- Ascent
- 647 hm
- Distance Ascent
- 9.3 km
- max. gradient
- 11 %
- ø gradient
- 7 %
The Passo di Pordoi from Arabba is a category 1 climb of 9.3 km with 647 m of elevation gain at an average of 7 %, peaking at 11 %. A dense series of hairpins leads up to 2,239 m between the Sella massif and the Marmolada, with a monument to Fausto Coppi at the top. The Pordoi is part of the Sellaronda and has often been the Cima Coppi of the Giro d'Italia.
2,239 metres, and a monument to Fausto Coppi at the top. The Passo di Pordoi is the second-highest paved pass in the Dolomites and the busiest corner of the Sellaronda, the loop that links four passes around the Sella massif. From Arabba the road climbs in an almost unbroken series of hairpins, with the Sella walls on one side and the Marmolada on the other.
The Passo di Pordoi at a glance
The ascent from Arabba covers 9.3 kilometres and 647 metres of climbing, 7 percent on average, with 11 percent at its steepest. That makes it a category 1 climb, short by Dolomite standards but steady: the gradient stays close to the average almost the whole way, and there is nowhere to recover. The summit sits at 2,239 metres, just below the neighbouring Passo Sella, and the road drops on the far side to Canazei in the Val di Fassa.
The climb from Arabba
Arabba already lies at roughly 1,600 metres, so the climb is over before it can wear anyone down. The road leaves the village, swings out into the open and stacks its hairpins one above the other, each corner giving back the same view of Arabba shrinking below. There is little shade and no real wall either, just seven to nine percent, bend after bend, until the road flattens onto the pass.
The top is a small settlement rather than a col: hotels, a cable car up to the Sass Pordoi plateau, and the Coppi monument beside the road. From there the descent to Canazei runs down wide, fast hairpins, and the climb back up from the Val di Fassa side is the gentler of the two.
Sellaronda and the Giro d’Italia
The Pordoi is one of the four passes of the Sellaronda, together with the Campolongo, the Gardena and the Sella, a loop of around 55 kilometres that most riders in the area do at least once. It has been the Cima Coppi of the Giro d’Italia, the highest point of the race, more often than any other climb, which is why the monument at the summit belongs to Fausto Coppi: he won the Giro five times, and the prize for the first rider over the highest point of the race carries his name. Every July the Maratona dles Dolomites sends several thousand riders over the same road.
Practical tips
The pass road is usually open from late spring into October and is cleared early compared with the higher Alpine passes. At 2,239 metres it stays cool even in August, so a windproof layer belongs in the jersey pocket for the descent. Food and water are never a problem: Arabba at the bottom, the hotels at the pass, Canazei on the other side. The one real drawback is traffic, motorbikes above all on summer weekends, which makes an early start worth more here than on most climbs.
