Summary
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Trail in numbers
- Distance: 25 km
- Total climb: 821 m
- High point: 2473 m
- Ridable: 99%
- Duration: 3-5 h
Highlights
- Piz Bernina. With its 4048 meters of altitude, this is the uncontested star of the valley. Towering above any other mountain in the area, it can rarely be seen as it is often enveloped in clouds. The glacier laying on its sides offer equally stunning views and are best admired from Pontresina.
- Lago Bianco is a reservoir lake at the feet of Bernina, at 2200 meters a.s.l. It translates into “white lake” for a good reason, as its waters are unusually clear and bright, amost matching the white glaciers that seem to plunge into it.
- Bernina Pass connects the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo to the Swiss Engadin area of the famous resort town of St. Moritz. It sits at 2328 meters a.s.l. and can be crossed by road and rail, with the pictoresque Bernina Express (a.k.a. Red Train).
Useful info
- When to go: June to September. We have been lucky to ride this trail in October, but it depends on the season as it is not unusual to find snow at these altitudes already at the beginning of the fall.
- Trail options:In this version, we left Livigno by bike and climbed until Pass Bernina. Then we descended along the roadside trail (incredibly fun and well maintained) that takes all the way down to Pontresina. From here you can take a bus back to Livigno (in our case we took it from Diavolezza as we were running late). If you have all day to ride and feel energetic enough, you could hop on the red train to climb back to Pass Bernina and here either ride back to Livigno along the tarmac road or hop on the bus.
- Food and Water: There is a very nice and convenient restaurant at Passo Forcola, right at the beginning of the Forcola-Bernina trail. Once completed the crossing, you will find Ospizio Bernina that equally provides food and water (much less conveniently, though).
- Starting point: Livigno, Italy. Consider 3.5 -4 hours from Milan and 4 to 4.5 from Zurich.
Note: we wrote about this trail also in another article, where we managed to go all the way down to Pontresina. Check out here the photostory and maps!
Table of contents:
Photostory
Livigno in October? Naah, it’s just going to be too cold. These are the words running through my head as I begin to plan the weekend ahead with Maria. We are dying to go there, it has been one of those plans that never got to fly because of several reasons, but now it is full-blown autumn and a) Livigno is at a 4hrs drive from Milan and b) a tour in the high Alps in October sounds a little out of reach. However, we decide to go for it.
We hit the road on a friday night after work. The days are no longer as long and warm as in the summer, now the air is chilly in Milan and when we make a start it is already pitch black. The road to Livigno is just long. It is 200km away from the city, but only the first 80 km or so are on a highway. The rest is along a mountain roads, at first straight and fast when at the bottom of the Valtellina valley, then increasingly winding as the road enters Switzerland and climbs towards the Alpine passes.
After some 3 hours and a half we reach our bed and breakfast, and we can’t help to notice the sharp cold temperatures – Livigno sits at 1800 meters above sea level, in a very long and smooth valley, surrounded by peaks towering above 3000 meters and bordering Switzerland.
We hit the bed in no time, conscious of our first challenge awaiting for us the following morning, when we plan to climb to the Forcola pass and salute the majestic Piz Bernina from the immaculate “Lago Bianco” (white lake).
We wake up refreshed after a good night sleep and hit the bike in no time: the weather is good but the forecast is worse for the afternoon. We could not see anything of the valley when we arrived the night before as it was absolute darkness, but now we can appreciate the most wonderful and picturesque autumn colors.
It takes us a while to recover from the shock of how beautiful and almost surreal these colours are, as we cycle through the “Bosco Magico” (Magic Forest) just outside Livigno – they could have not though of a better name!
The track is wide and easy, with a gentle but constant ascent that will take us from Livigno (1800mt above sea level) to the Forcola Pass which separates Italy from Switzerland. The valley is ample and colorful, and as we gain elevation the forest gets less dense until there are no trees left.
At noon we are at the Forcola pass. A little time to rest and eat a Ritter Sport bar, and we get ready to begin the wild part of the track, the recently opened Forcola track which will lead us at the feet of Piz Bernina (4,064 meters above sea level).
Our tallest point is above 2400mt, so we still have 400mt to go – but this time the terrain is much more difficult.
After the tallest point we can admire the Piz Bernina and glacier in its awe-inspiring grandeur.
After a nice downhill we reach Ospizio Bernina and Lago Bianco, where the world-famous Bernina red train passes from:
From here the most difficult part is done, and we just have to follow the gentle slope across cross-country trails down towards Pontresina.
We finally come to a stop at Diavolezza, before we reach Pontresina as we discover that the latest bus to Livigno is about to pass! We hop on it (for an outrageous price) and we get back to the base, thinking already about our next day’s adventure.
Maps and Stats
Max elevation: 2473 m
Total climbing: 821 m