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August 2nd
Itinerary: Traverse of Rocce del Gridone and Gridone itself. Descent to Lago Maggiore!
Distance: 20,0 km
Time: 10 hours 15 minutes (including 55 minutes for the stops)
Vertical distance: 1690 m uphill; 2390 m downhill
After a long drive from the hotel at Premeno, Peter and I started at 8.30 a.m. at Pian del Barch, a small hamlet below the imposing north face of the Rocce del Gridone. The path was well marked and led up some 800 m to the foot of the face. This turned out to be easier than expected with some scrambling and 3 fixed ropes. The traverse of the ridge above was exciting but time consuming, always well marked with red and white paint. We reached the Bocchetta del Fornale in just under 5 hours instead of the 6 hours indicated in the guide book, probably because we were not using a rope. Then another half hour took us to the summit of Gridone, 2188 m, obviously very popular – about 30 people at the top on this Sunday. We then had to descend almost exactly 2000 m to Lago Maggiore. This took well over 4 hours and was very frustrating at the end since the roads and paths were not steep enough, going down in rather flat zig-zags. Good weather all day.
Night: Hotel Fiume (and Chinese meal) in Cannobio, Italy.
Photos:
1. Peter on the Rocce del Gridone
2. View of Locarno from the summit of Gridone
