Passo Fedaia
Intimidating even in name, mostly unlovely in appearance and repellently steep in gradient, this is the mountain that generations of cyclists have loved to hate, or hated to love.
The Passo Fedaia is one of the main legendary climbs in the Dolomites mountain region of Northern Italy along with the Passo Pordoi and Passo Giau.
It has been described as the toughest of the three, and one portion in particular of the climb from Caprile has become infamous. Variously dubbed the graveyard of champions, the valley of death or the corridor of fear, the unbending, unending three-kilometre shaft beginning just before Malga Ciapela, five-and-a-half kilometres from the summit, is one of the most feared stretches of any Italian ascent. Shorter but even steeper and straighter than the notorious segment between Saint Estève and Chalet Reynard on the southern side of Mont Ventoux, it is one of those cycling meccas elevated to that status purely by virtue of its brutality. From Capanna Bill rifugio rising to 18 per cent at its most severe, the gradient never dips below 12 per cent for three kilometres. Two-time Giro champion Gilberto Simoni believed this section made the Fedaia ‘probably the hardest climb in Italy’. And the 1988 winner Andy Hampsten reckoned it was ‘definitely one of the hardest climbs [in professional cycling] – it’s like someone’s horribly steep driveway.’