Cima Telegrafo cicloalp Edition

Cycloalpine version of the well-known Cima Telegrafo. Compared to the classic route that involves significant mileage (almost 60 km) with lots of asphalt, this version compresses the climb by eliminating much of the asphalt and allowing for quiet pedaling. The price you have to pay is 800 meters of elevation gain with bike on your back, which in my view is perfectly reasonable.

You park in Brentino where you can refuel with water in the upper part of the village, past the bridge over the creek you take an uphill path that in 5 minutes push takes you to the cement road coming from Castel. The climb is rather steep but after about 350 meters of elevation gain it becomes dirt and flattens out arriving at the beautiful basin of Pian di Festa. From here begins a dirt road that will be the hardest part of the climb because of the uneven ground that forces in the steepest parts short pushing sections to save your legs.

From Passo Crocetta a short descent leads us onto the asphalt road that first takes us to Novezzina and then to the Novezza ski lifts from which in just over a kilometer we arrive at the beginning of our trail. Now the bike passes on the back, the trail 652 to Rifugio Telegrafo does not allow pedaling and also pushing the bike is quite tiring. Having passed the junction with path 652, at the next fork we can continue traversing on 652, but I preferred to go straight up on the path to Cima Valdritta, which with a fairly easy path leads to the high path that is cyclable and allows us to reach the base of the summit pyramid of Cima Telegrafo. We abandon the wide path to follow the inviting and scenic ridge trail that in 100 meters of elevation gain brings us to the summit of Cima Telegrafo

Now the descent is familiar, the first part is a very bumpy trail with some very challenging stepped passages and rocky rises, then after the asphalt a section on dirt road and wide path leads to the Passo del Casello from where the very fun and fast Nature Trail begins. We retrace our descent down the dirt road of Pian di Festa until we take trail 660 that will take us to the Adige with a very nice path with hairpin bends on fixed rock but also stretches with loose ground and steps that require attention.