Monte Rest Dec 2011

A frigid sunny winter morning- perfect for one last climb up Monte Rest. Easy warm-up through Meduno to Tramonti di Sopra, and commenced to climb. It's a wonderful road, with stacks of switchbacks, streams, waterfalls, and the enormous cliffs of Monte Rest looming above.

The pass was marked Closed on signs at Meduno and Tramonti, but road conditions were perfect up to 975m. Here ice on the road became too pervasive to climb safely with a road bike. The ice appeared to have repeatedly melted and refrozen at night. I turned around and descended. Clouds had moved in and obscured the sun, resulting in half-frozen fingers. Luckily they thawed out on the flattish ride home. I arrived just in time to take the dogs on a walk in the woods, which helped get the lactic acid out of my legs.

Beautiful snow-capped Monte Rest (1780m);
the distinctive peak is visible even from Pordenone

Monte Valcalda (1908m) from Tramonti di Sopra

I made it up this icy stretch to 975m

Decided it wasn't safe to continue on 23mm slicks