The Mortirolo Pass – aka Passo della Foppa, aka Cima Pantani – links the Valtellina and Val Camonica valleys.
It is a much dreaded, steep climb, with a summit at 1,852 meters and it used to be the favorite mountain of Marco Pantani.
“If you want to die, this is where you go” – encouraging words, often found when reading reports about this climb.
It is, however, nowhere near as bad as the Monte Zoncolan…
Giro d’Italia
(The UCI Pro event, not mine 😂)
The Mortirolo Pass featured 17 times in a Giro d’Italia stage since 1990, lastly in 2025.
The first time was in 1990’s stage 15, between Morbegno and Aprica, featuring the Monno ascend.
The Monno ascend was included 5 times, the Mazzo ascend 11 times and the Tovo di Sant’Agata ascend once.
The 2025 Mortirolo ascend was rumored to go via the Recta Contador, but that didn’t happen.
This alternative is described as a “bonus option” in the profiles below.
The Mortirolo’s Mazzo ascend in the Giro made such a name, that the Vuelta felt the need to respond and find something harder.
As a result, the Angliru was introduced.
Not in the least disheartened, the Giro retaliated by introducing the Monte Zoncolan…
Cima Pantani and Pantani Memorial
Since the death of Marco Pantani in 2004, stages of the Giro that go over the Mortirolo Pass feature a special prize.
This is called the Cima Pantani, awarded to the first rider at the summit.
Taking this one step further in 2024, local authorities changed the official name of the pass to Cima Pantani.
One of the many monuments1 to commemorate Marco Pantani is on the Mortirolo Pass.
Erected in 2006, high on a wall in hairpin 11 of the Mazzo ascent, the sculpture shows Pantani in his classic attacking position.
He’s looking back over his left shoulder, assessing the damage he’s done…
The Profiles
First, here are the three ‘more famous’ alternatives of the Mortirolo Pass.
But there are quite a few ways to the top of the Mortirolo, some of which are no more than goat paths.
I mention a few of them below these standard profiles.
Mortirolo from Mazzo di Valtellina
This most frequently traveled ascend is 12.2 km long from Mazzo, in which you’ll gain 1,326 meters.
That’s an average of 10.8% and the steepest 100-meter stretch is 17.7%
It’s during this climb that you will pass the Pantani monument in hairpin 11, about four kilometers from the summit.
The summit (now) has a bathroom container to freshen up a bit, and the current monument is a lot nicer than the worn-out wooden one that was there when I first visited the Mortirolo.
If you would like a drink or a bite, then ride on down a bit, towards Monno.
Bonus: the other ascend from Mazzo, via the Via Orti, is even harder than this one: 11.3 kilometers at 11.6%.
Mortirolo from Grosio
There are two alternatives “from Grosio”.
There’s a route that starts between Tiolo and Grosio; if you come from Bormio, you’ll see a clear sign “Passo Mortirolo”.
This one is 13.7 kilometers long with an elevation gain of 1,173 meters, or an 8.6% average.
It has a steepest 100-meter section at 20.2% which you won’t find in the other routes…
The other Grosio route up the Mortirolo is a little harder to find: follow the main road until you pass the Grosio city sign and then turn left towards Sondrio.
After some 500 meters, there’s a narrow bridge on your left, the start of this Mortirolo route.
About 1 kilometer in, there’s a bifurcation: turning left will join the Tiolo route, so keep right for the Grosio route.
It is harder than the Tiolo route: 12 kilometers and 1,190 meters of elevation, a 9.9% average.
Both alternatives join the one from Mazzo at hairpin 8, some 3 kilometers before the summit.
When descending from the summit towards Grosio, you’ll end up at the start of the first route…
And the Mortirolo from Edolo (Monno)
From the (south) east you can tackle the Mortirolo Pass from Edolo.
You can use the first 4.5 kilometers from Edolo to the Monno turn as a good warm up.
From there it’s 12.7 kilometers and 980 meters of elevation, a 7.7% average.
Relatively speaking, this ascent of the Mortirolo Pass may be considered easy.
Not for me, but I did find this climb less difficult than the ones from Mazzo and Tiolo.
The hardest stretch starts about 2 kilometers from the summit, between hairpin 10 and San Giacomo.
Coming up this end, you will see the only tavern near the summit: about a kilometer before you arrive there, you’ll pass the Albergo.
Bonus: there’s a harder alternative, taking the Recta Contador or Vecchia Mulattiera, the old mule track.
It parts the classic route just outside Monno in hairpin 12 and rejoins it before hairpin 10.
This cuts some 3 kilometers from the length of the standard route and it is by itself only 3 kilometers long.
And this shortcut averages 13.7%, hitting 21.6% along the way…
Alternatives
A less travelled alternative is the one from Grosotto: 12 kilometers with 1,260 meters of elevation, a 10.5% average.
It joins the route from Grosio after some 3 kilometers.
And then there are a few longer routes, starting further down the valley, that all travel a traverse from the respective climb’s summit to the Mortirolo summit.
That traverse, often twisting and turning, offers better views down the Valtellina valley that any of the “standard” routes.
These are:
- from Sernio, just south of Tovo. That gets up the Passo di Guspessa and is used in La Stelvio Santini granfondo
- still further south, near Tirano, via Trivigno
- the alternative to Trivigno from Aprica
- and last, the climb from Doverio
The latter two, like the Monno climb, have their starts in Val Camonica.
And noteworthy, but only if you have a mountain bike, is the Mortirolo ascend from Tovo di Sant’Agata, with grades up to 25% – this is the hardest of all possibilities…
Bike Rebel and the Mortirolo
I only managed to not nearly give up once: the first time I tackled the Mazzo ascend in 2011…
I’m not counting the standard Monno route, as that is doable any day, even for me.
But I choked on the Mazzo – twice – and Tiolo sides since then.
A Mortirolo ‘Mazzo rematch’, during my ‘Tour de Suisse 2019‘ didn’t go very well.
It didn’t go very well either in stage 2 of 2020’s Giro, after I climbed the Gavia from Ponte di Legno and battled into a headwind from Bormio to Grosio.
I swore I’d never do it again after that stage, but given the chance, I will…
During 2025’s Giro, the provincial road between Bormio and Mazzo was closed due to a landslide. I could’ve travelled the parallel tunneled road by car to get passed that, but I wasn’t in the mood for another beating anyway.
However, during my first stage of that Giro – starting with the Albula and Bernina, then down to Tirano – I cycled the Trivigno alternative. And it was just as bad as the route from Grosio…
The only time I thought I went up the Mortirolo from Grosio, was in stage 4 of 2020’s Giro.
This was after I did the Monno ascend first.
However, upon studying the recording, it was clear that I had taken the Tiolo ascend.
I may have to get back to Grosio to get that ascend in as well.
My first Monno ascend of the Mortirolo Pass was in 2015 and I revisited it in 2020.
I have uploaded a few videos of the Mortirolo to my YouTube channel – check them out and if you’re on Kinomap, you can cycle them indoors yourself.
1 I don’t know how many “Pantani Forever” monuments there actually are, but I’ve cycled passed five of them so far: this one, on the Fauniera, the Galibier, les Deux Alpes and Montecampione.
