Sunday, August 24, 2008

Pizzo Tre Signori

This Sunday, our friend Massi suggested we meet at the peak of Pizzo 3 Signori. This peak is accessible from Bergamo, where he lives, and also from Valtellina where we were for the weekend. He wanted to meet at the top at 11.30am, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it up there by that time. It was going to be quite trek and I was nowhere near expert status yet. In the end, Massi changed his plans but we decided to go ahead anyway.

We left the house around 6.40am and started at the trailhead at Pescegallo around 7.40am. It was turning out to be a beautiful day, with clear blue skies.


We passed two lakes, lago di Trona and lago di Inferno.


We also passed a house inhabited by caretakers of the dam at lago di Trona, and outside there were these really pretty horses. They looked straight out of some fantasy movie.


And there was other wildlife to be seen. Way up on the mountain, mocking me, 'look how much higher I can climb'. hehe


And up close. These are ibex, I was told, a species of wild mountain goats. We saw quite a few of them and they didn't run off at the sight of humans. I guess they knew they were safe in this protected area.


The ibex offered some distraction. But then it was time to get serious and make the last push at the formidable task ahead of me. (Steep, rocks, steep).


We arrived at the top a little after 11am, ahead of schedule!


We took a short break and admired the panaromic view.


We could make out Milan city in the distance, see a glimpse of lake Como, and the other mountains like the Monte Rosa and Bernina, in the distance.


We made our way down on another trail, going towards lago Rotundo. Here is the view looking back at the peak where we were at just 1/2 hour before descending.


We had to climb up to reach another pass to get to this lake. At the top of the pass, there were more ibex grazing.


The lake looked really pretty from where we were. The problem was getting down. The 'trail' was very steep and made up of midsize and smaller loose rocks. It was literally crumbling beneath our feet. There were some hairy moments. (Don't think we'll be back this way for this reason!)


But we finally did make it down and I was ready at this point to take a breather. Lunch time!


After that the trail back was very pleasant and enjoyable. We passed by lago di trona again, this time from the other end.


The water was so incredibly blue and clear.


And finally, we passed some cows that looked pretty happy chewing grass in the sunshine.


It was a fun hike, minus the 'memorable' experience getting to lago rotundo.

3 comments:

shiva said...

OMG! A panini pic without a bite taken out of it!!! You just broke the blog tradition of posting panini pics with a bite taken out of it...now...now...theres no hope left in this world..for what are with without consistency?

=0p

shiva said...

and OMG those were wild horses? Thats sooooo cool! Suprised that they didnt just run off when they saw you.

lsheryl said...

Noooo, those are not wild horses! But they look really cool.

And oops, I forgot to take a giant bite out of my panino!

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