CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
255 km from Nova Levante to Nova Levante, about 5 h 57 of riding. The stops in between: Rio delle Foglie, Marmolada and back through Rio delle Foglie. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 46 km this is Great Dolomites Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Watch the Rosengarten at sunset from the valley of Bolzano and you will understand the legend. As the sun goes down, the pale dolomite peaks glow pink, then red, then purple, a phenomenon the Ladin people call enrosadira. According to the old story, King Laurin of the dwarves had a magnificent rose garden here, and when he was captured by enemies who had spotted his roses, he cursed the garden so that no one would see it by day or by night. He forgot the twilight, and so, for a few minutes each evening, the roses bloom again on the rocks. Together with the Sciliar, or Schlern, the great flat-topped massif to the north, the Catinaccio forms one of the components of the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage site, listed in 2009.
Read the complete Sciliar-Catinaccio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sciliar-Catinaccio is where the day begins. Next is Rio delle Foglie.
Rio delle Foglie is the Italian name for the Bletterbach, a gorge that cuts deep into the plateau above the Adige valley, south of Bolzano, near the villages of Aldino and Redagno. It is part of the Dolomites World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2009, and it is one of the best places in the Alps to read the history of the Earth in rock. The stream has carved down through hundreds of metres of layers, from volcanic porphyry at the bottom through red sandstones to the white dolomite of the Corno Bianco at the top, spanning tens of millions of years.
Read the complete Rio delle Foglie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rio delle Foglie comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Marmolada.
The Queen of the Dolomites, they call her, and the Marmolada earns the title: at 3,343 metres, Punta Penia is the highest summit of the range, and its northern flank carries the largest glacier in the Dolomites, while the south face drops away as a sheer wall of pale limestone. That glacier is shrinking fast, and in July 2022 a large section of it collapsed, killing eleven climbers, a tragedy that brought the effects of climate change home to everyone who loves these mountains.
Read the complete Marmolada write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach Marmolada. Next is back through Rio delle Foglie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rio delle Foglie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rio delle Foglie, late in the day. Next is Sciliar-Catinaccio.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sciliar-Catinaccio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Sciliar-Catinaccio. That is the ride.
Sciliar-Catinaccio → Rio delle Foglie is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rio delle Foglie → Marmolada is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Marmolada → back through Rio delle Foglie is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rio delle Foglie → Sciliar-Catinaccio is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.