Forcella Ravetta

Overview

Forcella Ravetta is a hors catégorie (HC) climb, the hardest classification a road ascent can carry, and its numbers explain why. Over 16.8 km the road lifts you from a start elevation of 323 m to a summit at 2216 m, a net elevation gain of 1893 m. The average gradient is a relentless 11.3%, a figure that would be brutal over a few kilometres and here is sustained for the better part of an hour or more. This is not a climb with a token steep section bolted onto an easy road; it is steep from bottom to top, with a maximum pitch of 32.48% waiting to break your rhythm.

How the Gradient Unfolds

An 11.3% average across 16.8 km leaves almost nowhere to recover. To hold that mean, the climb has to spend long stretches above 11%, because the 32.48% maximum is short by nature — no road holds a third of vertical for long. The shape, then, is a wall that rarely relents rather than a series of distinct steps. The gap between the 1893 m net gain and the 1844 m of total ascent is only 49 m, which tells you the road almost never gives elevation back: there are effectively no descents or flat recovery shelves along the way. Expect the gradient to hover in the low-to-mid teens for kilometre after kilometre, with the 32.48% spike marking the single most savage ramp.

Pacing Notes

On a climb this long and this steep, pacing discipline is everything. Anchor your effort to a percentage of your FTP rather than to how you feel in the opening kilometres, where fresh legs tempt you into a pace you cannot hold for 1893 m of climbing. A sensible target for an HC effort of this duration is a steady sub-threshold power that you could theoretically sustain to the summit — then treat the 32.48% ramp as a deliberate over-threshold surge, knowing you must settle back afterwards. If you do not know your threshold, run the numbers first with the FTP estimator and build your climbing zones from there. The single biggest mistake on Forcella Ravetta is starting too hard: at 11.3% average there is no downhill to bail you out.

Gearing

Gear for survival, not pride. At an 11.3% average sustained over 16.8 km, and with the road touching 32.48%, most riders will want the lowest ratio they can bolt on. A compact 34-tooth chainring paired with a 34×32 cassette is a sensible floor for strong climbers, but on a wall this long the extra sprocket of a 34×34 pays for itself the moment your legs start to fade in the final kilometres toward 2216 m. If your bike accepts an even wider range, take it — you can never regret spinning a slightly easier gear when the gradient hits its 32.48% peak.

Summary

Forcella Ravetta is a genuine hors catégorie test: nearly seventeen kilometres of climbing that averages over 11% and never truly eases, topping out at 2216 m after 1893 m of net ascent. Respect the length, meter your effort against your FTP, and gear low. Do those three things and the summit is yours.

Length: 16.8 km
Average gradient: 11.3%
Max gradient: 32.48%
Start: 323 m
Summit: 2216 m
Net gain: 1893 m
Total ascent: 1844 m
Category: HC