Lepontine Alps, Switzerland
Pizzo Campolungo is a mountain of the Lepontine Alps, overlooking Prato and Dalpe in the Leventina valley of the canton of Ticino. It lies just south of the Campolungo Pass.
The plan for the weekend was a 2 days circular hike around Pizzo Campo Lungo starting in Dalpe, with an overnight at Capanna Campo Tencia. We have chosen this route through Passo Venett with Capanna Leit on the way in case the conditions/time would not allow us to reach Capanna Campo Tencia. It was November and there was already snow in the mountains but we didn’t know exactly how much snow is over there…
Trip Summary
Duration: 2 days (11-12 October 2017)
Route: Dalpe – Passo Venett – Capanna Leit – Pizzo delle Löite – Capanna Leit – Passo Venett – Dalpe
Distance: 22.1 km
Ascent: 1380 m / Descent: 1380 m
Total number of hikers met along the way: 0
DAY 1
Duration: 7h 10min
8:10 Dalpe parking 1192m
8:55 Boscobello 1345m
10:00 Scontra 1670m
10:20 Alpe Cadonighino 1750m
11:00 Stüéi
12:20 Passo Venett 2138m
15:20 Capanna Leit 2257m
We started our hike in Dalpe at 8:10 AM from small parking located in front of a small supermarket (Address: Botea da Dalp, Nucleo Dalpe 17, 6774 Dalpe) and headed toward Boscobello. It was a beautuful, sunny, autumn day. The sky was blue and views over Dalpe and rourrounding mountains were magical. The snow started already in Scontra at an altitude ca 1600m. This is where we met 2 hunters looking for prey which turned out to be the last human beings we have encountered before coming back to Dalpe the next day.
The 1000m ascent to Passo Venett was quite challenging but the trail was visible and straightforward without any major obstacles. It was just hard work. We reached the highest point of Passo Venett after 4 hours. Only 35 min behind the time indicated on a signpost in Dalpe. So far, so good but from this point the hike got tough. There is a straight route to Capanna Leit from here, running south-west along the mountainside and the signpost indicated only 25min to the hut. The snow cover was arround 50 cm and we could not identify this route when we looked at the mountain in front of us. Even if the trail was somwhere there, it seemed quite dangerous to climb that route in these conditions. We decided to make a detour and take the route down to Alpe Campolunge. It took us 3 long hours before we finally saw the roof of Capanna Leit. The time was 15:20, much too late to continue towards Capanna Campo Tencia so we set up fire in the oven, put some bacon on frying pan, poured some strong beverages in our cups and relaxed after 7 hours climb in deep snow. It was one of these nights you never forget. No electricity, no network coverage, 1 hour light only from solar batteries, no water (snow can be easily converted to water), quietness and beutiful snowy landscape outside.
DAY 2
Duration: 9h 15min
8:45 Capanna Leit 2257m
9:15 – 11:35 Passo Leit / Bocchette Passo Leìt
11:35 Pizzo delle Löite ca. 2420m
12:35 Capanna Leit 2257m
14:45 Alpe Campolungo
15:05 Passo Venett 2138m
16:00 Alpe Cadonighino 1750m
16:30 Scontra 1670m
18:00 Dalpe 1192m
The next day we tried to continue towards Campo Tencia. After passing an easy, flat section running along Laghetto Campolungo, there was a tricky climb through Passo Leit which led to the highest point along the route at an altitude ca. 2420 m called Bocchette Passo Leìt, lying at the foot of Pizzo delle Löite mountain. Getting here took us 3 hours. It was a long, difficult and quite dangerous route. Taking into consideration the time required to cross this short part of the route and the fact that the next section of the trail doesn’t seem to be easy at all, we decided to come back to Dalpe the same way as we got up.
First we descended back to Capanna Leit where we cooked quick dinner and then continued towards Passo Venett. We followed our trail from the previous day which saved us lots of time and energy. We reached Dalpe at 6pm crossing last section of the trail in darkness with headlamps on.
LINKS
www.map.geo.admin.ch – Topographic map of Switzerland
www.capanna-leit.ch – The Leìt Hut (Capanna Leit)
www.campotencia.ch – Capanna Campo Tencia
http://www.schweizmobil.ch – Traversata Leit-Tencia
www.wetterspiegel.de – Weather forcast for Capanna Leit
www.fat-ti.ch – Federazione Alpinistica Ticinese