This is a particularly intense stage, best suited to experts, with a couple of enjoyable technical stretches and a final descent that’ll put your knees to the test. On the bright side, it offers jaw-dropping scenery of immense variety: from the rocky realms at the start, to the pastoral flatland surrounding Val Trivena at the end.
From the Carè Alto refuge (2,459 m), take path 222 and, leaving the imposing mass of Carè Alto to the right, climb in about an hour to Bocca di Conca (2,674 m). Once past Bocca di Conca, you enter Valletta Dosson (or Val Cavento) and descend to Malga Dosson Casina (2,363 m): this area is also described by Lieutenant Felix Hecht in his memoirs. Near the malga there is a cosy bivouac and remains of the command post of the Upper Valletta sub-sector. Continue downhill along the San Valentino valley to the Malga Valletta Bassa hut and the junction with trail no. 225, which takes you back up to altitude. You pass the Coston della Valletta pass (2,350 m) and the Cunella bivouac (2,280 m); going up the head of the Stacciole valley, you reach the Bocca della Cunella (2,523 m). In this section, the path is rather uneven and equipped with short iron ladders and fixed ropes. From Bocca della Cunella, descend into the Trivena valley, keeping the Cop di Breguzzo and Cop di Casa peaks to the right and passing the grassy clearing of Pian di Redont. Finally, we reach the Trivena refuge (1,650 m, tel. +39 0465 901019, www.trivena.com) which, as well as offering food and accommodation, houses a collection of war relics.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Cunella and Dosson Alto Lakes
- The marshy plain at the top of Val Trivena
- The managers of Rifugio Trivena
