La Strada Altissima della Leventina

La Strada Altissima della Leventina – not to confuse with the "Strada Alta della Leventina" – is a challenging hike along the mountain ridge that divides the Valle Leventina from the Valle Blenio. The whole tour is graded with the SAC grade T5, but the tour alternates between easy walking terrain and more exposed ridge climbing. In the SAC guide book "Alpinwandern Tessin", the tour is described as a four-day hike, starting in Biasca and ending in Val Piora. Since we only had a weekend, we decided to shorten the tour to make it a two-day round trip. This also saved us quite some meters in altitude, as we could start the hike at the small mountain village Molare on 1488 m.


The first section led us through an exceptionally wild forest composed of a mix of conifer and deciduous trees, with little streams and mushrooms in all sizes and colors. Getting higher, the forest was clearing up and we had once more great joy to soak in the strong orange-red autumn colors of the larch trees. It didn't take long though and we also left the larch trees behind us, reaching the grassy and rocky slopes of the Leventina ridge.
The first ridge part – from Passo Crastumo to Rifugio Gana Rossa – does not present any particular difficulties (T4-) and is continuously marked with blue dots. It offers fantastic views in all directions, especially from Pizzo Molare, the high-point on this day. The highest peak in Ticino, the ice-capped Rheinwaldhorn, rises to the west, the Gotthard pass road winds its way up in the north, part of another fantastic and exposed ridge hike, the "Via Alta della Verzasca", presents itself to the south, and the bouldering area of Chironico lies deep down in the valley.
Just shortly after sunset we reached our overnight stay, the Rifugio Gana Rossa. Six fellow hikers were already there and had fired the stove, heated the hut, and even finished their dinner and offered us their left-overs, which we hungrily ate before preparing our own meal: Risotto al Tartufo! It was just a ready-mixed Risotto from the Supermarket, but it tasted amazing and afterwards the whole rifugio smelled like Tartufo (truffle). ;) We finished our beers, went outside to watch the bright stars on the clear sky, but didn't stay awake much longer and were happy about some recovering sleep in this quiet and cosy alpine hut.



The next day didn't begin too hurried – with a strong Moka coffee and a thick slice of nutritious Pannettone (Italian sweet Christmas bread). Back on the ridge we were glad that we had a such a good breakfast to feed the nerves. This second part of the hike required more path-finding skills, as there were no markings anymore and it didn't allow for any fear of heights. Steep grass slopes interchanged with ridge sections along large to huge granite blocks. The first peak, Pizzo di Campello, was such a steep-grass top, while the last ridge part from Pizzo d'Era to Pizzo Predelp was pure granite fun.
Although the weather was nice, warm, and sunny, the north-west facing side of the ridge was covered with a thin layer of ice – just enough to make you slip immediately if not careful enough. Luckily we could avoid sidestepping on the north-west side in most parts and thus eventually reached Pizzo Predelp, the last peak along our ridge tour, healthy and in good mood. Due to way finding issues and slow and careful walking, this part of the hike (rated T5) took as much longer than expected (~6 hours) and it probably requires an ice-free and long summer day to cover the whole stretch from the Rifugio Gana Rossa to Piora on one day, as described in the SAC guide book.


The descent from Passo Predelp to the village Predelp was easy and beautiful, and the remaining part back to Molare lead us once again through magical forests with lots of mushrooms.

Indian summer in Engadin 2019

After hiking through the Swiss National Park and having visited the tax-free Italian commune Livigno and the scenic Val da Camp rather by chance in autumn 2017 ...


... we returned in autumn 2018 with more time and our mountainbikes to Livigno, to ride the plenty and flowy trails amidst orange larch trees ...


... and then extended our time in this utterly beautiful corner of Switzerland even longer this year.

Using the spectacular Rhaetian Railway, winding up to Bernina pass through disorientating loop tunnels, we went from Poschiavo via Pontresina to Scuol, where our 3-day mountainbike tour started.


Having just half a day left after the long train ride, the distance covered on the first day was rather short (32 km; 1'280 m up, 800 m down) but great for warming up! Through the scenic Val S-Charl, a good road led us to the Pass da Costainas (2'250 m), from which we raced down to the quaint town of Tschierv in Val Müstair. Not sure whether we were so fast going downhill because of the steep path - or rather because of the wood-fired pizza that was promised to be served in the hotel Al rom... .


During the second day, we covered the longest distance of the trip (60 km; 1'450 m up, 808 m down) but also discovered one of the most enjoyable downhill trails. Our day started with a rich breakfast in the hotel that gave us enough power to climb from Tschierv into Val Mora, a secluded and wild valley without major infrastructure. The valley is enclosed by mountains and passes and streaked by a wide riverbed, which reminded us pretty much of New Zealand and scenes from Lord of the Rings. The river (creatively named "Aua da Val Mora") drains through another valley, which is more narrow and steep, and along which the fun and flowy downhill part leads.


Towards the end of the valley we crossed into Italy and followed the shores of two large dammed lakes, having a refreshing beer-stop at Rifugio Val Fraele in between. What followed was a looooong ride on a gravel road which winds "flat as a pancake" along the mountain slopes high above the Valdidentro, with fantastic views of the almost 4000 m tall Ortler above and the town of Bormio below.


At the end of this gravel road we entered Val Viola with the Rifugio Viola, our overnight destination, almost at its highest point. A last 400 m climb through this yet another beautiful and dramatic valley led us to our well earned polenta dinner (boiled cornmeal, a typical mountain hut dish in northern Italy) and the rustic but comfy beds with thick woolen blankets.


It was fresh the next morning - but the short climb to the Pass da Val Viola, where we crossed back into Switzerland and where the sun was waiting for us, warmed us up quickly. The rest of the day was almost all pure downhill joy with a mix of flowy and rocky trails interspersed with breaks under golden larch trees and at the mountainous landscape mirroring lakes. We were back in Val da Camp – the valley that we discovered in 2017 and that surely is one of the most stunning valleys in Switzerland, especially during autumn when the larch trees assemble in their green-orange-red color orchestra.



We didn't descent all the way from Val da Camp to Poschiavo, where the Yeti was waiting for our return, but traversed along the sunny slope of the valley on a slow but steadily downhill leading path all the way to to Lago di Poschiavo. In total we also covered about 60 km that last day, but with only 852 m ascent, we got 2243 m of downhill fun. I could so feel it in my tired arms in the evening.
Yeah, and best things last. Tirano in Italy with an estimated density of one pizzeria every 50 meters was only a short 15 km car drive away. We literally just went into the pizzeria closest to the parking, Pizzeria Belvedere, and I got one of the best pizzas ever: gorgonzola with radicchio – followed by a home-made delicious Tiramisu. Jummy!!

Although it was Sunday evening and we were exhausted from the three-day ride, the weather forecast promised a sunny Monday and we couldn't resist the temptation to prolong the weekend and to take the Rhaetian Railway up to Bernina Pass again to ride down twice – once on the southern side back to Poschiavo and once on the northern side to Pontresina. That was definitely the icing on the cake and the perfect end of our perfect Engadin mountainbike trip 2019. I am already looking forward to autumn 2020... .