Le Salite del VCO

ICJ reader Mike writes in "I thought this might be of interest for your blog. 'Le Salite del VCO' is an event held annually that I go on holiday to every year. It’s a great idea and a hard challenge, but due to my limited time there I only manage few each year."

The challenge is to climb 25 "salite" (climbs) + 3 'extreme' climbs from May 1st to 30 September in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola territory which is bounded by Lake Maggiore and Lake d'Orta to the south, Macugnaga to the west, Locarno, Switzerland to the north east and the Passo San Giacomo to the north.
This geographic triangle, which seems the "hat" of Piedmonte, offers beautiful Alpine valleys and foothills, breathtaking scenery and delicacies of the best traditions for cyclists.

VCO also supports, through fundraising, the fight against muscular dystrophy and research on genetic diseases.

The climbs in the 2010, 8th, edition were:
VERBANO

Alpe Pala
Cicogna
Finero
Piancavallo
Sant’Agata
Trarego Monte Carza

SVIZZERA – Canton Ticino

Cortaccio

CUSIO

Alpe Quaggione
Boleto NB Presso il Bar Incontro (Centro sportivo)
Campello Monti
Coiromonte
Luzzogno
Mottarone
Montebuglio
Quarna Sopra

OSSOLA

Alpe Cheggio
Alpe Fraccia
Alpe Lusentino
Alpe Soi
Boden
Cascata Toce
Macugnaga
San Bernardo
San Domenico
Santa Maria Maggiore

EXTREME

Cappella Porta Verbano
Alpe Loccia Cusio
Capraga Ossola

Official website: www.salitedelvco.it

Mike goes onto say, "I meet these guys, www.biciclubomegna.it, and they normally take me out for one of the rides and are a great set of guys."

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,500 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog and there is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.