Marta's Monterosa Blog

Hiking the Walser Path to Mascognaz in December

marta@thealps.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:02:00 GMT

Ok, what are you supposed to do when you have 16 happy guests coming to Monterosa for skiing 3 days and the snow has not come yet?

You worry like crazy and think how the crap you are going to manage this.

Then as a miracle, you are driving your rental car to Champoluc and white flakes fall slowly to the road – and you don’t even have any chains….

But this is amazing and all is going to be fine at the end!

Well, it is not snowing forever, and the open slopes in Champoluc these days are only 2, Ostafa and Sarezza. Not so much you think, but then you also think that this was what there was at all when you were a teenager, for a century ago, and you were in love with this place. So where is the problem?

We skied our two slopes and then we went hiking to one of the enchanted places around: Mascognaz. It is a 1600th century village at 2000 meters with a private road accessible only to hard core vehicles as a Swedish military vehicle or scooters.

To come here we went through the woods on a Walser path. The Walser inhabited these regions above 1500 meters and spread out all over the Alps with their beautiful villages.

We had a discussion on our way about how self sufficient they were. They handled on salt for example, and they probably exchanged salt against milk or things like that. So they were not totally self sufficient in the end. Anyways - they lived where others could not manage to live. As Mascognaz.

Now there is a charming hotel in Mascognaz, that a man with a vision let build here for love more than believing he would get so much money out of it. He is as I am an old tourist in Champoluc, his grand father hiking all the way by feet to get here at the beginning of the last century. That man started a trend in the valley of Champoluc, of rebuilding old houses and letting old villages on their last breath get back to life again.

On the ancient Walser path we go between Crest and Mascognaz and my Swedish guests are enchanted. It is probably one of the best experiences of the whole trip. So different to all that they have been imagining of thinking about their trip to the Alps.

Witches in the Italian Riviera and in Monterosa

marta@thealps.com — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:48:44 GMT

It is Halloween or even better in Italy it is called ”The Dead”. It is the holiday when people are allowed to leave their jobs for a couple of days to go home and honor their dead ones. An old tradition, still living in the soul of many.

I was making my trip to check some new hotels and places in Italy for coming travels with my guests, and had totally forgotten about the celebration that was expected. Except for the fact that nearly everything this time reminded me of dead, witches and phantoms.

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From the top of Monterosa to the

marta@thealps.com — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:03:14 GMT

Sardinian sea, the step seems long. But in the morning we woke up at Rifugio Guide di Ayas, Lambronecca, 3420 m, and at 9 pm we drove in our car in a ferry to Olbia.

The differences in the Italian landscape are huge, as everyone knows. The mountains are big and real and the Mediterranean is always present not only because of the blue sea that surround nearly all the borders of my country, but also because it is the cause of the good food and wines, and of the spirit of the people, even the people living in the Italian Alps.

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A magic “agriturismo” in Liguria, Italy

marta@thealps.com — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:57:12 GMT

I have had a pretty busy day – taking care of my guests, a little climbing and biking, driving the minibus on the tormented roads of the Italian hills, finding good restaurants and having lots of fun in the meantime. When I finally went to my room at midnight I was to bed in seconds, tired but happy. It uses to be at this moment of my day as a guide in my own travel business, that I can relax and perhaps overview the spent hours mostly with a smile in my heart.

My room at the “agriturismo” Il Bandito e La Principessa in Finale Ligure was under the roof and the windows were barely one big and one small hole, slipping in the tepid air of the Mediterranean night. On one side there was another hole as a door, no pavement and, as the only decoration, an overhanging bouldering wall. Two ropes hang from the ceiling, with clothes hangers where my dresses swayed slowly as magic shadows in front of the big gorgeous bed I laid on. Silence, the darkness interrupted by small candle lamps in all different colours.

I was perfectly lucky.

" Narra una antica leggenda che qui, come in tutti i castelli che si rispettano, ogni tanto tornino a farci visita vecchi ospiti vissuti in altre epoche....narra quella leggenda che rimanendo piacevolmente affascinati dalla pace e dalla buona armonia che regna nelle nostre camere passino intere giornate a sonnecchiare e fare incetta di marmellate e dolcetti..." can be read in the home page of the agriturismo.

The house is a manor built by a Maresciallo Caviglia (one of Italy’s first generals, and a pretty singular personality – but this is a story too long to be told here) in the beginning of the past century on top of an ancient house that was built on top of a 1500th century chapel, and so on. This area of Liguria is known for prehistorical caves, so who knows when the first people were sitting here looking out at the landscape, and even if they had a tougher life than our and no time for contemplation, I am sure they were captured by the natural and spiritual beauty of it. The house is on a rock above the valley of Feglino, a village of a couple of hundred souls. It is surrounded by soft hills in the green of the Mediterranean macchia, a real jungle of all possible bushes and small trees where wild pigs, rabbits and birds find their most luxurious habitat.

Today it is Raffaella and Giuliano who rule over the property, and they give the place its wonder, continuing the tradition of the house - it is obvious that it is one of those places with a soul on Earth, you feel it when you stop and open your mind for a moment. Raffaella worked in finance (in one of Berlusconi’s many companies!) in her life before Il Bandito e La Principessa, coming from an intellectual family in Rome. She is a rock climber. Giuliano, is a rock climber and was travelling all over the world to find the best walls, before he settled down with La Principessa in this spot, where he doesn’t feel the need of go back to his nomadic life anymore – or at least not for the moment. They have restored both house and land with loving care of the story of the place and real passion for biological cultures. Agriturismo means that you open your house for tourists, and use the products of your land for their and your meals, so why not try to produce the best possible tomatoes, grapes and olives?

When we arrived at the house, they were welcoming us in their kitchen – stopping whatever they were doing at the moment, if baking some delicious quiche in the oven or trimming the fruit trees in the land - as they do with all the many different kind of guests passing by during one day, from the lady whit fresh nettle tagliatelle to the bricklayer who is also a climbing friend, to the other rooms’ guests – everyone is treated in the same friendly and personal way. Everyone who comes here is going to become a respected and beloved friend in the turn of a few hours. There is always a smile and time for a talk, which make you drop stress and anxiety.

I had the occasion of spending four times at Il Bandito e La Principessa and I can say that my impression of the people and the place was growing better for each. The secret for me is that Raffaella and Giuliano live in full contact with earth, which occupies their energy and mind, and that they have decided to open their home for all kind of passengers, which gives them a never ending flow of love. The last days I felt completely at home and had no worries left, even if I still had my guests to take care of and help. They seamed on the other hand not to need so much from me anymore, sitting around the big table of the agriturismo after a delicious dinner with all the others, guests or not, in this magic place.

Finale Ligure, Italian Riviera – a part of the Alps

marta@thealps.com — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:57:15 GMT

Did you know that the Italian Riviera is also a part of the Alps? The Maritime Alps go down to the Mediterranean sea, and you will believe it, when you are in Finale Ligure.

First of all, the landscape of Finale reminds more of the mountains than of the sea. Big cliff walls, green woods and wild birds. Ancient villages clinging at the mountain sides, and it is a place for sheep and wild mushrooms.

Moreover, the people that use to travel to Finale are mostly climbers and downhill bikers from all over the world. you will rather find outdoor gears than swimming suits.

But at the same time there are some fine pearls at sea, that you should not miss, such as the longest sandy beach of this area in the village of Varigotti, and the Cetacean Sanctuary, a triangle between Genova, Nice and Sardinia, passing this coast. Good to plunge in the sparkling clean water after playing on the “falesia” or refreshing from the mud of the bike trails, especially “off season”, when the beach is still free from the tourist establishment.

Want to know more? Follow us and read our story. In fact thealps have been there with our guests, and we have found a perfect place for the most genuine experience of Finale Ligure. I am soon going to write more about where we were lodged, a magic mixture of farm, castle and chapel! Read next blog to know about the agriturismo Il Bandito e La Principessa.

But for the moment I would like you to know more about the area. The town of Finale is composed by different parts: one is the town on the beach, perhaps the one you can imagine in the Italian Riviera style, with palms and lots of uninteresting restaurants, shopping strokes and hotels, each one like the other, expensive and pretty ugly.

An other is the Medieval village a bit back off the coast, Finalborgo, with its intimate main square where climbers and bikers join after playing all day, to have a drink or an ice cream, or both, at the Café Centrale, followed sometimes by a visit at the Spaghetteria Sotto il Santo for dinner.

This main square is also very well known for 2 epic shops, Rockstore and Rivieraoutdoor (with the slogan”Everything for your bike – free beer”) which are meeting points for all the “real men” of the area. The owners of the first one are not only climbers and bikers, they have also published the most complete guides for climbing and biking in Finale, a bible for the many followers.

Then there is also a more secluded area uphill, a few kilometers from the beach, places where you will see more wild pigs than people, villages with imaginary names as Orco (Orch…), Altare, Caviglia. Here you are in the most beautiful environment, if you like breath taking views and the smell of rosemary of the Mediterranean jungle.

Here is where the playing is going on: there are more than 2000 marked climbing walls and hundreds of marked downhill or MTB trails in the wild forests around Finale Ligure. All levels are represented and it makes this area an internationally well known playground for these adrenaline liberating sports.

thealps tried biking on the Altopiano delle Manie, a plateau hanging 300 meters above Varigotti and Noli. Breath taking views from the vertical cliffs plunging in the sea. The trails we chosed suited our level of capability on a bike, which is barely touristic, but were sometimes cut by some real fast and furious biker on one of the most advanced downhill trails. Hang on!

We also tried climbing on the cliffs called the Orera, were there are ways on the right level for us (from 4 to 5). The natural stone is calcare and the erosion of water and winds builds moon formed walls that are perfect for climbing, with many holes for hands and feet. Our guides tell us that it can be a problem with so many holes, because you can make so many errors when you have so many possibilities and an error when you are on an advanced wall means that you fall or that you must start over from the beginning again.

But there are also trails for people who like hiking and trekking and horse back riding as well. Not to talk about the many historical sites you will stumble on in the woods, from the hundreds of natural caves formed during thousends of years, to the chapels inherited from the Middle Age, and the Arabian fortification towers, against the innumerable invasions from the sea. If you want to know more about this fascinating history you should visit the Museo Archeologico in Finalborgo, in a rainy day…

My first ski tour – a whole new world

marta@thealps.com — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:28:19 GMT

“After an espresso at Atelier Gourmand, the classic Italian bar right under the first ski lift in Champoluc (1568), we took three lifts to Colle Sarezza (2700). Then we skied for five minutes, put on our skins and started the ascent towards the lakes of Pinter and Perrin – where I have been many times in the summer…

But this time it was ALL different. First; I have never walked up-hill with skins. Second; the ground was covered with white glitter. Third; there is no avalanche-risk in the summer. So; yes, I was excited! It was easy for me to put on the skins and understand how to use the bindings’ different settings. The problem was my speed. When I run, I usually run faster when I come to a steep part of the trail. Walking uphill with skis should be steep! So my technique to hurry up when it got a bit harder was not optimal. When we got up to the top, I was told how important it is to get a nice pace going. One step at a time, in a comfortable speed, and NO stopping!

We climbed for almost two hours, marking the steep hill with large Zs’. The view was indescribably beautiful. Being on top of a mountain like that, close to 3000 meters, is an incredibly awesome feeling.

Finally on the top, looking down on the ice and snow-covered Lake of Perrin, we sat down for a moment. With some sweet Swedish blueberry soup and well-deserved chocolate we got new energy. I was already very satisfied when it was time to descend. There were enough untouched parts of powdery snow for all of us. We slid by soft pillows, that shimmered in blue and white

Then we reached the woods and continued through the trees toward a small river, where I usually stop to rest a bit when I do the same tour in the summer. It was a lovely feeling to sit down and relax at the little restaurant (Frantze) in the old part of Crest. Happiness and a sense of accomplishment.

As the snowboarder I am, I never cared so much for ski mountaineering. I sometimes walked a bit, just to get a little higher than the other tours I could reach easily with my board. But, now I know what I’ve missed! And I’m definitely going to continue practicing my touring skills to get the most out of the mountain, even during the winter season. And I’ll do it either with my board on my shoulders or with the light touring skis I tried on this fantastic adventure.”

Guest blog by Nastassja Capetillo

Ski mountainering Monterosa

marta@thealps.com — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:47:37 GMT

There is a way to beware a feeling of being out in the Wild even in the crowded Alps and on skis: put skins under them and climb to unspoiled parts of the mountain. It is sufficient to go where you don’t have any lifts and you are suddenly drowned in silence again.

thealps crew tried this new experience last day and the effect was of total LOVE! And the realization that some of the muscles you use to do this sport are not the same you use when you ski downhill, not even off pist. Good to know! This activity needs Very Good Condition, even more because of the height you practice it at.

We were following Marco Spataro, a friend mountain guide and his clients at a short distance. It is vital to know where exactly you should go to avoid avalanches, and we are aware of the risks. Never go on a tour like this without expertise! Obviously you also need the right security equipment: transceiver, pole and shovel, and you should know how to use them. But even more important is to be able to read the mountain, the weather and the snow. We decided to follow the traces left before us by our guide.

The Tour is called Perrin and goes to a lake covered by snow right now. I suddenly see it before me as it uses to look like in summer time! Worth a hiking trip for sure, to Champoluc. If you want to go just tell me…

The ski mountaineering trip starts from the lift of Sarezza at 2700 meters. From here we ski along with the mountain Testa Grigia on a trail which shows to be real challenging for me: icy, full with stones, and the guys before me (I am the last in the row) are running. When we reach the point where we have to put on our skins, I am pretty much tired already. And now we have to learn how to manage those pair of skins with glue and all.

But the effort is not so big and soon we are off to the climbing part of the tour. It is important to maintain a slow and continuous pace when you go upwards, and the girls with me are not really following this suggestion: they are in their twenties and never tired! The tricky part of climbing is the changes of direction, in Swedish so called “Lappkast”. I believe the girls will tell about it, so I pass.

The guys with the guide go longer today and we stop at the pass above the Lake Perrin at 2700 meters. My T-shirt is wet and we have some hot blueberry soup that Emma offers before we start our descent.

We are in a hurry to go down because I have forgotten to leave my car’s keys to Linn, a Norwegian girl who is supposed to drive one of my clients to the airport in the meanwhile. So we have to run downhill all the way to Champoluc, (1000 meters below the pass).

The descent is incredible, still full with fresh untouched powder and steep and easy and smooth and…I fall on my nose, because I did not see a bump and because I did not fastened my bindings well enough! I like my equipment very much, K2 Wayback, Marker bindings and Scarpa boots (very beautiful green above all!), but I understand now that it had been a good idea to try them in all terrain before getting off for a tour.

The conclusions: I am happy, I want more, I am tired and I need a couple of rest days before next tour!

Finale, a secret place in Liguria, Italy

marta@thealps.com — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:32:18 GMT

I came home yesterday and still cant believe that I was going around at the beginning of February with 18 degrees of temperature. Climate in Northern Italy can be real nice, especially because it had been snowing until Sunday in the same place!

I am in Finale, a secret spot for the mainstream of tourism, and this is only a positive thing! Finale is composed by 3 different parts: on the beach – Finalmarina, the town Finale Ligure and the citadel from the Middle Age, when people did not go to the beach if not to fish, occasionally – Finalborgo. And the surroundings are also Finale. Difficult to understand? Don’t try with Google because they cant help!

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No powder - great mountains

marta@thealps.com — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:44:44 GMT

For all of you who are looking for powder in the Alps, I have bad news – there is no powder! We are still waiting for a huge snowfall, but it seems like we have to be patient.

it is indeed a spiritual experience to slide down in the weightless white substance coming from the sky and taking away all sounds and noises! But the good news are that we have fun and some real great experience in the mountains anyway.

The sun in the tiny air at 3000 meters above the see makes miracles!

The rifugio Guglielmina is open and filled with good smiles in the evening. A perfect start in the morning when you want to be alone on the slopes.

I have some days in Champoluc and Monterosa with my guests and ski all day even if the off pist is not so much to tell about regarding the snow conditions. But the landscape and the feeling of being very small in the mistery of nature!

One of the best things I know is to challenge my guests with a hard match at the Ristoro Sitten in Gressoney.

Here there is a poem on the wall about the fact that you will forget yourself and your problems the higher you reach in the mountains, and I am sure it is true. When I am above 2000 meters I don’t remember how lonely I feel without my children and my husband who are in another part of Europe these days…

I am happy to show this place for other families and friends, and they probably will remember this journey with pleasure for a long time. Then I know I have done what I am supposed to do here.

And there are many friends to reach out to in Champoluc where I live during winter time. There are many Swedes who enjoy this little unpretentious village, and they stay during a season or some of them even find a way of moving here from Sweden when they are still young and don’t have a family, or build a new family in this place. It is because Champoluc is so very easy going and the spot on the planet is beautiful! Everyone is welcome in the community!

Tuesday nights it is time for the weekly come together of the Hotel Castor. Herman is a show man and involves everyone in his great “Music Night”. You are welcome too!

Punta Indren - Monterosa: a challenge for snowboarders

marta@thealps.com — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:45:44 GMT

I am a skier and my sun – a teen ager and snowboarder – swears I never become a boarder, not only because I am too old, but because it is a way of life that I don’t even get a hint of.

“Mother, you don’t know what it means to chill out”

After last day I can probably understand a little bit better what he means: skiing and snowboarding are two different sports and there is a sort of impossibility to have them in the same pot – not to tell of the same slope!

let’s start at the beginning:

I was supposed to guide 4 boarders for a pist tour of the Monterosa ski area. I took my snowboarding kids with me to be sure my guests from Germany could do with their boards what I was going to take them to.

So long no problems. We went from Fraschey in the Ayas Valley with the lift system up to Passo Salati through the Valley of Gressoney.

First stop at Rifugio Guglielmina for a strong “espresso”. I love this place and I have such a good feeling coming to this enchanted place with the incredible view of all the Italian Alp chain to the east. The peaks around Guglielmina sound as a deep Tibetan choir when you stand on the edge of the rifugio’s terrace.

My snowboarding kids have always told me that it is a problem for a boarder to perform a longer traverse, because it is like standing on your toe tips or heels and it gets exhausting very soon. But the most beautiful, and best among the easier off pists in Monterosa is the Olen and it is really funny to make long traverses necessary to come in line for the long steep slopes of the sides of the valley.

I had fun anyway, but I realized that some of my German guests were not as happy for this slope as I was.

“Hurry up a little bit, it’s cold to sit down and wait!”

I really know little about snowboarders!

The real challenge is the other big and easy offf pist of Monterosa, Punta Indren. The highest lift of the ski system takes you to 3275 meters on the glaciers. there is no pist here but a traced trail that you must follow if you are not together with a mountain guide or a skier very experienced of this place. The starting point is beautiful and from here you have a long run of about 1000 fall meters with narrow coloirs and – yes – long traverses and small forcing passages.

Because it is exposed to the sun on the south the snow on the slope of Punta Indren can be packed and sometimes icy, if it has not snowed in a while. It is always different from day to day, depending on the temperature, the wind and the weather conditions.

This is high mountain and it is important to be sure you are able to ski on all kinds of ground. Security is not an option and I recommend all who want to go through this experience to have a check at the suggestions of the ones who know: ask a guide for advice and check the web.

There is a very beautiful rifugio and restaurant in the middle of the slope at around 2600 meters, Oreste’s Hütte - dedicated to one of the mitical guides of Gressoney - and we stopped for a good lunch on their big and sunny terrace. Organic drinks and biological food are part of the philosophy of the place.

BUT the last part of the slope IS better for people with poles and free feet, NOT for the ones who have to push themselves on the small traces of the skiers to reach the pist down to Stafal in Gressoney. My guests were completely exhausted at the end of this adventure!

Final results of this tour if you are a snowboarder:

prepare yourself to a strength test

have poles with you

check the security material

with a mountain guide you can go down to Stafal without doing the last traverse – more difficult and challenging.