Riva del Garda – Rifugio Pernici

Table of contents:

• Photostory
• Maps and Stats

Photostory

October 2015. Autumn has kicked in but it is not an excuse to spend a weekend doing nothing at home. Maria can come to Milan for the weekend and leave on monday morning, which gives us the chance to plan a nice full weekend to be spent outdoor.

The destination is Riva del Garda, in Trentino, the city at the northernmost point of the Garda lake. It is a beautiful area, one of the most appreciated in northern Italy especially by German tourists. Just at the west of Riva there’s a nice valley, Val di Ledro, that sits at 700m above sea level and has its own nice lake. Our destination lies at the peak of one of the mountains surrounding this valley. It is a mountain hut called Rifugio Pernici, that lies at 1600mt above sea level exactly along what once has been the trenchline of War World I between Italy and Austria.

I already visited with Jacopo and Luca on a mountain bike trip in the summer, and at that time the hut was buzzing with German tourists and the kitchen was working at full rythm. I remember the night was pleasantly fresh compared to the steaming summer nights in Milan.

This time, however, there is literally nobody else in the hut. It is just Maria and myself, partly because of the season and partly because of the weather, which welcomes us with the typical autumn misty and wet curtain of clouds. As in many other adventures, this is no reason to turn us down, however it must have produced this effect in many other potential visitors.

We have a few hours to kill before it becomes dark, so we decide to go on a short 2 hours walk that takes us to a saddle point called “Bocca di Saval”, from which it is possible to spot the lake below. No problem getting there (apart from some exposed parts), however we are welcomed by an absolutely impenetrable fog, so we have to give up the panorama views. At least we bump into a pack of sheeps that get Maria’s full attention for a good half hour.

The trail takes us in a loop back to the hut. As expected, the place is empty, but at the end of the day we like it this way. It makes us feel more disconnected from the rest of the world and it’s nice to unwind and relax drinking beer and eating the local dishes.

The night comes and it’s time to go to bed. We were warned by the hosts that it would get cold at night but we did not pay much attention: we thought we’d be ok just by wearing our winter pijama. We realize it’s not that easy as soon as we open the door of our room, as a bone-chilling air welcomes us in. It must have been 10 degrees tops. Good news is that they had plenty of blankets, and as soon as we sneak under a pile of a considerable amount of them, we instantly fall asleep.

The following day looks more promising from the early morning: there are still lots of clouds and rain comes and goes, but at least there are some hints of blue in the sky.

We decide to go for the “Mazza di Pichea”, which is basically the mountain top closest to the hut. There is quite a steep trail to follow, but it is not long and it is full of nice views:

There is a short climbing section to get to the top, which is aided by a handrail in the rock. Once on the top, the views reward our efforts.

Maps and Stats

Bocca di Saval

Download

Mazza di Pichea

Download