The forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms on Saturday night, but we want to camp, so we take our new tent with us and head off to Tessin.
The usual early start from Basel and the train through to Airolo. Bus to the gondola and then the gondola up (with tons of bikes) to save ourselves the first 600-800m of climb. Good to do given the humidity and coming heat.
From the top of the gondola we follow the path for a bit and then head off along one of the service roads for the ski area. Up up and back and forth for a bit until we hit the old marked path leading towards the cliff. Now more steeply up, taking a food break along the way, until getting to the wall itself, a short bit of not-so-nice crossing of a gravelly slab, and then we are on a pretty easy to follow and occasionally marked trail that follows a weak spot in the wall to the top. Nice!
Up on the ridge we enjoy the views and then decide to follow the "trail” down, down the other side towards a herd of cows. Past the cows, another food break, and then onwards to a blue-white path which takes us towards the dam. This heads up a bit and then contours easily along the valley side. A short break at Lago del Forna to appreciate the loveliness and then onward to Lago di Val Sabbia where we pump a bit of water and scope out potential camp sites. Continuing seems more promising, so on we go. Down towards Lago del Naret (there is a road up to this and it is pretty busy), along the edge, and then up to Lago del Corbo. Here there are two tents right next to the path, but we continue to the end of the lake and start looking for spots above it. Plenty of good tent sites here! After some scouting we take a promising one and get the tent set up. The rest of the afternoon is spent enjoying the sun and views, pumping water, etc. By this point the weather forecast has changed and there’s no more rain in the forecast. yay!
After a good dinner we walk up to the next lake and do a bit of sunset-color appreciation and tidying up before going to bed. The plan had been to leave the tent fly rolled up, but given the amount of dew that immediately starts condensing after the sun goes behind the mountains we decide against that… next time!
On Sunday we get take advantage of the early sun (planned for!) and are underway shortly before 8:30 even after a leisurely morning. We rejoin the red-white path and follow it up a bit onto the ridge and then towards the Lago Negro. Nice trail followed by a particularly nice stretch of talus hopping (what a great surprise!) and then we are at the pass and enjoying the views down to the lake and across to the Basodino. Along and down the nice path above the lake and then a food and planning break with views.
After the break, we’ve decided for the blue-white path along and behind the Lago del Cavagnöö, onwards and upwards towards the Cap. Cristallina. When we get to the pass above the Lago Sfundau and see the hut sitting above it, we decide for a change of plans. Up, up to the hut we go, have a nice lunch at the hut, and then continue down the other side of the pass. On the other trip to this region we went straight down to Ossasco, but this time after the walk down through the lovely valley we turn off to the right and traverse the valley side until we arrive back at the gondola station.
Gear note: this was the first trip with our new tent, a Sea to Summit Telos TR 2.
Track:
Stats:
- Day 1: 6:41, 14.1km, ~1300m up, ~600m down
- Day 2: 7:24, 21.2km, ~800m up, ~1400m down
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