Mortirolo & Gavia

canoas

Travelling and staying in Lake Como, want to attempt the Mortirolo & Gavia start early morning. Planning to drive from Lake Como and park car in Tirano and go from there, don't have a GPS but will take a pocket map. Anyone done this? After the Mortirolo is it an easy route to the Gavia and back to Tirano. Or anyone have any suggestions! I need to leave the car somewhere, Tirano on the map looked a good start place.

Tirano>Mazzo>Mortirolo >ponte di Legno>Gavia back down to Legno down SS42 to Tirano

Fat Head

Try this report on Alan Nelson's great website, albeit starting in Bormio:

http://www.bikeit.eclipse.co.uk/bormio2008/rides/day2.htm

All The Gears

I went up the Mortirolo and Gavia at the end of June,but I was starting from Bormio.
We were lucky as the next day was the Granfondo and so plenty of signs to get us on the Mortirolo.We went up starting from Grosio,on the advice of a local.
The ride up was excellent really enjoyed it,if that's the right word !
The road was in great condition, narrow and tree lined which gave you some shade from the sun.
The ride down was a joy !
We rode onto Ponte di Legno and then up the Gavia.
We all found this a hard slog,especially after the Mortirolo.The intial ride up the Gavia is stunning,as you get higher up it becomes a bit more bleak,but again the views are great.
There was plenty of snow and ice at the top and it was quite cold.
The road down towards Bormio was quite poor,with lots of potholes,for the first couple of miles,after that it improves greatly.
Hope that's of use,if need anymore info let me know

rhnb

canoas wrote:

Tirano>Mazzo>Mortirolo >ponte di Legno>Gavia back down to Legno down SS42 to Tirano

That should be fine - time to get your legs warmed up from Tirano to Mazzo. Definitely do the climb from Mazzo if you can - by all accounts that's the 'proper' way (whatever that means ;-)

Just take care when you're descending from Bormio back to Tirano. You take a detour off the main road (SS38) onto the SP78 (off to the right just before the start of one of those horrendously long tunnels!). Can' remember whether it was signed (might have been Capina), but anyway, if you come to the mouth of the tunnel, brake, turn round and go back a few hundred metres - you've missed the turn off. We spotted it so it can't be that difficult.
Have a great time!

Cheeers... Allan.

canoas

What a massive day out in the saddle! I left my car in Mazzo di Valtellina next to a locals factory who spoke English and kindly let me park in his space. Set off on the bike around 8:15 after driving from Lake Como. The weather was cloudy and sunny around 23C, hot for the time of morning. The Mortirolo is much a tough climb as they say, it was steep the whole way, after passing the old castle/church its just steep till the top. Some sections my speed was 6-7 kmph. I had a 50-34 with a 12-27, I was basically in 25 or 27 the whole way. Reaching the Marco Pantani memorial was a relief more than anything, water and some photos. I saw only 1 cyclist an old guy on a mountain bike (maybe 60?). Fantastic climb, really feel a great deal of accomplishment 1852m up! The decent as you turn left to towards Monno, its drops to me about 15-20% nasty be careful, the decent is technical and the road surface to begin with isn't that great but improves. I enjoyed this decent very much. Finally reaching Monno, ciao to a seasoned local who liked he rode the Mortirolo on daily training session. After riding to Ponte de Legano my legs were hurting, the weather changed and it started spitting with rain. The Gavia turned out to be the hardest climb I've ever done, freezing rain, cold. Didn't see 1 cyclist for the last 10km in either direction, a tunnel about 3 km to the top was pitch black, I couldn't see hardly anything (no cars), I just somehow followed the white line. I finally arrived at the lone restaurant, cold wet, teeth chattering, fingers frozen. Then it started snowing which lasted about an hour, after coffee and cake, sitting next to the restaurant fire, 3 Spaniard cyclists arrived looking miserable also wet and frozen. After waiting for almost 90 mins for the snow to stop, I set out for the long decent, weather was better towards Bormio, I really enjoyed the ride, but the cold ruined things, my fingers were numb. After arriving in Bormio I followed the signs back to Mezzo di Valtellina, their was a tunnel closed to cyclists so I followed an old motorway route to begin with that was a ghost road for maybe 15km. Passing through small towns I finally arrived back to the car almost 7 hours later. What a ride! I was drinking local wine all night back in Lake Como. I experience I'll never forget.

canoas

My ride was Thursday 29th July....and thanks for the road tip Allan before the tunnel after departing Bormio for Mezzo , I saw the turn off (the road feels like an old A road that hadn't been touched in years, but in good condition)