Passo Gardena (from Corvara)
Climb · Dolomites
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Passo Gardena (from Corvara) is a 9.1 km cycling climb averaging 6.6% (+598 m), rising from 1522 m to 2120 m in Dolomites.
9.1 km · +598 m · 6.6% avg · ~10.5% max · 1522 → 2120 m · 16 hairpins
Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.
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Gradient by colour: ● <3% ● 3–6% ● 6–9% ● 9%+
Where it bites
Steepest 500 m: 10.5% (km 6.8–7.2).
| km | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1549 m | 2.9% |
| 2 | 1625 m | 7.5% |
| 3 | 1689 m | 6.5% |
| 4 | 1758 m | 6.7% |
| 5 | 1847 m | 8.4% |
| 6 | 1904 m | 6.0% |
| 7 | 1970 m | 6.4% |
| 8 | 2044 m | 7.9% |
| 9 | 2115 m | 6.8% |
What it’s like to ride
The road leaves Corvara with one gentle kilometre, then hardens to 8-9% on the way to Colfosco, where the village fountain is the last water before the top. Past Colfosco the hairpins begin, seventeen of them, with the straights between the corners sitting at 8-11% and the ramps out of the bends going over 10% in the final three and a half kilometres; the gaps between turns keep shrinking, so you spend the upper half looking at the switchbacks stacked above you. The Sella walls stand vertically on one side and the Cir spires close in on the other, and the payoff lands exactly at the pass sign at 2,121 m, where the Sassolungo/Langkofel group opens up all at once on the far side. Hotels and a refuge sit at the summit with a bar and a sun terrace, plus the small Capela de San Mauriz chapel from 2004, so a coffee before the descent is easy. Traffic is real here, cars and motorbikes both, with the midday lull the quieter window, and in spring the surface can be broken by winter landslides, which matters far more going down than going up.
History
No vehicle road crossed the pass until 1915, when one was cut during the First World War for front supply: material came from Bolzano up Val Gardena by narrow-gauge railway to Plan, then over the Grödner Joch to Corvara and on toward the front near Arabba. The asphalted pass road, today's SS 243, only dates from 1960, built as the Dolomites became a tourist region. The Giro d'Italia took this side on stage 18 of the 2017 race, Moena to Ortisei, where the Gardena was rated at 9.3 km and 6.4% and came after the Passo Valparola; Tejay van Garderen won the stage in Ortisei. The Corvara approach is also the one ridden on the Sellaronda Bike Day, in its 20th edition in 2026, when all four passes around the Sella close to motor traffic from 8.30 to 16.00 and everyone rides the loop counterclockwise.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Dolomites
Common questions
- How long and steep is Passo Gardena (from Corvara)?
- Passo Gardena (from Corvara) is a 9.1 km cycling climb averaging 6.6% (+598 m), rising from 1522 m to 2120 m in Dolomites.
- Where is Passo Gardena (from Corvara) steepest?
- The steepest 500 m averages 10.5%, between km 6.8 and km 7.2 of the climb.
- How many hairpins does Passo Gardena (from Corvara) have?
- Passo Gardena (from Corvara) has 16 hairpin bends, counted from the road's map geometry (a hairpin here means at least 150 degrees of turning completed within 150 metres of road). Painted corner numbers on some climbs count gentler bends too, so the two figures can differ.