There are huge swaths of 10+% sections on roads with lengthy straightaways (but not too straight) on the early part of the climb. The lower part is wide open with a meandering road taking the riders up through flowering meadows. It's gorgeous, but hard. Pretty much the basic summary for Blockhaus.

Yes, the ordering of these images makes no sense - we took most of the pictures you'll see in this piece on the way DOWN. The light was nasty on the way up, so we figured we'd shoot when it was pretty. You can't begrudge me that. :-)

After the hot, exposed opening section, the road begins to head into the woods for a much appreciated rest from the notable warmth of mid-May in Abruzzo.

Through the open fields and the woods one thing remains constant: it's hard. One word keeps coming up in my head over and over again: savage.

In some ways, it reminds me a lot of Mont Ventoux. I think Ventoux's average gradient is in the neighborhood of 8 or 9%, but when you ride it, it feels like far, far more than that. These two great climbs seem to lull the information seeker (that's me) into making grave mistakes in undervaluing them - these climbs' stories aren't told by the final average numbers and final meters gained.

There are very few true switchbacks on Blockhaus. Instead of 180 degree turns, they're more like Z's. Say, 135ish degrees. In my experience, this is another tell-tale sign of a steep climb. When they don't give you real switchbacks - just z's - beware!

Below is one of the few real deal switchbacks. :-)

The repetition of going into the woods, then back out is nice - and appreciated. It makes for a mental step toward the top of the stairs. Plus, the forests are beautiful.

After passing by the finish line, we kept going. There's still a fair bit more to do on Blockhaus - and it gets really nice at the top once you get beyond the giant radio antennae and other signs of humanity. We were turned around by snow in the last part, but if you ever make it over this way - make sure to go ALL the way up. From where we were, we managed about 1500 vertical meters before the snow stopped us. I think there's at least another 100 to go from there. That's a monster of a climb.

The finish is close to that building in the lower right part of this shot.