June 16, 2025
Bormio - Over the Big Bump
The big day of this tour has finally arrived. The fully loaded ascent and descent of the Passo Stelvio. In the past few days, it seemed like it was all coming too fast, but now it’s here… in our faces. No more niggling thoughts, no more rest or preparation to do, it’s our task for the day and we are ready for it.
The idea of riding the Stelvio Pass was cemented last year when we decided we would tackle the Dolomites before our clocks ran out. Over the years, we had read Cycleblaze journals of Stelvio rides from Jacquie and Al, Kathleen and Keith, Patrick and Susannah and most recently, Lyle and Kirsten. And, I’d mentioned a year ago, while touring in Spain, that we’d ridden many famous cols, but not the Stelvio. So, you could say that Stelvio been incubating for quite awhile and, well, here we are. The mountain looms over us now, in Prato allo Stelvio.
I have to say that any climb of similar magnitude requires a certain mindset, and hence, mental incubation. Without it, I doubt such a climb would be possible. I’d experienced some unusual hyperventilation episodes earlier in the trip that left a slight ding in my confidence but that all subsided after the rest days in Corvara. We are both ready for this adventure.
We have been watching the weather forecasts for the past week, in hopes of good climbing conditions. Which means, not too warm, not too wet and not too windy. We nailed it on all three! Thank you, mother nature.
The plan was to get in the road by 8:30am, no dithering around this morning. I’d mentally calculated how long it would take to make the summit and it was a big number. I actually needed to do this so I could tell our hotel in Bormio when we would arrive. In any event, it’s best to forget that and just ride.
As we were about to depart, we met a solo cyclist who was on his way for a leisurely ride to Merano and back today. He rode the pass twice yesterday, just for fun and left us with the most uplifting message.: you chose the right day, just take your time, enjoy the incredible views and most of all, enjoy the ride. It’s just what we needed to hear.
We both have Wahoo Element Roam V2 cycle GPS devices mounted in our handlebars and these convey the lay of the land in two ways. You can watch the colour of the routing arrows to determine the severity of the upcoming grades or you can see a graph, much like the one below, but in much more detail. It shows your location in a coloured bar graph as you plod slowly uphill. These newfangled devices also tell you how many climbs there are over the course of the route and how much elevation remains to reach the summit. Today’s route was simple: it had one summit and there was 1837m remaining as we left the hotel in Prato allo Stelvio.
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The Stelvio route has two major sections, the lower treed section and the upper hairpins across the barren mountainside. The lower section parallels the Rio Solda and today, it was a rushing torrent. As we rode past, we’d get blasts of cold air on the outer bends in the road. Then it returned to the moderate 11 degrees. As we gained elevation the temperature gradually dropped.
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We were almost the only riders on the road at the early stages. It was very pleasant riding. Shortly, the road narrowed and the bike lane ended. We had just a few cars and motorcycles to share the road with. For the non-cuclist readers, the name of the game here is to find a sustainable effort and hold that for as long as you can, adjusting gears and cadence as needed. As I rode along, I mused that the only things slower than me were the slugs slithering across the road. Even with a slow pace, the breath runs out and it’s time for a rest. A minute or two is all it takes, and you’re back at it.
As the valley narrowed ahead of us, raindrops began to fall. They were light and tolerable, until they weren’t. At that point, we found a bus shelter to pull out some rain gear and put on our pannier covers. We rode along for a while and once the sweat could no longer evaporate, the chills started and I knew it was time for a fresh dry top. Off with the jersey, on with the long sleeved turtleneck and back on went the sopping wet jersey. With arm warmers and a rain jacket to top it off, and I was all set to go again. The rain stopped after about 20 minutes.
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This road happens to be the highest driveable road in Italy at 2759m and the second highest in Europe. It was built for economic reasons, that is to facilitate trade and to establish a link between the Austrian empire and the Lombardy region of Italy. It boggles the mind to think of the people who designed and built it between 1820 and 1825. The Stelvio’s bi-centenniary will be celebrated in July of this year.
As we gained elevation, focussing on the work took over our thoughts. Photographing it dropped off. We counted off the numbered turns, each one being a notch closer to the summit.
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https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/950603-Anemonoides-nemorosa
Yellow are buttercups of some kind.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1567664-Polyanthemos/browse_photos?place_id=6753
Blue are forget me nots.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49131-Myosotis/browse_photos
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It was essential to keep a rhythm going as long as possible so we stopped only as needed. That was mainly at the hairpin bends in the road where we could keep clear of the cars and motos. Stopping elsewhere meant it was nearly impossible to start pedalling again… it was just too steep. I commented to David that it always seemed cold whenever we stopped on the east hairpins and he replied, “look behind you”. There was a huge mound of snow! That explained it.
When the marmots came out to greet us, we snapped out of our mental bubbles. There were three of them, living in the rock crevices of the high walled embankments. They weren’t bothered by us at all. One of them stretched its body out of the crevice and did an up-dog yoga move, while watching us, just like our JR Tashi does every morning.
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I secretly hoped the grade would ease for the final onslaught after turn #1, but no such luck. We both crossed the apex together as others congratulated us. We’d received lots of comments from other cyclists along the way, saying ‘respect’ to us. It was such a spirit of camaraderie on the hill today. Even passengers in cars have us high fives.
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Multiple chapeaux 🎩 chapeaux 🧢 chapeaux 👒 to you both!! 🙌👍
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We parked and then headed for the sausage vendors for a warm snack as we were cooling down rapidly. But first, we pulled out the cold weather gear we’ve been hauling around and started layering up. On went the leg warmers, the buff, the second jacket, the booties and the long fingered gloves. David pulled in his wool top and another jacket, booties, wind pants and long fingered gloves.
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We didn’t hang around too long as we had another job to do, namely descend to Bormio. Our fingers were almost numb, so not so many pictures were taken on the way down. Besides, we were soaring downhill at a good clip.
There are several snowsheds and tunnels on the way down the hill. Unfortunately for the driver of a delivery truck, the tunnels were not sufficiently tall for his van to fit! He discovered it just in the nick of time and had to back up. We cruised past when the clog of cars cleared and sailed on downhill, right into Bormio and our hotel by the river.
We were both stoked to have experienced the Passo Stelvio and celebrated with a beer in the outdoor patio. After a snooze and a stroll, we headed to a steakhouse for dinner to cap off a memorable day.
Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 711 km (442 miles)
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