A Tour in Switzerland

Graubünden, Greina Ebene, Piz Medel, Piz Terri, Val da Camp

August 2001

Graubünden and Ticino

Graubünden and Ticino are Cantons in the South and East of Switzerland. They attract less tourist then popular areas like Wallis and Berner Oberland. Still, there are many spectacular areas to hike. A net of huts and well marked tracks provide for easy access.


Along Rein da Plattas, towards Piz Medel

Val da Camp

For the first time, we made a little hut tour together with our daughter. Seven years old, she is physically fit for tours like this. Our problem was: will she like it? Adults will enjoy slowly shifting horizons, spinning out thoughts for hours. Children have different interests: little things along the path, play mates, animals and flowers. For months, we brooded on ways to combine the different interests, reading books and experiences on Internet, talking with friends. We walked in Val da Camp. Below you will find a short description and some pictures. It was a good choice. Our daughter liked it very much and next year we will be able to make a longer tour.

Contents:


Lago da Val Viola (2159 m)

Some advice

Walking with children

What are the things to keep in mind when starting to walk with little children?

  • awake their interest long before the tour itself
  • give them their own equipment, the backpack they like, their favourite teddy, their own water bottle etc.
  • of course, have good equipment and clothes
  • do not overload their backpacks; Lynn's backpack only contained her teddy, and some things to play
  • choose a variable environment …
  • with lots of scrambling and rocks, not boring flat
  • tell them what is to be expected next
  • talk about all the little and large things encountered
  • make them comfortable in the lodge
  • and above all: take your time. The first kilometre took us about two hours!

Granted: the question is not "how do kids get their holiday wishes fulfilled", but rather "how do parents awake their children's interest in walking".

Swiss Mountain Huts

The mountain huts are very competitive and service oriented. Half board will cost you about 50 SFr a night when you are member of an Alpine club. For this money you get a mattress in a common room, a good diner considering the efforts it takes to get food up, and breakfast. Additionally, you can get lunch-packets. In the top season it is advisable to make reservations. The huts can be found on Internet:

The huts save you the heavy load of a tent, sleeping beg and food. The return fee however might be snorers on your room. My advice: watch for extra mattresses and sleep outside if the room gets too noisy or damp.


Meandering stream in Greina Ebene

Transport

Excellent public transport. We had our car. But we'd as well take the bus. The yellow Swiss postbus reaches every corner of the country on a regular basis. The trains run in time and reach as high as the Bernina Pass, some 2.400 metres

Alpine Association

The Alpine Club of Switzerland (CAS/SAC) organises tours, courses etc.


Cabanna da Terri (2170 m)

Language

No other country offers you as many official languages to choose from as Switzerland: German, French, Italian, or even Retoromanian. If you speak neither of them … sorry for you! If you do speak any of them, you will have a great time with the Swiss. They are an example of how to unite in diversity (imho) although they don't seem so satisfied themselves. Sigh, if only Brussels had 10% of the Swiss democratic traditions …

Marking

The trails are marked white-red-white. The Alpine routes are marked - if marked at all - white-blue-white. When a path forks, there will be a signpost. Almost every Canton has its hiking society looking after the paths and the markings. The state of the markings and paths is very good.

Safety

It makes a difference whether you follow red marked trails and paths or Alpine tracks and routes. Of course, you don't cross a glacier without the necessary equipment AND knowledge. The Alpine routes require you can read a map, have a map, have adequate clothing and safety equipment.

Maps

The best maps are the official Landeskarte der Schweiz 1:25.000. They are VERY accurate and are remade every six years from scratch. Some people consider the Kümmerly+Frey maps - 1:40.000 or 1:60.000 - better value. But if you intend to follow Alpine routes instead of marked paths, these maps are too inaccurate. As an alternative, I would recommend the LS 1:50.000 maps which show the marked trails in red.

The walk

1 - Sunday August 12 - Curaglia (1263m) - Pass Cristallina (2398m) - Capanna Bovarina (1870m) - 4'30"

From Curaglia, a regular bus service runs to the Lukmanier Pass in the South. You can stop at any place along the road, where you want to start your walk. We started in Pardatch (or Acla, in the time table) into the Val Cristallina. A small road, closed for traffic, took us up to where the valley forks and goats graze. A little higher was a shepherds hut, followed by a beautiful "kettle valley". The green and open valley was surrounded by a round wall of rocky slopes. A climb of 500 metres took us over the ridge, where a refreshening lake - Laiets - awaited us.

A little further we passed the Pass Cristallina at 2398 metres and below lay a round lake Lago Retico with some fields, ideal for sunbathing. Little groups of walkers lingered along the lake, looking for shelter against the cold wind.

Now the path descends over a steep grassy slope, shortcutting cattle tracks, with little villages deep below between the towering mountains.


Descending to Capana Boverina

Where the forest starts and a stream flows, the mountain hut lies, Capanna Motterascio (owned by UTOE, a student organisation). Another popular route to this mountain hut is via the Passo di Gana Negra. The path starts at the Lukmanier Pass which can be reached by car and local transport. Italian speaking people here. The whole family was helping in the kitchen.

2 - Monday August 13 - Capanna Bovarina (1870m) - Campo Blenio (1216m) - Capanna Motterascio (2172m) - 4'00"

We descended through a - still fresh - forest where larks, pine, spruce and open spaces mixed evenly. The houses in the first village looked like traditional farm buildings, but were cleverly rebuilt into tourist lodges. At the bottom of the valley, after passing some more villages from a distance and contouring a dense forest, we walked into the village of Campo.


Campo Blenio (1216 m)

Nothing much to see. Above the village towered the hollow barrage of Lago di Luxxone, impressive. We did not have a close look to the dam: two other walkers from the Bovarina hut offered us to join their taxi. It saved us the steep climb along the zigzagging road.

The artificial lake was filled to the rim, a refreshing sight. A small road took us around the lake, till where the climb to Capanna Motterascio started. The path goes steeply up, first through the forest, then over alps rich with flowers, where marmots whistle. The path is popular with day walkers. A large party of Italian speaking Swiss (the hut lies in the canton of Ticino) enjoyed themselves on long wooden benches and tables in front of the hut. From this position, we had a nice view of Piz Terri (3149m). Through our binoculars we spotted a Golden Eagle, a common bird, but difficult to notice.

The hut was fully booked and we were unlucky to have a snorer in our stuffed "Matrazenlager". The man snored like a boar. I thought it better to sleep outside: it was a clear night, the Milky Way right across the nocturnal sky.

3 - Tuesday August 14 - Capanna Motterascio (2172m) - Camona da Terri (2170m) - 1'30"

Easy day, starting with a faint climb to the Crap la Crusch. At our feet lay the famous Greina Ebene. Foreigners may wonder what this "famous" is about, since the valley is only a little broader than usual and as green as everywhere. Well, I guess it is several things: here is the watershed between the Mediterranean and the North Sea, and the cultural shed between the Italian culture on the one hand, and the German and Retoromanish cultures on the other hand. The biotope is said to be special. In recent times, another dam and reservoir was planned in this valley but it was cancelled after heavy protests.

So here lies an economical shed as well, between the cruel exploitation of the Alps and nature. The Greina Plain ends abruptly at the point where Rein da Sumvitg presses through a narrow gorge and drops into a long descent to the Vorderrhein in the North. A little climb later, Camona da Terri became visible, positioned on a hilltop.


Plaun la Greina, cross, Crap la Crusch (2268 m)

Next to this popular hut is the Muot la Greina, the hut mountain so to speak, 2398 metres high. We made the tour in the afternoon and enjoyed a great view over all the high mountains around us. The air was clear as glass and we could almost touch the mountains in the far north (Tödi).

Three snorers this night, relatively decent however. I stayed inside.

4 - Wednesday August 15 - Camona da Terri (2170m) - Fuorcla Sura da Lavaz (2703m) - Medelser Hütte (2524m) - 6'00"

When we called the Medelser Hütte the week before, the keeper advised us to cross the Fuorcla Sura da Lavaz, below Piz Medel, instead of contouring the mountains down to Tenigerbad in the North, and climbing back to Val Lavax that ends on the pass where this lodge lies. He himself had marked the route over the Fuorcla Sura da Lavaz in 1999 with white and blue, signs for alpine crossings.

We followed his advice, returned to the Greina Plain (saw some unicorns from nearby) and walked up to watershed, Passo della Greina. This is a remarkable point, since here sedimentary rock on the south side of the valley meets the granite rock of the north side of the valley that build up to the Pizz Medel. The geological complexity is further enhanced by a small band of white dolomite coming to surface exactly on the pass. A little after the pass white blue marks turn north, marking the way up to the Fuorcla. First, a lovely flowery field has to be crossed, and a peacefully meandering stream. Then we had to climb over towering granite boulders and steep fields up to a difficult to spot gap between the Piz Medel and Piz Valdraus. A beautiful walk, though. The last few hundred metres have to be climbed through a snow field. Coming down this way might be confusing because of the snow; from the Fuorcla, head straight down to the little lake below. From there you will be able to pick up the markings.


Descending over Glatscher da Lavaz

At the other side of the Fuorcla (2703m) we went straight down over a large snow field, marked as glacier on the map. Keep left. This stretch is marked. When down at 2200 metres, the route turns left into a small opening, through a boulder field, snow fields, and at last alp and scree, all clearly marked. However, a mother with a boy of eight, missed the point and followed a second string of white and blue marks, leading from the Fuorcla over the ridge to Piz Medel. Later in the hut, the keeper was angry on hearing this story. The other Canton did not give him support in any way with marking the route, but now they misused it by continuing the marks up the summits, thereby confusing other walkers and possibly bringing them in dangerous situations. On the other hand, this woman was not able to read maps. She and her boy came down the snowfield from another point and all was fine.


Medelser Hütte (2524 m)

The hutkeeper of the Medelser Hütte was very service minded, which means very very very, since every Swiss hut excels in politeness and service. He kept an eye on the passes around the hut to spot the hikers he expected. The hut lies relatively high, 2524 metres, a little above the Fuorcla da Lavaz (the lower one), with good views to the East and West. At night, we could see a storm developing in the far West.

5 - Thursday August 16 - Medelser Hütte (2524m) - Curaglia (1263m) - 2'30"

The last day, offering a pleasant descent to the village of Curaglia from where we started on Sunday. Going down, rocks and snow made place for grass, flowers, trees, forest and finally homes and farms.


Curaglia (1263)

A Walk in the Val da Camp

Val da Camp is situated in the far Southeastern corner of Switzerland: cross the Bernina Pass into Valposchiavo and turn left. We chose this valley, following an advice from people we met earlier, for our first hike together with our daughter of seven. There is one CAS lodge, Rifugio di Saoseo, which can be reached from the parking place at Sfazu in a short hike of 1¼ hours, climbing some 400 metres over a simple road closed for traffic. You can also take the bus, in both morning and afternoon.


Rifugio di Saoseo (circa 1900 m)

From Rifugio di Saoseo you can walk to Italy in about two hours. It is a climb of about 500 meters to the Pass da Val Viola. Hundred metres below lies the Italian lodge Cabana Val Viola, also named "Polenta Hut" because they always serve a cheap menu of polenta with meat and wine. The way back to the Rifugio di Saoseo is not necessarily the same as the way up. A network of marked paths allows for little diversions through this valley. It is advisable to use the SL 1:25.000 map, since the Kümmerly+Frey map "Valposchiavo" of 1:40.000 does not give you the details to keep the different marked paths apart.


Lago da Saosea (2028 m)

Looking down on Cabanna Val Viola (2353 m), Italy

The attraction of Val da Camp lies in its diversity and unexploited nature. Maybe, this is what the Alps looked like originally. There are little lakes, dense forest up to 2.200 metres with century old trees of all kinds, the tree limit is almost till the pass of 2.400 metres, there are meadows, little streams to cross, animals and little insects, rocks and steep slopes as well. And - most important - both the Rifugio di Saoseo and Cabana Val Viola possess a swing. Indeed, halfway is a shepherds hut with a swing as well, although I mistrust its sturdiness. All these attractions are located in a relatively small area.


Return to the Rifugio di Saoseo

We stayed two days in the Rifugio di Saoseo. Lynn made friends with the daughter of the hutkeeper. The walk up the pass took us five hours. The lakes and little streams were great. Lynn picked most flowers along the path and turned every little colourful stone upside down. She got tired in the end. The Italian hut was incredibly crowded - possibly 150 people outside and an unknown number inside, all eating their polenta. The way back, Lynn was ahead most of the time, jumping from one boulder to another, or running down the fields. The walk back took us only three hours.

Henk Nouws - January 2002