Hiking around Monte Viso 2009-09
This year I went to the Piemont area of Italy for some nice mountain hiking.
At least this was the plan, about the
nice see later pictures.
The trip went around the famous Monte Viso in alpine setting. It's on the French
border, so the hike also crossed into French territory.
Accomodation were alpine huts - called Rifugi (Italy) or Refuge (France) - so I finally
managed to stay in the mountains on a multi-day hike.
Because of the limited amount of luggage, I did not brought my Acer Aspire One.
Anyway, there was no WLAN in the mountains - not even GSM coverage! It was really quiet, which
was very impressive.
My unlucky streak continued also this time. And got even worse. From the beginning only rain and fog.
Then later on heavy snowfall kicked in. As I missed the right time to abort my trip, I ended up at the
French side of the mountains and needed to wade back through 1 meter deep snow, over a 3000m high
pass to return to the Italian side. Don't try this, until you carry adequate snow equipment.
And during my whole trip I did not even got the smallest glimpse on the Monte Viso itself. What a pity,
this was said to be one of the great features of this hike. And I completely avoided it.
Reminds me of old Aso-zan story in Japan ... (but that's another story)
Luckily I had my Garmin eTrex with me and the track pre-loaded. Otherwise I would been really lost in the
snow.
Despite the severe weather situation it was a really good hike. Highly recommended, and
I will continue with multi-day hikes next year. Hopefully with sunshine.
Or next time with
good snow equipment, which would be also a great challenge.
This year trip cost came around to 150 € travel costs, plus a 99€ flight to Italy (round trip, bargain booker
price from
Lufthansa. Not counting the equipment costs, which were higher.
The Route
The complete route is available in various formats
Day 1: Entrance at Crissolo to Rifugi Quintino Sella
My hub was Torino. There I left at 6am by bus 62 to Barge, changing there to a local bus bringing
me to Crissolo. From there on I made my ascent to the mountains, and finally to my first
rifugi. Before entering the rifugi I made a side trip to the top of Viso Mozzo.
Day 2: To France
Over night snowfall has started. So continuing in snow, passing Monte Viso in south and climbing up
again north.
After passing a mountain pass and the French border, making stopover in Refuge du Mont Viso.
I and the guardian were the only people, everybody else was wise enough to bail out. I was not wise
enough, so I was taught a lession on day three.
Day 3: Pass de la Traversette
This was planned to be a quick final of my tour. Unfortunately stomping through heavy snow it was the most difficult
and dangerous part of the trip.
I still manged to catch the bus from Crissolo, changed in Barge and arrived save (and with much more experience) in Torino.
Summary
Next time I want to have some good weather for the trip, and not underestimate the impact of bad weather.
Or go to a planned trip in snow - this also sounds great.
Additional Information
Planning Literature
- Iris Kürschner: Piemont Süd: Vom Monviso bis zu den Ligurischen Alpen 50 Touren, Bergverlag Rother, ISBN-10: 3763343598, German
A lot of tracks in the Piemont alps
Information Links
Bus transport
- Torino <-> Crissolo
- Torino <-> Castello
Huts
- Refuge Quintino-Sella: Lat: 44.665, Lon: 7.1097
- Refuge Vallanta (Valante): Lat: 44.6658, Lon: 7.0644
- Refuge du Viso: Lat: 44.70055, Lon: 7.05139
Maps
- IGN Alpes sans Frontières, 1:25 000, Blatt 8 Monviso. Haut-Queyras
- Is said to be good, but out of print
- IGC Blatt 6 Monviso 1:50k, besser 106 (1:25k)
- Bad paper quality and some tracks not accurate, but can buy this map at any small kiosk in Italy's Monte Viso area (e.g. Barge, Crissolo)
- OpenStreetMaps
- Main track is available and you can download this to your GPS (don't go without this!)