Gran Tour dell'Assietta

The Assietta tour... a fantastic ride that should not be missing from any biker's resume. It can be a "short" ride, or as long as mine, where I decided to first pass by Cima Ciantiplagna (highly recommended variant) to especially enjoy this beautiful mountain area of Turin. In short, look for the track that best matches your physical characteristics (the technique is minimal today since almost everything is on gravel roads, except for the last descent to Pourrieres), but you have to do it. For this Grand Tour, I combined two tracks: - the first from my friend Salitomania for Cima Ciantiplagna: - the second from my friends at Itinerari-Mtb, for the Assietta tour: Today I pedaled the whole ride, no pushing, no carrying, just admiring, there are so many wonders to see. The undoubtedly most beautiful section is the initial one starting from Pourrieres and going up to Gran Serin (not that the rest is boring, quite the opposite). I start from Pourrieres and immediately tackle 17 km with 1,400 m of ascent at an average of 8%, an excellent (I would say obvious) decision to keep the most challenging section at the beginning given the elevation and kilometers of today. The first section of ascent, fortunately in this case, is on asphalt and takes me to Pian dell'Alpe where, if you want, you can immediately take the gravel of the Assietta that leads to the homonymous pass and then to Col Basset. I instead decide to continue to Colle delle Finestre, where the asphalt ends and the gravel begins for Gran Serin. A superb and well-ridable section, with exceptional high mountain panoramas and where, among other things, I will also breathe a lot of history (I like the valleys of Turin also for this reason). I pass through Colle della Vecchia, until I reach the old Heliographic Station at Punta del Mezzodì, where you have (but who am I kidding) another fantastic view of the underlying Susa valley, Moncenisio and "countless" peaks all around. Shortly after, here I am at today’s Cima Coppi near Cima Ciantiplagna (I reach 2,784 meters) from where I see the entire section I climbed up and far, far away, the Sestiere. I then continue (now thoroughly convinced I made an impression also today) the 50 km of descent, alternated with another 830 m of ascent, to Colle delle Vallette, Caserma Gran Serin, Forte Gran Serin, Colle dell'Assietta, Colle Lauson, Col Blegier, I pass Genevris, Colle Costa Piana, Col Bourget and Col Basset, the final high-altitude section of the route. From here I glide towards Sestriere, crossing the huge mountain municipality and then taking above the golf course, the Passeggiata del Senatore with a last panoramic view of the village. Now along ski slopes, I pass through Borgata, Pattemouche, the hamlets of Pragelato, Souchères Basses, Fraisse and Lake Pourrieres, from where I return to the small parking lot at the end of a Grand Tour that filled my belly with that desire for Cima Ciantiplagna and the Strada dell'Assietta I had... Too bad this area is too far from my home... I would come here every weekend!!! WHOEVER DECIDES TO TAKE ON THE ITINERARY PROPOSED HERE ASSUMES ALL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE RISKS AND DANGERS THEY MAY ENCOUNTER AND, BY USING IT, DECLARES TO HAVE UNDERSTOOD THE LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY OF THE ROUTE. NO LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY IS ASSUMED FOR ANY DAMAGE OR ACCIDENTS THAT MAY OCCUR ON THE ROUTE.