Coppa delle Alpi, second morning of the leg on the great Alpine passes

Starting in front of the Olympic Ice Stadium in Cortina, the crews immediately began the climb to the Giau Pass, where a block of 7 Time Trials awaited them. The Giau challenge was only the first of the morning’s challenges, which saw the crews on the climbs and hairpin bends of the Alpine passes, which with the weather of recent weeks proved to be covered in snow for the occasion.

On the Veneto border with Trentino, there was a second Average Trial on the Pordoi Pass, and again Time Trials on the Sella Pass, before the challenge on Gardena in the seventh Average Trial of the race. Retracing clockwise the Sellaronda, a renowned ski tour, the convoy reached Corvara, located in a valley at an altitude of 1568 meters above which the Sassolungo stands majestically. A Passage Control dedicated to Val Badia was held in this Dolomite setting, a large natural laboratory of sustainability which obtained the Global Sustainable Tourism Council certification in 2022 for its initiatives to encourage responsibility towards the territory and hospitality.

Crossing the Furcia Pass, with the Puez Odle Natural Park on one side and that of Fanes-Sennes-Braies on the other, the cars arrived in Brunico, in the heart of the Val Pusteria, where the crews were welcomed at the Castello di Ripa, headquarters of the Messner Mountain Museum dedicated to the people of the mountains, the penultimate of six museums in the circuit founded by the very famous South Tyrolean mountaineer, also known as an explorer and writer. Reinhold Messner himself welcomed his guests enthusiastically: “This Museum is dedicated to the people of the mountains, who cannot live without tourism. This does not just concern us, it is like this in the Himalayas too, but we must start experiencing the mountains with more respect, enjoying the beauty of its nature. I hope that at the end of this trip you will return home with another vision of our Alps, a different idea to bring to society upon your return. Not an idea that comes from reading a book or hearsay, but from what you have seen with your own eyes and felt with your heart.”

Messner also answered some questions during lunch, getting up between one course and another to extend the discussions with the experts to the others present.