CMP TRAIL LONG 43 KM

CMP Trail Long – 2018 edition – reverse version!

These first flat kilometres to the north can be covered fast until reaching Campese, where the sprinters will have to make way for the climbers.
In fact, here you will find yourself facing a “race within the race”, with a vertical climb of 1000 m in just 5 kilometres, which will take you to the top of Mount Caina, at 1121 metres above sea level (the highest point of the trail). The sticks could be a valid ally in this phase. The effort will be rewarded once you get to the top: after passing near the statue of the Madonna, you will be able to enjoy a breath-taking view and you will know that the first real climb is now behind you.
This passage will make you marvel at its view: from the Caina you overlook Bassano del Grappa, a large slice of the merger of Valsugana, a huge portion of the Veneto plain, and on clear days you can see the Apennines.

On the right dominates an imposing Mount Grappa.
Some ups and downs among the pastures and then you take the mulattiera leading to the Trinceroni di Campolongo: built after the breach of Caporetto, these impressive fortifications linked the numerous battle stations set up under the crest of the mountain and, armed with artillery, they were used to guard the Grappa and the underlying Brenta valley in case of enemy invasion. These will take you through a comfortable and easy path that reaches the malga (rustic building used to shelter livestock and process milk) Valranetta, where you will be accompanied by free animals in a territory known since the sixteenth century for the production of cow’s milk malga cheese.
From here, with a dirt road in progressive climb, you get to the entrance of the Cave Dipinte (Painted Quarries) (km 15.4) of the famous Bassano artist Toni Zarpellon.

It is one of the most charming passages of the trail: these quarries are in fact true open-air artworks whose works began in 1989 with the “Cava Dipinta” (Painted Quarry). Alongside it there is the “Cava Abitata” (Inhabited Quarry), done in 1991 and named so because inside it they placed about 150 fuel tanks of cars of various shapes and sizes which, thanks to cuts and cracks obtained with chisels and gouges, acquired human and animal features. The third and last quarry “Laboratorio” (Laboratory) is a space open to imagination, a place of experimentation within which every intervention is left to the free interpretation of visitors.