Pale di San Martino Loop

Pale di San Martino (2982m) first caught my eye while descending Passo Duron toward Agordo last year.  With its spires and towers and sheer cliffs it seemed like a craggy castle from Lord of the Rings floating in the sky above Agordo.  Then I read several accounts of rides around the Pale, similar to Sella Ronda's circling around Gruppo Sella.  When I looked closer at the climbs I realized riding it clockwise would be easier than counterclockwise, so I chose the easy route.

I started by warming up from Cencenighe (774m) toward Agordo.  The long busy Listolade tunnel is on the route, but they've retained the original road along the river bypassing the tunnel (just watch for falling rocks).  At Agordo (611m) turn right toward Passo Cereda.  You're going to Forcella Aurine first, but the 2 passes are close together, like Falzarego and Valparola, so they just list one.  The climb is very gentle and an excellent warm up.  Gorgeous views of little villages with flowers in window boxes, rolling green meadows, and towers of the Pale high above.  Clouds were already forming around the peaks so didn't get many pictures.

After Forcella Aurine (1299m) you descend briefly and continue along false flats to the start of the climb to Passo Cereda.  This one was a bit steeper, but still not bad.  After the pass (1369m)  a steep curvy descent toward Fiera di Primiero, with great panoramas of Vetta Feltrine across the valley.

At Fiera di Primiero (716m) turn right toward Passo Rolle.  This was the longest continuous climb I recall ever doing- 22km.  The gradient is easy (averaging 5.6%) but the unending effort is quite tiring.  Traffic was pretty heavy until San Martino di Castrozza (1452m), but luckily most people stay in these tourist centers, leaving the mountain roads to the rest of us.  I had a flat tire here, which was both annoying and restful at the same time.  Around 1800m the beautiful spruce forest thins out and soon you're climbing a stack of switchbacks up a grassy bald (1973m).  Wanted to take a foto of the Swiss  cows (with bells) munching on the grass and multicolored wildflowers but worried I would spook the cows being so close.

Great looping switchback descent, soon returning to spruce forest with white water streams.  Take another right at the Passo Valles sign (1552m) and begin a gradual climb through wonderful Parco Paneveggio (see http://www.parcopan.org/it/gallery.html) .  This would be a great place to picnic, walk along white water streams, etc.  After 3 peaceful km the inevitable steepness begins, never extreme but much 9-12%.  Again you exit the forest and enter the treeless pass area, topping out at 2033m.  Now begins the long descent, first steep and fast (85kph) to the junction with San Pellegrino climb, then down to Falcade and eventually Cencenighe.  There's another long fairly busy tunnel (galleria le Anime) just above Cencenighe, but I used the old road bypass along Torrente Cordevole, like last year.  It also has a shorter, carless tunnel, which they've now installed lights in for hikers, bikers.  This is great because last year I was terrified riding through the blackness here (you couldn't see daylight from the tunnel entrance or exit because of curves).

Great ride, though tiring.  Now I've got to build the endurance to climb it counterclockwise.    

Farmhouse on road to Forcella Aurine,
with Pale di San Martino above

Vetta Feltrine (2334m) mountain range above Fiera di Primiero

Southern end of Pale di San Martino above Passo Cereda

Grassy bald of Passo Rolle

Shrinking glaciers of Pale di San Martino, smaller every year for decades.
Continued global warming will likely eradicate them soon.

Torrente Travignolo in Parco Paneveggio

Cloudy spires of the Pale from Falcade

Passo San Pellegrino - Passo Valles

Passo San Pellegrino is on the western border of Belluno province and Trentino Alto Adige.  It's a longish pass, starting at Cencenighe Agordino (774m) and climbing 18 km to San Pellegrino at 1918m.

At the start there is a long tunnel "delle Anime," which is narrow (given the trucks and buses that traverse it), poorly lit, and runs steeply upward for 1140m.  So I opted to follow the advice of the Ediciclo guide and bypass the tunnel using the old road along the river, which has a shorter, unlit tunnel of its own.  At first there were lunettes allowing natural light in, but these stopped after awhile, and a curve in the tunnel behind left me completely in the dark.  I stopped for a moment so my eyes could adjust, and then I could make out a faint glow far ahead.  I rode slowly toward it, and as the tunnel continued to turn, I eventually could see the opening at the far end.  I need to get a tiny headlight for these occasions.

It's a nice climb up the valley through the little towns of Canale d'Agordo, Falcade, and Falcade Alto.  After these the road heads into dense spruce forest with a series of short steep switchbacks, increasingly more difficult until you hit a healthy stretch of 18%.  After that the gradient mellows to 8-10% until the passo.

The passo is a lovely meadow area , though there are numerous ski lift operations and tourist places along the road.  I found a little side road marked Rifugio Cima Uomo and rode into the pretty meadows a bit- very nice once you get away from the main road.

Returning to the main road, I coasted down the hill until 1400 meters, and then on an impulse turned uphill toward Passo Valles.  I had no idea how far away this was nor how high, but thought I'd climb till I was tired.  The pass turned out to be about 7 km away, and 2032 meters high.  The meadows here were even more spectacular, stretching for miles.

Now I was tired and coasted back down the hill to Cencenighe Agordino.  It was much warmer when I arrived down there around noon (in the high 30's).  These are wonderful climbs in great scenery- try them if you're in the area.

Note: installed a new Michelin Lithion 2 tire on the back wheel yesterday before the ride.  The previous Krylion (installed January 2011) was worn down to the threads almost all the way round the circumference.  Decathlon was out of Krylions (which rode well and resisted punctures), but had Lithion and Vittoria (can't remember the model but they had red tread).  Will see how long these last.

West from Passo San Pellegrino toward Moena

Mountain ridge to north of Passo San Pellegrino

Wildflowers along the descent

Close up of wildflowers

The meadows to east of Passo Valles

Rocky peak above the meadows

The thinning forest transitions to grassland

View to southeast from Passo Valles

Falcade and Falcade Alto from the Passo Valles climb

Falcade close up

GPS track of climbs

Altimetria Passo San Pellegrino

Altimetria Passo Valles