Rezzalo Valley
Host
Eden Hotel
Via Funivia, 3, Bormio
Details
Val di Rezzalo
a beautiful valley and a picturesque little church in Valtellina
IN BRIEF.
Start: Fumero, hamlet of Sondalo, 1483 mslm. It is reached at the end of a winding but easy road that climbs from Le Prese via Frontale. There is a large parking lot (La Fontanaccia), a smaller one next to the village and a couple of widenings along the end of the road.
Finish: La Baita refuge, Rezzalo valley, 1885 mslm (tel. 340/7953688, if you intend to have lunch or a snack always call for information)
Difficulties and dangers: essentially none, except in exceptional situations. Check possibly with the refuge manager or with Sondalo Tourism.
Hikingtime: just over an hour uphill from Fontanaccia parking lot, 15' more from Fumero. Downhill less than an hour, by sled 30'. Also downhill, 15' more if starting from Fumero.
Ideal for children given the shortness of the snowshoe hike, the gentle slopes, the presence of an open hut, the sunshine, the opportunities to play in fresh snow around the hut, and finally the possibility of renting a sled for a fun descent.
It is very easy to describe the snowshoeing to the La Baita refuge and the Rezzalo valley: there is, in fact, only one forest trail, often groomed by the refuge-owned snowcat, and so all that remains is to follow that, taking altitude in the woods, almost always gently and only episodically with a few tears, however never too severe. One follows, moreover, the course of the summer hike.
Once you skim the Baita Grancio Gande hut, at about 1750 meters above sea level, you approach the exit from the forest that marks the entrance to a grandiose environment. Within sight of the hut, the Rezzalo valley opens up and offers its best: a couple of nuclei of old huts, evidence of centuries of farming and sheep-farming, and a picturesque little church next to the Rezzalasco stream, dedicated to St. Bernard, which gives the whole thing an almost magical aura.
Truly a snowshoe hike of minimal effort and maximum gratification.
You can start from Fumero (a small parking lot is located between the village houses 3-400 meters after the church) or from the shady Fontanaccia parking lot where the road, although cleaned consistently and assiduously by the Sondalo municipality, may have some icy sections.
The gradient is modest and is filled gradually: it is worthwhile, here and there, to deviate a few meters to get out of the woods and gain wide views of the stream and the peaks that close the valley.
Extensions of the route, to other groups of huts or to the Alpe Pass, to the Savoretta glacier or to Sabretta, are possible, but are reserved for really experienced hikers.
