Très joli, avec une belle presqu’île. Un endroit idéal pour bivouaquer mais nous y restons seulement pour le pique-nique, car il nous reste encore du chemin jusqu’à l’Alpe di Laghetto. All along the mountain we admired the light and the colors of the autumn, the myrtles that turn red, the herbs that turn yellow, ocre, brun…and the blue sky!

Once rested, we continue our walk until we see another lake on our right, at 2208m. Là, just before the lake, we bifurcate to the right and take the direction of the Passo di Oriaccia. Il n’y a pas de panneau indicateur, le chemin semble peu fréquenté mais il est quand même marqué par des signes rouges et blancs sur les pierres. Après une brève montée, nous voilà en Italie ! : ) Nous sommes à 2325m. De là nous descendons un sentier dans la pente herbeuse assez raide jusqu’au lac di Oriaccia (2123m) puis, presque à flanc de coteau, nous continuons tranquillement jusqu’au Rifugio Alpe di Laghetto (2039m) où nous arrivons vers 16h. L’accueil est très chaleureux. Apéro, repas, génépi, nuitée, tout est bon et sympa. Nous sommes les seuls randonneurs, le refuge finit la saison deux jours plus tard. Nous sommes gâtés par cette amicale équipe masculine qui ont tous travaillé à la transformation de cette ancienne étable en véritable petit Rifugio accueillant et pratique.

Sabine

Day 2: Rifugio Laghetto to Rifugio Andolla

The Andolla hut is a hotel, the Laghetto is a “rifugio”, said Giorgio, our hut warden at the Laghetto. He was not entirely wrong with this statement. But first things first. On the second day of our hike on the GTA (slightly modified by our hiking guide Dominc), a bright blue sky awaited us. Full of anticipation, we ran outside from our cozy and “snug” hut. A stiff cold breeze came towards us, some would call it a storm. Return to the hut and put on warm clothes straight away. After a typical Italian breakfast, we set off at 09:00. Four passes and border hopping were on the agenda.

We reached the first pass called “di Campo” a short time later. The Valle di Bognanco lay at our feet on both sides of the pass. Without much of a descent, we continued along a high-level path in the direction of Passo Straciugo. We passed the ruined huts of Alpe Campo and its picturesque lakes. Sabine took a short detour into the cold water of one of these three lakes – not entirely voluntarily but somehow nonetheless. A strong gust of wind has caught our hiking guide’s coin and blown it in a high arc into the lake. What now? Should we disfigure this beautiful, untouched landscape with a cap that is not quite fresh, or do we want to do something about our throwaway society here? Sabine had already proved the day before that footbathing is one of her hobbies.

A few minutes later, the soaked and dripping coin was hanging from Dominic’s rucksack. We left the Passo Straciugo behind us and the next basin spread out in front of us. The Alpe Straciugo was on the edge of this basin and a little way back we recognized our next destination – the Passo di Pontimia. The crossing into the Zwischbergental (without border control or barrier) turned out to be steeper than expected. We were then rewarded with a view of the Alpe Pontimia with the Potimiaseewjini, the snow-covered Weissmies and the Portjengrat or Pizzo d’Andolla in the background. We took our lunch break in the ruins of Alpe Pontimia. This was protected from Wolfen by an extensive, two-meter-high fence. The sheep were still on the alp and had to be guarded day and night.

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Unser letzter Pass für diesen Tag (Passo d’Andolla) stand nach einer ausgedehnten Ruhepause auf dem Programm. Ein letzter steiler Aufstieg und schon waren wir wieder in Italien. Zu meinem Erstaunen lag vor uns das Valle di Antrona. Nicht dass wir uns verlaufen hätten, aber der Verlauf dieser italienischen Täler war mir nie ganz klar. Kurz zuvor hatten wir noch den Zwischbergenpass im Blickfeld und jetzt sahen wir hinunter ins Valle Antrona, an dessen Ende die Pässe Ofental und Antrona in die Schweiz führten. Gibt es da nicht noch die Pässe Mondelli und Monte Moro? Richtig!!! Die führen von der Schweiz ins Valle Anzasca. In Sachen Geografie habe ich heute meinen Horizont wesentlich erweitert.

Und nun zur Andollahütte. Waren wir gestern noch die alleinige Gäste im Refugio Laghetto, waren wir nun von Touristen, Wandern, Berggänger und Aussteiger umgeben. Die Andollahütte als Hotel zu bezeichnen ist schon etwas gewagt. Verglichen zur Laghetto ist sie aber «riesig». Auch hier sind wir gut bewirtet worden. Ein gutes Bier zum Apero und eine Falsche Rotwein zum Nachtessen durften nicht fehlen. Gespannt auf den morgigen Tag mit der Krönung auf dem Sonnigpass legten wir uns schlafen.

Samuel

Day 3: Rifugio Andolla – Sonnigpass – Saas-Almagell

After a restless night in the fully occupied dormitory of the Rifugio Andolla, a hotel in comparison to the atmospheric hut of the night before, we first went out onto the terrace to marvel at the mountains bathed in gold in the morning. After breakfast, we bravely climbed up, encountered ibex, chamois and marmots, marveled at the impressive alpine landscape and discovered the first frozen spots in the streams we had to cross.

The red bivouac towered like a lighthouse in the distance, where the climbing over rock and scree had already begun. The Via Ferrata del Lago was both fun and exhausting (despite Anita’s reservations and inexperience in climbing, she managed it thanks to encouragement) because the Italians give you plenty of freedom to find your own way.

Once we arrived on the Sonnigpass, we uncorked the red wine and enjoyed Valais bread and dried meat, a surprise from Sabine – after Italy, we were once again close to home.

The descent to Saas-Almagell confronted us with all sorts of things: ice, pebble-covered rock, scree, a very impressive landscape shaped by the glacier. We could already see the Almageller Alp from afar, but it took a while before we could taste the delicious fruit cake there. Strong winds on the ridge almost made us take off, but in the end we preferred to make the flight on safe ground.

Now we were almost home, the walk down to Saas Almagell seemed like walking through a park after the roughness of nature in the Alps. The well-deserved conclusion to our alternating GTA hike was a drink at the Hotel Kristall-Saphir, where civilization definitely caught up with us again.

Anita