Gavia-Mortirolo Loop

When we arrived in Bormio two weeks ago, Passo Gavia was closed.  We nonetheless rode an out-and-back trip to the famous Mortirolo, and had another couple of great rides.  Our intended drive over the Stelvio was stymied by a Gran Fondo, but by that time the Gavia was open, and we drove that instead.

As we prepared to leave the Monte Grappa area, I didn't deliberately book accommodation at the bottom of the Gavia-Mortirolo loop, but once we found ourselves in Edolo, and I began looking at ride options, that's exactly what I discovered.

With June 21st being Mum's 75th birthday, I figured that wasn't a day to ride a 120km loop with two gigantic mountain passes in it, so the morning prior, we had a big breakfast, suited up, and rolled out. 

I'd debated starting with the Mortirolo, but I was nervous about the long uphill drag into Bormio, and then Passo Gavia itself, so decided to do the loop in the very un-Buddhist anticlockwise direction. 

We left Edolo through a short one-ish lane tunnel, before beginning the 20km climb up the valley to Ponte di Legno.

Leaving Edolo

Work on a cycleway up the valley is in progress, and while a section near Edolo isn't yet completed, we were able to get off the main road after about 7km.  Not before we'd passed the bottom of the descent off the Mortirolo, which I pointed out to Sarah as we rode by.

I was confident the cycleway would have a number of endearing features:  no traffic, lower gradients, and shade, and indeed these were all true to form.  To achieve these, we probably added a kilometre or two to the ride distance, and we bypassed all the towns so were not lured into any coffee stops.  

I was well and truly ready for second breakfast by the time we reached Ponte di Legno, and that probably affected my ability to efficiently find somewhere to stop.  Once we'd settled, we inhaled a ham and cheese toastie each, and due cappucini, and then it was time to crack into the climb proper.  

I'd not mapped the cycleway, so had quit out of the course on my GPS.  Not restarting it and then following driving directions to Passo Gavia had us do an unnecessary loop around the town, with the very tenuous silver lining being a 2 minute descent into the base of the climb.

We were deep in MTB territory, and there were many signposted routes around.  The road we'd taken in the car went over Passo Tonale, into Val di Sole, where the MTB World Cup round is on as I type.  

The climb was being well used by road cyclists, with a curious feature being that the majority we saw were women.   After mimicking a couple at a fountain - where the man's apparent job was to tip cold water over his woman-friend - I set off just behind a trio of women who were in light-weight touring mode.  

It was really nice to be riding road that was somewhat familiar, and I recognised many elements of the road from our drive.  On the other hand, it was nice not to be fixated on the road itself, and nervous about meeting oncoming traffic, and instead I was able to enjoy the absolutely  majestic surroundings. 

Especially impressive was a stream across the valley, which seemed to be running down a ridge, having carved out a small gully for itself.  Unusual, and very cool.   

I'd been swapping positions with the leading two women from the trio - I'd initially passed all three of them, but by virtue of my photo stops, and their lack thereof, I was riding in third wheel when I arrived at a tunnel a few kilometres below the pass.  I decided to stop there and wait for Sarah.

Bypassing the tunnel was an old road, and I sat at the very end of a rock retaining wall, and soaked in exquisite scenery while waiting.  

The majority of cyclists were using the tunnel, but I did see one roadie take the old road on foot, and a couple of mountain bikers came down it, no doubt enjoying their vehicle choice.  When Sarah arrived, we decided we too would check out the road, but realised it was mostly going to be hike-a-bike.  

Passage on foot gave us a good chance to see what we were passing, and this included a few memorials, including one for a group that had lost their lives when their vehicle had lost the road.  

Sarah managed to ride more than I did, and we were soon back on the road.

By this stage, we were well above 2000m, and we passed a few remnants of snow.  I asked Sarah to rest on one, figuring it would both make for a fun photo, but also serve to cool her down a bit!

We had another couple of kilometres to reach the pass itself, and I made good use of my early arrival by ordering some coffee and cake to celebrate Sarah's arrival.  I did buy a cute but outrageously priced Passo Gavia memento, but drew the line at a lederhosen skinsuit...

The air was warm still, and we decided to try the descent to Bormio without wrapping up.  It was amazing to see the lake we'd stopped at with mum, now completely devoid of ice.  

What a difference two weeks made, as is evident from these before and after shots taken from roughly the same spot:

8 June 2025

20 June 2025

The descent towards Bormio was about as nice to ride as it had been to drive up - very pleasant indeed.  I had a hankering for some gelato, but as we approached Bormio, Sarah seemed to have flicked a switch somewhere in her brain that meant she was done with riding.  In a fluster, I completely bypassed the town, so to add insult to injury, there was no icecream to fuel our 25km down-valley run to the base of the Mortirolo.

I certainly could have done with it, and as we battled one of the few literal headwinds we've had, we were also battling an even more significant figurative one.  We stopped many times, during which I failed to ply half a banana into Sarah, noted that if she stopped to wait for a pick up, she'd be waiting about 4 hours, and had generally a miserable time.  

Eventually we reached the base of the climb, on the route we'd descended in our earlier ride.  There was signage every half a kilometre, which kindly reported progress and warned about the average and maximum gradients in the next stretch.  

Had I been alone, it would have been one of the nicer climbs of the trip - the gradient was generally surprisingly mellow, the road surface was top notch (presumably thanks to the road featuring in Stage 17 of this year's Giro), and for a decent chunk of it, we were in the shade.  

I waited for Sarah for a while at the intersection with our climbing route, just over 3km from the top.  There, I was intrigued to notice something that had slipped my attention earlier, which was that motorised vehicles all had to descend on the road we'd just come up.  Which, given the width of the road, was probably a good call!

From the intersection, we were stuck with the style of the signage on the other route, namely, the distance and gradient until the next switchback!  I have to admit, I preferred the 500m updates!

I waited again at the pass, and had Sarah's jacket ready for her when she arrived.  I'd been giving Mum updates, and I reported relief that the forecast thunderstorm had not yet materialised.  The mountain pass would have been an uncomfortable place to be with lightning pinging off around you.

The descent back to Edolo was nice, and we passed a few restaurants serving gaggles of motorcyclists, and then rode through the town of Monno, a few minutes above the main valley road, which returned us to Edolo. 

Mum was waiting patiently for us, and as we hoed into a bag of chippies, and sliced tomato and mozzarella, we realised we had enough food for a picnic dinner.  We hadn't exactly ended our riding on a high note, but it was nonetheless nice to have ridden this classic loop.  

Stats:  123km ridden, 3170m climbed over a 10 hour duration...  

Postscript

I couldn't let that ride be my last on this incredible trip, so the next morning headed out on a "short" 45km loop.  A few kilometres from Edolo, I turned onto an unheralded climb up to the ridge southwest of Passo Mortirolo.  

Three switchbacks from the valley road, I got a whiff of what I was in for...

The road was indeed brutally steep in parts, though generally had opportunities for respite as well.  I stopped a few times for photos, and another few to catch my breath.  

Eventually, I'd broken the back of the climb, and pretty much drained any residual power out of my legs.  An intersection with a road from Passo Mortirolo heralded the start of a nice flat section, during which time my energy levels slowly returned.  

I was surprised to find myself riding into a cute valley and had to ride between a tractor and its mower which was tending to the uphill verge.  

Then came a steep descent into Aprica.  If I'd gone straight ahead, I'd have eventually found myself at the northern tip of Lake Como!  After faffing around in a futile search for a pick-me-up, I hooned back down the valley to Sarah and the birthday girl, finding them both finishing up their midday Aperol Spritzes at a nearby bar.  Pooped, I was nonetheless glad to have gotten out.

Stats:  48km ridden, including a 900vm stretch at an average gradient of 10.5%.  Beastly, in a good way.