Cansiglio, Pizzoc e discesa sul 980

NOTE: The 5-star difficulty is dictated by the final descent on Trail No. 980 "dell'Agnelezze," which is pure alpine in character. My partner and I, both with decent handlebars and good downhill experience, tackled it on full 120mm bikes.

Departing from Fregona, the road is immediately uphill as we aim for the villages of Sonego and Borgo Piai; as we proceed, the gradients get tougher until we come out at Le Briglie (elevation 580 meters) where a clearing allows us to catch our breath in view of the next long ascent along Via del Santo. The climb is quite challenging, with gradients that become steeper after the capitol of S. Antonio at an altitude of 950 meters, with stretches over 20 percent; the last ramps lead out of the woods until reaching the capitol of S.Floriano (altitude 1180 meters).

At Cadolten locality (forest house) turn right towards malga Coro, pass a couple of bars to reach the first GPM at an altitude of 1300 meters to then descend to Pian dell'Erba locality. In the next cemented downhill section, watch out for the sudden right turn, which allows you to take a nice path (a few steps on foot are necessary to overcome a couple of roughnesses) that is slightly more technical in places and arrives directly behind the Crosetta pass (1130 meters), where you can stock up on water at the fountain on the right.

Now proceed for 500 linear meters on asphalt and then deviate to the right at the barrier and follow a stretch of forestry on the Cansiglio ring, until you meet on the left the entrance to the Slipari trail, into which you obviously jump without hesitation. A fast and technical mixed descent on a carpet of leaves, in the last meters it becomes more dug in and requires a little more attention. The trail ends near the well-known Bus de la Lum (a well of karst origin, of historical interest), which you leave on the left to proceed on another path in the woods where there is no shortage of roots, stones, ramps and short, bumpy descents. We proceed to the Cansiglio botanical garden then, via a paved section, to Pian Osteria and then quickly downhill to Valmenera, with a minimum altitude of 920meters.

An easy ascent on forestry now awaits us toward Pian Rosada, where we cross the paved link leading to the Cimbrian village of Campon (a fountain is present), which is reached via a short dirt detour. From Campon proceed smoothly in the direction of Palughetto, then up a steady 2 km climb (a couple of ramps present) on via Pianture, to join the Taffarel forest road. In a continuous up and down that is never challenging, after 10km it ends at the asphalt climb to Mount Pizzoc. Obviously, you proceed uphill until you reach the 1550-meter plateau above the Vittorio Veneto refuge.

Descending to the refuge via a couple of technical sections (pay attention to the second, more exposed one), you aim for the small peak on the right of the refuge and then reach the monument to the volunteers on the plateau a little further on. Here begins the descent on trail No. 980 "dell'Agnelezze," the real reason you came up this far. The trail is VERY challenging, alpine in character and enduro style: high gradient, firm or slippery mixed terrain, continuous obligatory passages between boulders and stones, natural steps, will test your legs, arms and head.

At an altitude of 1,000 meters, shortly after entering the woods, some rock jumps and narrow passages force you to walk down a few dozen meters; some big steps finally lead to the cave of Madonna dell'Agnelezze, where just below you resume riding down on a now much smoother trail. The descent on 980 ends at the junction with the forestry road at an altitude of 740 meters, where you descend to the left to return to the Briglie parking lot (580 meters) and retrace the stretch covered on the way up to Fregona.