Mortirolo and Passo dello Gavia 19th September

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The way to the start of the Mortirolo was along a mix of old roads that have now been superseded by numerous tunnels that I really wanted to avoid due to the heavy traffic they handle.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