Pale di San Martino e discesa in Val Gares

Fabulous itinerary in the moonscape of the Pale (we ascend by Rosetta cable car); beautiful and challenging trail down to Val Gares; to avoid part of Passo Valles we take a second cable car; scenically remarkable also the return from Val Venegia to Baita Segantini.

Start at the Eden camnpeggio in Falcade, tactically positioned in front of the cable car we are going to take. Very quiet by a stream. has pitches at the top where you get some great sleeping.

We take the cable car and then the chairlift that take us for 12 Euros (including bike) to Laresei. From here we descend to the Valles Pass by taking cuts that shorten the dirt road. From the pass begins a push section to the Venegia Fork, with a pedaled interlude.

Quickly we thus arrive at the Venegia fork, where the spectacle of the Venegia Valley and the Pale di San Martino peaks opens before us.

We take a path a bit ravaged by cows, which then goes into the woods and becomes more enjoyable.

It will throw us off onto the Val Venegia dirt road, which we follow uphill to the Baita Segantina. Here there are many pedestrians, or merenderos. Reason why we follow the dirt road all the way to Passo Rolle, because the trails are full of people and moreover they are also forbidden to bikes (understandably, given the traffic).

From Passo Rolle we initially follow the paved road, then take the bike trail that will cut through the pass road several times until we reach San Martino di Castrozza. The time has come to take the second cable car, or rather 2 cable cars, which for 26 euros will take us up to the Rosetta plateau in the heart of the Pale Mountains.

Here too we will find many pedestrians, but they disappear completely once we pass the Rosetta Refuge. From then on, peace will be absolute. The path is a military trail with gentle inclines, but totally in rock and loose stones.

Apart from a few short spots, the rest is very easy and unique. There are a couple of ups and downs, also rideable, until you start descending in the direction of the Gares valley. There are some exposed points here, but the trail is wide and they are doable in the saddle with no problem.

After several kilometers we finally come to some land, and the trail becomes more streamlined, despite being landslided in several places. In the photo below you see all to the left of the Gares valley, where we need to arrive.

At the Campigat hut, at 1800 meters, there is a nice fountain. Here we keep left, now the trail enters the forest and becomes more challenging.

It is very well maintained, although wooden steps make the passage of bikes a bit difficult. However, the forest floor is very nice.

The descent is really long and you will be glad when you get to Gares, where we follow first a dirt road and then asphalt to Canale d'Agordo. From here a dirt road uphill will take us after about 150 meters of elevation gain to the starting point.

The elevation gain pedaled is 1025 meters. The rest is done by cable car.