Bormio & Livigno 360
 

Words & Photos: Dave Mitchell & Ditte van der Meulen

Bormio resides in a remote mountainous region in the far north of Italy bordering Switzerland. It hangs in the north east end of the Lombardy region at the top of the Valtellina, a broad glacial valley formed by the Adda River that tumbles down into Lake Como. It is strategically linked via four passes. They are South Tyrol via the Stelvio Pass, Val Müstair via the Umbrail Pass, Livigno via the Foscagno Pass and Ponte di Legno via the Gavia Pass - all famous to fans and riders of the Giro d’Italia.

We tunnelled our way from Switzerland via the Munt La Schera road tunnel. Built by the Swiss as part of the Lago del Gallo dam project back in the 1960s, it's a 3.3km single-lane, alternating traffic tunnel with a 17 euro one-way toll. The dam project also created the 12km long Lago di Livigno reservoir. It was very low on our arrival, having receded a kilometre from the Livigno water front. We lunched by the lake bed then headed through town. Livigno is a duty free enclave at the rarefied altitude of 1800m, that some call little Tibet.

We drove over Passo di Foscangno towards Bormio. Nine years ago we had enjoyed Bormio hospitality and its mtb tracks for a few weeks. As luck would have it for this trip we had booked accommodation in Isolaccia just 8kms west of Bormio. Bormio was in a state of construction, its roads clogged with constructors, limited parking and noise. All in aid of hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics. All the lifts were shut down and anyone with any sense had already left town, as Bob Dylan once said. So no bike park uplift or easy access to 'Bormio 3000' and its massive rocky downhill tracks.

1st July

Our first ride sent us south roaming the forestry trails and singletrack below Monte Masucco with a steep climb to the top of the Family Bob (as in sled) ski lift station. Then singletrack onto a balcony trail that looped west to Alpe Le Pone and south to Alpe Prei followed by a series of forestry roads. We ended on some neat bits of singletrack and river trail leading to the gelato town of Semogo, just up the road from our Isolaccia basecamp. Yum.

2nd July

We found our way onto the famous narrow tarseal road climb that heads up a series of 18 switchbacks to the ancient Towers of Fraele. A gravel road then leads to Lago Delle Scale and the Cancano hydro settlement. This was Stage 5 of the 2019 edition of the Giro Rosa where Annemiek van Vleuten took 3 minutes out of her rivals and went on to win the general, points and mountain classification. Yes she cleaned up.

We checked out the two towers at the top of the hill and headed towards Lago Delle Scale where singletrack climbed above the lake then dropped us to the hydro dam of Lago di Cancano. This is a massive C shaped structure completed in the 1950s. Behind its turquoise waters resides its twin Lago held back by a less formidable but wider and more stylish stone and concrete abutment.

We headed into the hills below Monte Pedenolo and Monte Sumbraida going upwards in Valle Forcola. This provided some serious climbing into cow bell country where conifers made way for meadows of wild flowers and scree slopes of grey. We lunched near the pass as the clouds rolled in threateningly. It was time to fly and we found some great singletrack back to our Airbnb before the afternoon showers rolled in.

3rd July

From Iso we headed for Semogo and San Carlo before pointing skyward on local forestry and farm track No.186 with gradients of up to 22%. We skirted around a large digger installing colourful pipes. Unscathed, we reached Lago Foscagno on the main trunk line that sits just below the Passo di Foscagno customs post. Singletrack in the form of No.196.1 flowed east to Vezzola and a perfect lunch spot overlooking the snowy mountains of the Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio. Stunning.

A loop up the Valle Vezzola proved challenging with Bocchetta di Trela the high point where a steep and gnarly descent returned us back down to Vezzola. A series of farm and forestry roads took us back to Semogo.

5th July

After a day of drizzle and eating, we were up early and pedalled up to San Carlo on a 'rain from midday' forecast. Val Viola Bormina turned into a revelation of cool singletrack surrounded by deep gorges and mountains shrouded in mist. We roamed its north and south bank, seeing hardly a fish all day.

6th July

From Bormio we headed to the town of Santa Lucia and up to The Fort of Oga over a steep and cheerful forestry/farm track. From the fully intact and partially restored great war fort, the climbing levelled out a tad, emerging out of mixed pine forests into open farm country with expanding views of the tops, and the towns and villages below. We reached the farm rifugio at Malga San Colombano and pushed on to a superb section of Bormio 360 singletrack heading south.

A build up of of big black clouds over the mountains above us looked ominous as we careered headfirst into the abyss. We had only just reached the high point of the traverse when the heavens opened and thunder 'n' lightning rocked the earth. Exit stage right. A wet descent took us swiftly back into the forest to Baita Cerdec, finishing off on a nice bit of sketchy new singletrack called Speedway at Nazareth. This took us back to Santa Lucia and sunshine where everything dried out in a jiffy.

7th July

We parked up at Lago di Fasagno, just before the Livigno border crossing and headed up to Passo Foscagno and onto singletrack. This took us down through bell ringing cow country, dodging cow pats to the outskirts of the town of Trepalle. This was where the track entered the Tort Gorge and roamed high above its clear mountain water. A flowing DH took us to the remnants of Lago di Livigno where Ristoro Val Alpisella was filling up for lunch, this being just a short walk along the lake edge from Livigno.

We didn't dilly dally with a big climb up to Lago Alpisella calling. There was a spectacular gorgy start to the climb before the track branches away, going straight east to the pass. We lunched in the sun at this tiny alpine lake admiring the valleys and mountains that spanned out forever. The superb DH traverse rocked below Pizzo Aguzzo to the seashore of Lago di San Giacomo. This hydro dam was down to 70% and in need of a few solid months of rainy recharge.

The lake edge drive took us around to Valle Pettini for an uphill slog on a loose, and in places steep, farm 4WD track. We reached Alpe Trela where the farm ristoro was still serving lunch while farm dogs lazed in the shade. From there we climbed to Passo di Val Trela on singletrack sandwiched between the rocky faces of Monte Torraccia and Punta Nero. The DH was epic to Arneira where we grovelled back up the main highway to our Passo Fosagno start point. Gelato at Semogo.

9th July

Switzerland was on the menu for this ride. Starting from our favourite hydro lake of Largo di Cancano perched at 1900m in Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio, we rode its southern shore and its sister lake, climbing to the top of the modest Passo di Fraele. The descent coasted gently down the wide Valle del Gallo on an old hydro road between scattered pine and rocky tors. At a tight bridged gorge the track crossed to the true right and climbed somewhat above the bolder strewn stream way. This balcony trail was narrow but well proportioned.

We expected to reach the lake then climb up a torturous set of switchbacks into Switzerland. But no lake appeared on our radar having receded back towards the inverted C shape dam that spans both Italy and Switzerland. Alas Lago di Livigno had lost the top of its inverted question mark shape. A number of slips and washouts had been recently repaired and we soon caught up to the culprits swinging grubbers and shovels to great effect. We started up the switchbacks, which weren't as bad as they looked, leaving the forest for pasture and the ringing of Swiss bells at Forcla del Gal, a modest pass that marks the border in stone. It provided a perfect lunch spot in the sun and out of the cool wind that was blowing from the West.

A spectacular loose flowy DH took us deep into Switzerland where Refugio Val Mora was kicking back under a big white flag with a red cross in the middle. We waved to some fellow mountain bikers and turned south down Val Mora under the watchful gaze of Monte Pitschen, Grond and Painch. This was the valley that could inspire packaging for blocks of Swiss chocolate. A forever fairytale DH on a benched scree track proved loads of fun and seemed counter intuitive as we were heading up to Passo de Val Mora and the un-manned wilderness border crossing.

Eventually the stream-way we were following flowed underground as we climbed the short distance to the top of an imperceptible pass. It was a gentle flat ride back to the twin hydro lake and this time we rode around the northern aspect taking in a whole new set of vistas and discovering a couple of dark tunnels and historic hydro construction remains. The unusual church at the bottom of the lakes had bells going up the outside of the bell tower. We looped back up to our waiting vehicle at Cancano and headed for home all Swissed out.

10th July

From Arnoga we planned a circumnavigation of a group of high mountains all joined at the hip and sharing receding glaciers like a group of slowly balding monks. Monte Sattaron, Grande, Corno, Foscagno and the tallest, Monte Forcellina at 3059m. We pedalled the main road to Passo di Foscagno and down the other side to Presso where a farm track lead us due south up the cow ringing La Vallacia. This went singletrack below Monte Foscagno and got gradually rockier and more challenging as we climbed.

Passo della Vallaccia did not come easy but perched on its grassy open top we enjoyed lunch with a commanding view. From 2720m we trundled DH pass the beautiful Lago di Vallaccia joining a series of valley tracks back to Arnoga to close the loop. More gelato on the way home, stopping at the town of Semogo.

In Summary

We found great pizza, yummy local cheese and did eventually make it past the construction hazards up to Bormio 2000 and 3000, bagged a chair lift for Livigno 3000 and still managed 1000m of climbing at the end of that day. Keep an eye on the Ground Effect blog for the next instalment.