Monte Grappa da Caupo

This is the 5th route up Monte Grappa I've tried, and the first ascending from the north.   This climb has a completely different character from the others.  The others cling to the cliffs along the southern escarpment, exposed to the sun.  This one is nice and shady, an important plus given the record-setting heat wave we've been enduring.  It helped that I started early, pedaling away from the car park in Fonzaso at 0630.  At the village of Caupo the climb begins.

The first third of this 28km climb is in lovely forest, long sweeping switchbacks rising to 1000 meters at an average gradient of 8%.  A great workout, and mostly free of the crazy gradients on the southern side.  Then the terrain changes, and you're traversing an undulating zone for 5 km.  It's a bit of a break, but it still rises generally with a constantly varying gradient to keep you on your toes. 

The final 8km are more familiar if you've climbed Monte Grappa before.  Treeless alpine grassland, exposed rock faces, steeper ramps.  It averages over 6%, with 170 vertical meters of counter-slopes and a few steep bits in the 16-17% range.  

Today clouds were blowing across the summit, rapidly changing from sun to white-out.  I apologize for the lack of photos- it was a tough day to take pictures.   The ride down was fun, especially the lower stack of switchbacks.  I will try this again- it's my favorite Grappa route so far.  

The Italian Ossuary at the summit

Memorial to the Partigiani, guerrillas who fought against the Fascists in WW II

La Vedetta da Possagno

Strada degli Alpini from Possagno is often called the toughest climb up Monte Grappa.  I've tried the other 3 eastern routes, so this one was next.  I warmed up from Pederobba, through Cavaso del Tomba and into Possagno (265m).  I turned right at the sign and headed up.  Not bad at first, 9-10%.  Then steeper and steeper.  I was doing pretty well until about 800 meters and the 18-22% stretches sent me into crisis.  I hung my head over the bars awhile and hyperventilated.  I walked some.  I rode a little.  Somehow I made it to the junction with the Passo del Tomba to Monte Grappa ridge road at 1067 meters.

I decided to keep going.  I've ridden this ridge road 3 times before and knew it was hard, but I'd survived it previously after hard climbs from Alano di Pieve and Cavaso del Tomba so thought I could do it.  Very slow grinding but I made it up the switchbacks and finally to La Vedetta dell'Archeson at 1469 meters.  Then I headed rack down.  Fun descent with lots of riders ascending from Passo del Tomba.  Then the plummet down to Possagno with hands cramped from clutching the brakes so long.  Saw only one rider on this stretch- he looked tired and was just getting started.

I will try this again someday on my mountain bike.  There are some interesting trails winding around the grassy slopes of Monte Archeson I'd love to explore.  

Turn right here at Possagno

Take this left 

Again take a left 

Don't turn left before this house, wait till after the danger sign

Asolo hills from 800-900 meters (while I was recovering)

Just below the junction with the ridge road

Turn left toward Cima del Grappa

Famous goat at the junction with Paderno del Grappa climb

Cima del Grappa (1732 m) site of Friday's cronoscalata finish

La Vedetta dell'Archeson chapel

The grassy hills seen from near La Vedetta

Below the Vedetta,with Malga Archeson upper left

"Bocca di Forca", below La Vedetta, is the cyclist nickname
for the climb from Possagno (I call it Strada degli Alpini)

Miniature Tower of Pisa in Possagno yard

Rival Eifel Tower in neighbor's yard

Temple (church) built by Possagno native sculptor Antonio Canava 1819 

Monte Grappa da Cavaso del Tomba

This is my 3rd ride up Monte Grappa (1732m), each time with a different route.  Today I started from Cavaso del Tomba, a few miles west of Pederobba.  This is the hardest route so far:  after a km or so of easy climbing it goes bizerk, scaling 3.5 km from 360 to 810 meters altitude, averaging 12.9%.  I stopped to put on a headsweat after the first 100 meters of this because sweat was suddenly raining into my eyes.  After that I kept rolling, though barely on the 17% ramps.  At 800 meters you resume easy climbing for a couple km, though my legs were so rubbery I could barely even ascend that.

Now I headed west a bit below the Monte Tomba ridge, soon joining the road coming up from Pederobba and then the road from Alano di Piave.  Here starts the toughest part of the dorsal road's Monte Grappa climb, 5 km averaging 11% up to Bocca di Forca at 1395m.  It very gradually gets steeper, then passes through a brief shady section to cool you off.   As soon as you exit the shade the road steepens, soon becoming a stack of switchbacks clinging to the cliff face.  Once you wobble past La Vedetta (1445m) things get better.  There's a pretty side valley, Val delle Mure, where you descend rolling hills to 1301m and then climb back out through some old WW 1 tunnels to a fantastic view of sheer cliffs above rugged valleys cascading down to the plain.  The remaining ascent crosses grassy meadows with more cycling roads ascending from all directions until the end of the road at 1732m, in the clouds.  You can walk from here up to the top of the ossuary war memorial, which I did last year.

Today instead I ate a piece of my neighbor Silvano's wonderful ciambella cake, then headed back down the way I'd come.  Fun ride.  My next ascent of Monte Grappa must be Strada degli Alpini from Possagno- I think I'll savor the anticipation of that until next year.

    

Pretty church at Pieve, Cavaso del Tomba

8-10% pendenza accentuate.   The highway dept guys must
love watching cyclists' expressions as they struggle up 17%

Famous goat atop Salto della Capra climb from Paderno

Monte Grappa seen from 1400 meters near La Vedetta 

Pink wildflowers atop Monte Grappa

Close up, with bees

Shady relief on the climb to Bocca di Forca 

Ah, fresh, cool air along a false flat

Break time over: now begin the stacks of tornanti

Monte Grappa da Alano di Piave

Monte Grappa has more optional routes than any climb I know.  There are so many possibilities they even have an event called Monte Grappa Challenge where people try to do 5 (or more)  different climbing routes in one day.  I climbed starting in Pederobba last year, so today just for fun I tried it from Alano di Piave.  I drove to Pederobba so I could get some flattish km in before the start.  Along the river at Fener, turn left toward Alano, head up the gentle climb through town, and follow the signs for Passo del Tomba or Monte Tomba.  This is a mostly shady climb up a forested gorge.  The worst stretch is 5km of average 10% gradient, which wore me out pretty good.  I caught up with another biker and commiserated about how hard it was and he said it was especially hard at age 72!  Ok, time for me to stop whining.

At 861meters you join the road  from Pederobba, along the ridge and across the flowered meadows of Passo del Tomba.  After some fairly easy ascending along a cliffside road, you reach a scalinata di tornanti exposed to the sun, gaining 253 meters in 2 km, for an average gradient of 12.65%.  I was in full vapor lock toward the end of this at 1174m, gasping and wobbling but I never stopped.  A brief false flat was followed by another ramp up to 1445 meters at La Vedetta.

Now a nice break, descending 10% slopes to Val delle Mure, a wonderful grassy valley with a herd of Holsteins drinking at their favorite pond then heading upward to graze.  Climbing out of here you pass through some World War I tunnels and more beautiful meadows.  After some cliffside riding you turn toward Monte Grappa and make the final push up to memorial at 1732m.  I parked my bike and walked up to the two massive ossuaries, interment of the remains of thousands of Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers killed during the endgame of the war.  

The descent is much easier of course, except the climb back up to La Vedetta from Val delle Mure.  I skipped the descent back to Alano, returning directly to Pederobba for the drive home.  And now the difficult task of choosing which of the routes to try next. 

Above Alano del Piave; they've included the
flat starting/ending sections in their calculation

From summit- looking down the route of the ascent from Nardo to north

From summit toward northwest

Westward view from summit

Looking down at the route I climbed

View east toward Val delle Mure

Beautiful rock formations above Valle San Liberale

Wild boar round up tomorrow morning

Counterclockwise ride

The climb from Passo del Tomba to summit

Close up of scalinata di tornanti of death

2 km of 12.65% average gradient 

Note the amount of gradient above 10% for almost 3km

Monte Grappa da Pederobba

After reading about Monte Grappa on Italian Cycling Journal and www.cycloclimbing.com I got curious and decided to check it out.  The closest climb I've done previously was Valdobbiadene to Rifugio Mariech (1510m) on Monte Cesen.  So I thought I'd ride from Valdobbiadene to nearby Pederobba and start the climb there.

Left home at 5:30 AM and arrived in Valdobbiadene a couple hours later.  I noticed the signs weren't too clear on which way to go, so I decided to drive to find the way, rather than getting lost on the bike.  After driving around aimlessly awhile, I saw a road for Padova which crossed the Piave River so I took that. Luckily this went through Pederobba, so I parked and started the climb.

This is an odd climb because it's actually 3 climbs strung together.  The first, from Pederobba (213m) to Passo del Tomba (861m), ascends 11 tornanti through cool shady forest.  The average grade on the tornanti section is about 9%, with 3 steep ramps in a row near the top, one at 18%.   This ends in a natural meadowy area at the passo (grazing is forbidden, so lots of wildflowers), with some gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside.  The view ahead was more troubling- the second climb up the slopes of Bocca di Forca and Monte Palon to La Vedetta at 1445 meters.

After a short descent you begin 5km of tornanti averaging 11%, with stretches of 15-16%.  It's mostly exposed to the sun, so it would be very hot later in the day in summer.  This is the hardest part of the climb.  Eventually the gradient eases a bit, with fantastic views down the sheer slopes to the pianura.  The cliff walls along the road have dozens of tunnel openings, which seem to lead upward to fortifications along the cliff tops.

Now another descent carries you away from the cliffs to an area of lovely rolling meadows, Pian della Bala (1300m), surrounded by mountains.  I was lucky and managed to traverse the lane before a herd of Holsteins wearing bells crossed on their way to pasture.  Dozens (hundreds?) of cowbells ringing in unison sounded like a large gamelan orchestra.  I will try to record this with my camera next time- really striking.

The mountain lane winds through an area with many World War I landmarks and hikers exploring them.  Now it traverses cliffs above heavily eroded slopes, then climbs more tornanti up the final push to Monte Grappa, at 1732 meters.  This section has an overall gentle average grade of 5.5%, but the steepness is skewed toward the final 3.3 km, which averages 10%.  At the top clouds were swirling, the huge WW I monuments silent in the cold wind.  I donned my windjacket and photographed some of the spectacular scenery.

The descent was fun- a welcome rest after all the grappling.  I had to re-ascend the 10% grade from Pian della Bala back up to Monte Palon,  but it wasn't that bad.  Reached the car again about 4 hours after starting, including stops to take pictures.  

I would definitely recommend this climb.  The scenery is wonderful and constantly changing- from dense spruce forest to rocky cliffsides, verdant alpine meadows, and finally a stark, windy summit.  All of this interspersed with dozens of historical sites from World War I.  Really fantastic ride. 

Monte Palon ascent (1445m) looming ahead from Passo Tomba (861m)

Colline Asolane rise from the plain south of Passo Tomba 

The slope of Monte Palon with tornanti

 Dolomiti Bellunese to the north 

Goat sign at junction with climb from Paderno del Grappa
(Salto della Capra)

WW I memorial at summit

Ossuary with remains of the fallen from the battles on Monte Grappa

View of the beautiful alpine meadows of Pian della Bala

Cool peaceful spruce forest on the tornanti of
Passo Tomba

9% average grade on tornanti climbing to Passo Tomba

11% average on the tough tornanti up Monte Palon

Easy average grade on climb to Monte Grappa,
but the top 3 km are 10%

Some of the steep 16-18% stretches

Aerial view of the climb

The beginning- from Pederobba up Monfenera to Passo Tomba

Passo Tomba meadows and the first series of tornanti up Bocca di Forca

Traverse of Monte Palon to La Vedetta (1445m)

Beautiful alpine meadows of Pian della Bala

The windblown expanse of Monte Grappa's summit (1732m)