Saturday 1st September: Weather 0°C at Col della Terra then 10°C at Ceresole Reale: Snowing, overcast
Rifugio Savoia to Ceresole Reale DAY 13: 19k: 8hrs
Accommodation: Ceresole Sport Village at altitude of 1620 metres
0°C leaving Rifugio Savoia
Flowers in the English Garden
Lac del Nivolet Inferior and Superior
Lookout Col del Nivolet 2612 at 0°C
Lac Losere 2461m start Royal Track
Royal Track built 1860 to 1863
2 metre wide graded Royal Track
Colle della Terra
Vews to opposite side Val D'Orca
The mist rolls in
Ibex peering down from rocks above
The track narrows to crumbly rubble
It was 4°C it’s no 0°C and snowing
Colle della Terra in sight
Snowing at Colle della Terra 2911m
Colle della Terra 2911m
Snowing on Lago Lillet
Move on - its snowing and freezing
Snowing on Lago Lillet at 2767m
Still snowing at Lago Lillet
Mist and snow roll in heavier
Still snowing at Lago Lillet
Still snowing at Lago Lillet
Still snowing at Lago Lillet
Heading down out of the snow
4 hours before a cup of tea
Still spectacular even in the mist
At Mua, Commune Ceresole Reale
Track around Lago di Ceresole
An adventurous day to say the least. Stunning early morning views in freezing zero temperatures, followed by the climb to Col della Terra at 2911 metres in a snow storm. Then detouring down from the icy Lago Lillet to Lago di Ceresole Reale to see a herd of ibex, mostly mothers and their young, before a peaceful walk around Lago di Ceresole Reale. Our walk was supposed to be the longest this trip at 24k but our detour shortened it to stll the longest at 19k.
It’s freezing this morning. There’s ice on everything: car roofs, hand rails, rocks and the rifugio’s towels on the line. It’s 0°C. But our room is cosy warm with the heater on all night, and our washed clothes are all dry in the overnight warmth. After showering and packing, we have to dash the 100 metres from our room in a separate building to the dining room for breakfast at 7am. The tea is hot and the bread is not fresh but not stale - edible with a slab of butter and apricot jam.
Back to our room to finish packing and we’re off at 8am, rugged up to the hilt with almost every piece of clothing in my bag - except pyjamas. First up, there’s a 3k walk up and over the Col del Nivolet on the road, looking back at Lac del Nivolet Inferior and Superior in the ampitheatre we have just left. It’s a freezing cold walk and still 0°C with a wind chill. After 30 minutes, the sign to the Royal path appears and there’s already 2 groups of Italians setting off, one group with multiple tripods and camera equipment as the track is renowned for viewing ibex.
The track starts near Lac Losere at 2461 metres, and soon we’re on the 2 metre wide Royal track built between 1860 and 1863 by the hunter king, Vittorio Emanuele 11, when the Gran Paradiso Park was a royal hunting reserve. The scenery is spectacular with small clumps of mist hanging on top of the alps, and ibex peering at us from rocky outcrops. The temperature warms to 4°C before a heavy mist rolls in and we have to stop and put on our rain gear for the first time this trip. An=bout 20 minutes from the Col della Terra it starts to snow and the temperature drops back to 0°C again. One group of Italian hikers turn back, but we didn’t see what happened to the other group with the photographic equipment.
We made an executive decision to continue to the top of the Col della Terra, but not continue to the next Colle della Porta at 3002 metres, another 40 minutes further on, then exit down a path from Lago Lillet to the valley at Mua. A good decision as once we got to the Colle della Terra at 2911 metres, we could see it was snowing heavily on the next col. Dropping down a slippery crumbly track to Lago Lillet with it’s lumps of floating ice, we turned off the Royal Track and headed down the 1100 metres descent to Mua, the little village at the head of Lago di Ceresole Reale.
The track is steep and stony and it’s still snowing so we need to be careful. But soon when we come to a grassy shelf, we’re rewarded with the sight of a small herd of ibex - mostly mothers and their young - no big males. On and on down and it’s still snowing. But by 12.30, after walking non stop for four and a half hours in the freezing cold, there’s a break in the clouds, and we sit on the first flat step we come to for a cup of hot tea, fruit tart and apple strudel. Despite the cold, it had been an adventurous morning, being caught in our second snow storm on top of a 2900 metre col, then seeing a herd of ibex close by.
By 3pm we hit the bottom at the small village of Mua, with hundreds of vacant caravans and cabins and no one in the tent sites - clearly September 1st marks a change of weather and the end of the summer season for holiday makers. We’re not deterred. We’ve been in the alps in early September several times and despite being colder, it’s less busy than mid July to mid August, and there’s no snow on the cols to stop us passing over.
The temperature has warmed to 10°C as we walk the 6k along the pretty lakeside track from Mua to the village of Ceresole Reale which is not a compact village at all with houses strewn along the lakes edge. Eventually we come to a mini market which is open and we buy a few things for dinner - ham, fresh bread, potato salad, peanuts and more condensed milk - knowing that the Sports Village, our home for the night, is only 100 metres further on.
We arrive at the Sports village at 4pm. It’s a large complex designed primarily for the nordic skiing in winter and we’re welcomed by a young girl who speaks a little English and shows us to our room - it’s wonderful - a 3 star hotel. It would need to be as at $170 per night it’s the most expensive place we’ve stayed in this trip. But after a long cold day it’s wonderful. We dump our stuff and have a belated lunch of a beer and peanuts, before showering, washing and sorting photos. Then it’s dinner time. We’re having a picnic on the bed tonight, early enough so we don’t go to sleep on a full stomach. A few Doc Martin episodes later and it’s 10pm. Time for sleep.