Tuesday 10th September : Weather: 17°C in Larcona: to 12°C Alp Masnee: Sunny all day/cool at Masnee
Maggia to Alpe Masnee: 10.0k walk: Walk Maggia to Alp Masnee
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 1,749m, Descent 84m,
Time: 9am to 6.00pm: bus Locarno to arr Maggia 9am: Walk time 7h 40m + 3 x 30m stop 1 x 20m stop
Accommodation: Rifugio Alpe Masnee
500 stone steps from Maggia
Morning coffee at the Water lock
Lunch half way up to Alpe Masnee
Afternoon tea on
Finally we see Capanna Alpe Masnee
Sunset at Alpe Masnee
Highlight was just climbing almost 1800 metres to the mountain hut of Alpe Masnee with spectacular views of the alps all round. It took us 9 hours, with a few breaks to get there exhausted after a long ascent.
We’re awake at 6.30 am. We were cold through the night with just a sheet over us and acool breeze coming through the window. I dragged out my fleece jumper I had been using as my low pillow. I always find pillows in accommodation too high for my tummy sleeping. We quickly pack and go down to breakfast at 7.30am, and put my computer and excess bits in a secure locker so I don’t have to carry it up the mountain today. Breakfast is hostel style, lining up with a tray to pick up meusli, bread and cheese along the way.
Returning to our room to finish packing, we’re out tey door at 8.15am to catch the 315 bus at 8.27am to Maggia. At 9am after a beautiful ride up the Maggia Valley, we arrive at the village of Maggia and immediately start to climb up the steps behind the chapel. There’s hundereds of stone steps, first leading to the pretty chapel of Pioda, surrounded by vines. Along the way, is the sound of the picturesque Cascata del Salto waterfall, which thunders down into the valley. Walking up more steps through the fairytale-like and mostly shady Valle del Salto we pass several old hamlets of just a few deserted stone huts. At 11.15 after more than two hours of climbing, we arrive at the waterfall near a water lock. A good spot for coffee. There’s several other walkers there as well, as this walk is part of a circuit around teh gorge. A group of about 10 men arrives and start to change into wetsuits with abseilling gear. A sign indicates it’s a good place for canyoning.
Going up from here, the track becomes rugged, wild and very steep. We stop for several short 5 minute breaks and it's 5.30pm when we arrive at a pretty mountain lake, the Laghetto di Pianca. A young girl has come down from Alpe Masnee to go for a skinny dip and tells us the hut is about 15 minutes away. It takes us 30 minutes to plod up the remaining metres to the hut. The Rifugio Alpe Masnee consists of six very small stone huts - two dormitories of 8 beds each, a kitchen and dining room, a shower block a sitting room and store room of pasta, beers and wine which you can but via an honesty box. Already there are 8 people there sitting around having a beer while their spaghetti cooks on the gas stove. They invite us to have dinner with them. We trot off to the shower which is supposed to be gas heated but we can’t get it to work. So I use a small cold wet towelto wash over, Ian jet boils a small cup of hot water to have a splash, and soon we’re down in the hut having spaghetti with the group.
The sunset over the alps is amazing as we sit and chat. Some have come from Spluga, some are going to Spluga and Rainer, an Alpine Guide and his client Michael from Zurich are going down to Brione in teh Varzasca Valley. Rainer tells us the track to Spluga, where we had planned to walk tomorrow, was very technical with some cables and iron stirrups - not a real problem as we knew it was a T4 difficulty track, but it’s also a blue and white alpine track and teh temperatures are forecast to be sub zero - now that’s a problem. We had already cancelled Crystalline when the forecast was for temperatures of -6°C to -2°C, but the early cold arctic blast over Switzerland is extended to the alpine area near Spluga. He’s not taking his client Michael there, and highly advised us not go, suggesting we walk back down to Brione with him and his client Michael.
We weigh up the odds and decide for safety we’d go back down to Brione, catch the bus to Locarno, then select the less alpine areas lower tha 1500 metres to visit Valle Maggia. We were lucky we completed the section of teh Via Alpini when we did and those passes are snowed under now.