Region: Switzerland
Climbing effort: 942 cep
Elevation meters: 1493
Steepest kilometer: 9.8%
Steepest 250 m: 12%
Foot: 325 m Top: 1815 m
Mean slope: 4.7%
Length: 31.9 km
From: Chiavenna
Road conditions (2016): good
Other race bikers: 1-5 per hour
Motor vehicles: >180 per hour
Scenery and road:
(3/5)
Restaurant or bar near top: yes
PHOTOS    
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The Malojapass has a strange, perhaps unique property. It has only one side, namely the western side described here. On the eastern side lies the valley of the Oberengadin, which is almost horizontal here, just a dozen meters below the pass. The climb from the Italian town of Chiavenna is long (32 km) and varied. One could say that the profile of the first 20 kilometers is structureless. The slope varies continuously between a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 9%. Traffic is busy and the road is wide, especially after the border, which is crossed after 10 kilometers cycling. Pleasant is the detour, which you have to make after 13 kilometers because the main road passes through a tunnel that is forbidden for cyclists. Here the cycling route takes the old road through a beautiful village (Promontogno). After Vicosoprano, after 20 kilometers drive, the first longer ascent begins. It is four kilometers long, bridges more than three hundred elevation meters and is a bit boring. The slope is continuously 8%, the road is wide, the bends are not sharp at all and the surrounding area is wooded. Five mostly easy kilometers follow. The final three kilometers are the most spectacular of the ride since the road winds itself upwards against a very steep mountain face with quickly succeeding and narrow hairpin turns. In this last section the slope varies greatly on a small scale around an average of 9%. The ascent ends at the sign of the pass in the village of Maloja.