GTA: Stage 52 Rifugio Quintino Sella - Borgata Maddalena di Pontechianale

Highlights and tour details

From Rifugio Sella (2640 m) take the right bank of Lago Grande di Viso at the end of which you leave the fork (V24) a little further on to the left towards Rifugio Alpetto. You will then come across the Laghi delle Sagnette and proceed slightly up along the mountainside to Passo Gallarino (2727 m). The mule track cuts almost flat across the southern slopes of Punta Trento and soon reaches the wide depression of Passo di San Chiaffredo (2764 m) on the watershed between the Valle Varaita and the Po. From here you continue westwards along the U10 route, passing three stretches of water - first Lago Lungo (2743 m), then a small nameless lake and finally Lago Bertin (2701 m). You will pass a short distance from the Bertoglio bivouac (signposted junction) and begin to descend with hairpin bends along the rocky threshold that leads into the upper basin, reaching the wide Gias Fons basin (2365 m). The mule track continues down through Vallone delle Giargiatte to the beautiful Pian Meyer (2126 m), a meadow dotted with pine trees where the stream wanders forming suggestive meanders. Here we leave a first fork to the left for the Allevè wood and Rifugio Bagnour and continue down to the valley floor which can be reached at the ruins of Grange Gheit (1912 m). You then cross over the stream on a footbridge and reconnect to path U09 coming from Rifugio Vallanta. Turn left and proceed along Rio Vallanta on the hydrographic right. A last stretch of steep path leads to a hydraulic system and then to the car park along the provincial road a few hundred metres from the hamlet of Castello in Pontechianale. From here you cross the dam and go along the right hydrographic bank, following it along the road as far as the centre of Maddalena, the main hamlet of Pontechianale.