Val Susa

04-01-2015

Second hike in 4 days since the start of the year - it must be a good omen! ;-)

This time I was in the Susa Valley with my wife and a couple of friends, and the trail started in Bousson and ended at the Capanna Mautino hut, where we had a much welcomed lunch.

It was a fantastic sunny day, pretty warm for the season, and slightly windy. We found some snow on the trail and towards the top of the mountain, and lots of thick ice spots along the road. My portable crampons (anti-slip soles) did their job pretty well - I can surely recommend them for just such an occasion. I may not cross a glacier on them, but for ice on the trail they just do the trick.

Spiky Plus from Petzl

I recorded the trail on wikiloc: http://tinyurl.com/pu56zrn

To sum the day up - good company, good trail, great weather, food ok.

Here are some pix of the day.

snow has already melted in the lower parts of the trail

ice on the water

the sun's peeping through

that's me, with the Norwegian hat

a view of the Chaberton mountain

food, at last! :-p

Lunch at the Barfe' Refuge

01-01-2015

A nice start of the New Year - a short walk on the mountains with lunch at the Barfe' Ref (Angrogna Valley) in the good company of friends.

The day was a glorious sunny day, warm in spite of the low temperatures - around 0° C.
The walk took about one hour on a snowless trail - just what was needed to prepare the stomach for the excellent Barfe' food. Same way down to help digestion, and the absorpion of the wine and liquor of the after-lunch...

Great food, good walk, great company, lots of laughter - really the year could not have started any better...

Here some pix of the day :-)

some icy spots on the stream

a beautiful sunny day

a woodpile...

...and an old wood-saw

details

details

icy water

in sight of the refuge

a view from the refuge

the beautiful mountains surrounding the refuge

ice in the fountain

winter :-)

Day trip to Albisola

15.07.2014

Had a nice daytrip to Albisola, a nice Ligurian town in the Savona province. I took my parents there for the day and we spent some time with my Aunt who's spending her holidays there. We took a long walk along the seafront and I took some photos of the town... here!

Some views of the town :

the Roman bridge

azuleyos

Trompe l'oeil

artistic seafront

a great view over the fantastic Mediterranean sea

Vallone Piantonetto - Weekend

05.07.2014

Another weekend at Rifugio Pontese. The weather wasn't too bad, slightly overcast, but warm. After having lunch at the Refuge and listening to a drunken "Brown Eyed Girl" sing-a-long, I took a walk on the other side of the mountain to enjoy the afternoon sun.

Rif. Pontese

bridge across the river

Teleccio lake with its dam

blue sky and gentle breeze

 

 

06.07.2014

I had a walk along the Piantonetto Valley - I saw no animals today except a herd of cows grazing peacefully along the stream (and looking at me quite menacingly in my direction as I was passing them... from a distance ;-p)
I also spotted a young ibex, but I could only manage a quick pic before scaring him away when trying to get closer...

ibex cub

cows

The weather was overcast, but not too cold, so I went on reading my book whenever I stopped from the walk, in the tranquility of this mountain setting :-)

I got back to the hut just in time for lunch and as a few droplets of rain were starting to fall... I had seen the clouds coming in from the peaks when I started on my way back.
The mountaineering lot I was sharing the hut with all came back in good time, from the peaks around the valley.

On the way back down we had just enough rain to make us wear our rain jackets and then stopped and just went on with a slight drizzle here and there.

the fog coming in just before our hike down

A very pleasant weekend, with good company and good food :-D

greetings from the green mountain gnome ;-p

... more photos:  http://goo.gl/q4oEWU