[Trek] Monte Vecchio

From Tetti Zitun (1251 m), a farm track passes behind the hamlet and leads to a small gias. The track ends just beyond this point, at a fork: the route ignores the mule track on the right, leading to Limone and the Garb Camilla, and takes the trail on the left for Colle Arpiola.The route almost immediately passes a track that continues straight on and instead turns towards the left. Passing by two more turnoffs, the first on the right and the second on the left, leading to a drinking trough nearby, the trail joins the track coming from Sant'Anna, turns to the right and climbs uphill to the next fork, only a few dozen meters further on, following the trail on the right and ignoring the one on the left.The trail then proceeds on a very long traverse through old pastures that have been partly taken over by thickets of shrubs. At an altitude of about 1580 m, near a drinking trough, the many animal tracks obscure the trail somewhat: the trail reappers after the water trough, however, and veers to the left, then back to the right, where it begins to climb steeply, with tight switchbacks on grassy slopes, until it reaches the Colle Arpiola pass (1682 m, 1 hour and 20 minutes from Tetti Zitun).The pass is a sort of crossroads: the route ignores both the trail to the left for Bec Baral and the lower Gias Creusa and the trail that descends on the opposite slope towards Tetti Verna and Vernante, turning instead to the right (northeast) for Monte Vecchio. The trail follows the crest of the ridge, at first proceeding flatly along the divide with the Val Grande di Palanfrè, then climbing up rather steeply to the grassy slopes of Monte Vecchio. The trail, small but clearly visible, proceeds slightly on the Palanfrè side of the divide and ascends the steepest part with a series of switchbacks. Then, leveling out somewhat, it continues along the crest of the divide up to the top of Monte Vecchio (1923 m, 45 minutes from the Colle Arpiola pass), at the very end of which there is another brief uphill ramp.

Modified: 6 years ago