Valtellina Week Hike 5: Alpe Val Poschiavina

Overview ~ Notes ~ Flora ~ Photos

 

 

Top left: Terzo Laghetto di Campagneda - reflections of Mount Disgrazia, clouds and sky.

Top right: The northwest flanks of Pizzo Scalino.

Bottom left: Lakes below Passo di Campagneda.

Bottom right: Tracks for Alpe Val Poschiavina Hike. We went clockwise.

Overview

Length: 19.5 km
Duration: 6.5 hours 
Elevation: 665 m
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Valtellina

Notes

In this post, we are on hike 5 of our Valtellina hiking week. Like hike 4, we started and ended at Rifugio Zoia where we were staying for 3 nights. From the rifugio, we walked the 1.5 km to the Alpe Gera Dam, climbed up the dam and then instead of going on the west side of the basin/lake to get to Rifugio Bignami as in hike 4, we stayed on the east side of the lake to reach Val Alpe Poschiavina.

This hike brings you to the Swiss border at Pass da Cancian. We kept seeing stone markers and finally it dawned on us we were on the border between Italy and Switzerland.

At the Pass da Cancian there is a good view of the Altipiano of Fellaria to the north and a view east into the Poschiavo valley. Just a few days earlier, we were climbing up the Poschiava valley in the Bernina Express.

Continuing from Passs da Cancian to Passo di Campagneda, you arrive at the high point of the hike at 2636 m. From this point on Monte Disgrazia is always in the distance to the west.

Just below Passo di Campagneda, we met Alice. We spent the previous night together at Zoia but we did not talk to her because she arrived late and bedraggled. She started out from Rifugio Zoia in one direction and us in the other, and we met in the middle. Alice is from Switzerland (Bern canton) and was hiking from Maloja Switzerland to Poschiavo Switzerland, passing through Italy. By herself and fully equipped but minus a cell phone. What an inspiration at 80 years old!

Flora

[Asteraceae] Tussilago farfara

[Campanulaceae] Phyteuma sp.


[Caryophyllaceae] Silene acaulis


[Gentianaceae] Gentiana sp.


[Orobanchaceae] Bartsia alpina


[Primulaceae] Primula latifolia


[Primulaceae] Soldanella alpina


[Ranunculaceae] Pulsatilla sp.


[Rosaceae] Dryas octopetala


[Rosaceae] Potentilla sp.


[Thymelaceae] Daphne striata


[Violaceae] Viola biflora

Photos

   

Left: The wooden arch at Passo di Campagneda.

Center left: A marker on the Swiss Italian border near Pass da Cancian.

Center right: A piece of serpentine near Passo di Campagneda.
Right: Santuario Madonna della Pace, Prabello.

  
Left: Look at the reflections on Terzo Laghetto di Campagneda - reflections of Mount Disgrazia, clouds and sky.

Center: Looking north over Alpe Val Poschiavina.

Right: Entering into Alpe Val Poschiavina - with Alpe Gera Dam behind us.

  

Left: Heading toward the Alpe Prabello and Rifugio Cristina

Center: View from Rifugio Cristina, Alpe Prabello.

Right: Houses near Rifugio Ca Runcasch.