Pass Portrait _ Gardena Pass
From Plan de Grabla the road now heads to the Gardena Pass, the third station of the Sella circuit at an altitude of 2,121 metres.
People were already moving throughout this region more than 9,000 years ago – but the Stone Age trekkers obviously didn’t take nature conservation very seriously: as evidenced by scattered animal bones and old flint stones on the pass – the remains of their prehistoric snacks. But it would be quite some time before travellers would find a home and hearth up here in true South Tyrolean style. Only in the late 19th century, thanks to the efforts of the Alpine Club, was the Passo Gardena hospice built.
With the outbreak of war between Italy and the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, construction finally began in 1915 on a narrow-gauge railway in order to supply the troops on the mountain. In unimaginably harsh conditions, hampered by blizzards, engineers and labourers carved the 44-kilometre long Val Gardena railway into the mountain. For a time, the trains even ran every minute. After the war, the light railway continued to run for many decades. The road, too, was built during World War I, as a supply route to the Dolomite front. The passage, however, was only paved in 1960, making it more attractive for the more cautious Alpine motorists.
It is a spectacular drive; nowhere else on this stage can you get closer to the sheer craggy rock walls of the Sella group. Coming from Gardena Valley, the road flows leisurely upwards in rhythmic esses, with the flank of the Langkofel in the rearview mirror, the Rotspitze and Tschierspitze looming on the left, and the Col straight ahead. At the top of the pass to the east we are treated to a particularly stunning view over the Passo di Valparola to Passo di Falzarego, and to the Tofana group on the horizon.
Through 17 tight hairpins – guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of every bend buff – the road finally sweeps down the steep rocky walls of the Murfreit tower and Murfreit group of peaks, and further into the peaceful village of Corvara in Val Badia. From here, the road forks off to the south, up to the comparatively low Campolungo Pass at 1,875 metres. We skip the fourth and least-impressive pass of the Sella Ronde, and instead turn to the northeast, over the Valparola Pass and the ruggedly wild region of Tra i Sassi – Ladin for »between the rocks« – and head to Falzarego Pass.
(C) Stefan Bogner, Text: Jan Baedeker
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Comments (9)
How about the Transfagarisan?
Come and visit Slovakia. We have all roads like these passes + many passes for your love of passes.
this summer :)
wow...amazing. Anyone got a suggested route?
On my list!!