometres of the climb, the road wound around
past Lago Nero and through the final hairpins to the top of the climb. My
progress along here was ridiculously slow as I was now also confronted by a
strong block headwind as well as the sleet.
Once I reached the Passo dello Gavia (2651m), I quickly dismounted
and made my way immediately inside the refugio to escape the cold. I pulled a
chair straight in front of the heater and settled into devouring a slice of
fruit tart and a large hot chocolate.
As I still needed to drive back to Milan for my flight in
the morning, I had to make my way out into the frigid wind sooner than I wanted.
The descent was cold; at least the sleet had stopped.
Lago Bianca
Looking down towards Bormio
The riding from this side may not be as famous as that
from Ponte di Legno, but was beautiful none the less and has already made the
tick list for next time.
Looking back up the Bormio side
Back at the Alpi&Golf hotel where I had stayed the
previous night’s, they had kindly let me have a very late checkout. So I was able to
shower and clean off the accumulated road grime. Then I packed the car and
headed out of town via the bike shop to return the hired bike and supermarket
for snacks to keep me going for the long drive back to Milan.
I finally arrived at my hotel near Malpensa airport just
before 10pm. The return journey went faster than the drive up from Milan only
days before, as I decided to ignore the speed limit signs like everyone around
me. Even then I was still getting overtaken in some crazy spots!
So day two was long and tough but a complete success. This
two day blitz of the climbs around Bormio netted both sides of the Stelvio, the
Mortirolo and Ponte di Legno side of the Passo dello Gavia. A good haul for such a short trip!
Ride details:
Distance 117.58km
Elevation gain 3202m
