Four days in Tessin: Cap. Cadlimo to Gotthard pass

Breakfast at 7:00 (and a good one) and underway by around 7:45.

It’s lovely and blue sky again; still a bit cool.

We start along the blue-white path behind the hut towards the Passo Bornengo. Nice going along the rocks, around some hard frozen snow fields, past a mostly frozen lake, and then up, up, past another lake, up, over snow, up up to the ridge. Fantastic views! This is a really nice block ridge with a bit of exposure, a bit of balance, and a bit of scrambling. Oh, and great views! The spicy bits all have chains and/or steps, which is nice given that we are mostly downclimbing. The pass comes sooner than it needs to and we rejoin the red-white hiking path and start down, down into the nice valley towards the Maighelshütte. Over some snow fields, along the flat bottom, past a forest of cairns, and then lightly off to the left and up to the Maighelspass. Here a food break while enjoying the views and then we start the long descent down towards the Vermigelhütte.

Down, down, down until we hit the road, up a bit to the hut, quick decision that we want to stick with our original plan, quick water bottle filling, and then up, up, up through the gentle, round, green valley towards the Sellapass. Steadily up, enjoying the breeze and the views and the walking; nice food break, and then up some more. Where it starts to get steeper we run into a young woman who asks if we are going through the pass and, once we confirm that we are, asks if she can come with us, she had turned back at a snow field before but would rather go through the pass than back down through the valley. of course we agree, so we continue up as a group of three. There are some steep snow fields along the way, but the snow is good for making steps and with a bit of creativity and care we make our way through the tricky bits and then further up to the pass. More great views, a bit along the ridge to the buildings, a photo, water, and view break, and then we start our way down.

Down, down, down, along an easy path with a few snow fields, down, down, saying goodbye to the long views, down down to the lake above the dam. From here it’s easy, mostly along the road, to get to the Gotthard pass. We have a bit of time, so we enjoy a bratwurst in the sun (and wind!) before getting on the bus down to Airolo.

Another really nice day!

Track:

Stats: 7:50, 21.0km, 1170m up, 1620m down