Reluctantly leaving the Passo Giau I was aiming for a relatively quieter area of the Dolomites for the next days but arriving at my planned park up I found that it had been taken over by construction workers. So after a re-think I decided to call the campsite that I had pre-booked for the weekend to see if I could arrive a day early.
Palafavera
Camping Palafavera is a very old and basic camp but clean and very cheap for these parts. I needed a camper service anyway so it served its purpose for a few days and its also in a pretty good location I found out later.
Arriving in the afternoon I just sorted the van out and the next morning I was on the trail early with a beautiful hike to Rifugio Coldai and then on to Lago di Coldai which is a wonderful place for a stop before returning the same way to the camp.
After an hour break I took the bike and made my way down the pass to Pecol and then the mountain bike trail to Rifugio Pian del Crep, stopping at the picturesque and very cold waterfalls of Gavon picol and Gavon Grand on the way. Both waterfalls had deep enough pools to get into and the fresh mountain water certainly wakes you up! Returning to Pecol on some great forest MTB tracks I then made my way back up the pass and back to the van as the evening storms were coming in only getting a little wet on the way.
The next day and with bad weather forecast for the next week I was on the bike very early. First to Rifugio Col dei Baldi on some severely steep tracks before descending through the picturesque Coldai Alm and back to the camp. A short and sharp bike but perfect to get back before the bad weather.
Driving to Rifugio Marmolade Castiglioni I found a nice spot for the van and hiked the quite steep trail to Rifugio Luigi Gorza the highest I have been on this trip at 2600m. This vantage point gave incredible views of the Marmolade Glacier opposite and after a long lunch I made my way back down before the afternoon rains came.
Getting back there was so much commotion with a family of travellers arrived nearby who had at least 8 uncontrollable huge dogs that were howling constantly at every passer by. This together with more dogs and a now full and partying car park, I decided that I would not be able to enjoy the rest of my day there and moved on to my next destination.
Driving over the extremely challenging and completely chaotic Porodai, Sella and Gardena passes, I eventually and completely exhausted arrived at Santa Christina camper stop.
After a surprisingly good nights sleep considering there was a waterfall behind my head and the van was on a 10% slope even with the ramps, I was up and out the door at 6:00am for what would be the toughest hike so far on this trip.
Seceda
Seceda is one of the most famous mountains in the Dolomites for its unique jagged and angled profile. 90% of people take the cable cars there but there are the 10% who toil up this arduous track. And as I was currently parked 9km away from the summit as well as being 1300m below it, I should get my skates on.
The trek up is remarkably steep in parts and mostly boring until you reach the Alm. And in the early morning light it really looked spectacular, which was more than could be said for the actual mountain in front of me which looked quite uninspiring! This was playing with me as I had put this mountain as number one on my list of hikes and I was feeling a little let down. But the true majesty is only visible when you reach the summit and view it from the side.
It really is an incredible sight and thanks to the hard shift I put in I made it there just as the buzzer for the lifts went off meaning I had 10 minutes of truly magnificent peace and quiet in this location completely alone.
This peace was immediately undone by the 100’s of selfie-takers touching up their make-up, lipstick and straightening their hot-pants before swarming over every spare inch of sacred ground. Which signalled my time to leave and I very carefully make my way back to base camp for a well deserved cold beer…
Seiser Alm
The next day was a bike trip to the Seiser Alm. Lots had been said about this place so I was excited to see it for myself. Heading down the Valley to Oresei you take the very small mountain road directly to the Alm. Unfortunately there was a road closed sign at the bottom but as I had already ridden this far I decided to just try and if I didn’t work out I would just return the same way. As it happens there was no chance to ride a good 2 km section but as I was so early and the workmen had not arrived yet I just pushed and carried the bike through the construction site, jumped a fence, and continued on my way. No-one would ever know…
Getting to the Alm after a very tough climb, I rode around for a while taking in the scenery before heading on a MTB trail through the woods and eventually back to base. I read a lot and saw a lot of photos on Instagram about this place but to be honest I felt a little let down. Don’t get me wrong it’s extremely beautiful but after the previous day I maybe would have liked a little more reward for the extreme effort to get there. Perhaps if you drive there or used a motor-E-bike, it would be worth it. But on a real bike it’s really not worth that type of effort. But at least there was another 1200 meters of climbing in the legs.
Leaving St. Christina after a couple of days I was on my way to the final destination of the mountains. To ride the number one on the list of European road climbs that I have not yet done in my life. And I don’t have many left to climb. The famous Stelvio pass.
Stelvio Pass
Knowing that the climb would be long and also that rain was forecast around 2pm I was on the road by 6:45am as I wanted it done in the dry. The cars and motorbikes are crazy and unpredictable with dry roads and just life threatening to cyclists in the wet. So from previous extensive experience it was important to keep myself as safe as is possible on these mountain passes.
Setting off from the climbs starting point of Spondinig you have only a slight gradient until you pass through Prato allo and then it begins to ramp up through Ponte di Stelvio and Maso di Fuori. By the time I reached corner 45 I was already in my lowest gear and thinking that this was maybe going to be too much for me after only 10 days of hard exercise in the last 8 months. But the views of the 3900m Ortler glacier were distracting me from the next 44 corners!
Continuing to constantly increase in elevation and steepness you reach the Franzenshöhe hotel and corner 22 which is where the real climbing starts! Now beginning to find a nice rhythm I was thinking that I could actually make it. And apart from a slight blip at corner 8 where I had to stop and stretch my knee, I comfortably made it to the summit. But my joy was short lived as you are met by complete and utter chaos!
Honestly it was terrible. Hundreds of motorcycles, cars, people, sausage stands, tat stands, loud music, and general disrespect for the mountain. I had a very quick turnaround, a photo at the summit post, and then immediately dropped back down a few hundred meters away from it all. It is so sad to see how people behave in such incredible environments. It’s bad enough that they treat these mountain passes like their own personal race track and how there are not more fatal accidents truly amazes me. In the 5 hours I was on the road I saw only 2 ambulances but at least 50 near misses.
Positively it was nice to see many roadies making their way up as well as a few idiots on real mountain bikes so it was not only me. But I think that I may have been the only one carrying a full chicken curry in his rucksack for lunch! And after thoroughly enjoying this feast I made my way back down but now wearing what looked like winter hiking gear except for the shorts. I am so glad I took everything with me as it was an absolutely freezing 28 km descent.
Getting back to the van and after 56km, 5:30 of riding, and an elevation gain of 1810 meters, I was good for nothing. But an incredible final day in the Italian Alps. Now I will make my way to Milan Airport to pick up my beautiful girl on her return from America so that we can head to France and finally be together again.
France here we come.
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