Valmalenco is a stunning Alpine valley next to Sondrio, Italy. We spent one weekend exploring its most beautiful mountains, cycling around Lake Palù, spending a night at the marvellous Rifugio Motta and enjoying the Canadian-like views from Chiareggio, the uppermost village of the valley.
Photostory
It’s the first weekend of July, but the weather here in the North of Italy turned unexpectedly cold and rainy after weeks of baking sun. The forecast says that there will be better weekends later in the season, but Maria and me are craving for the mountains. She has been traveling all week, and next monday she’ll head to China for a business trip. Can we manage to squeeze in a couple of days in the outdoors, even if against the weather?
The answer is yes, and specifically it is Valmalenco, a mountain area some two hours away from Milan that I know rather well as I had the chance to explore it in the past. I chose it because of its relative closeness to the city, the accessibility that it provides to high mountains (the Bernina peak being the tallest with its 4.049 meters) and the presence of open mountain huts.
The plan is to pick up Maria from the airport on saturday early morning, head directly to Chiesa in Valmalenco (the main town in the valley), climb to 2000 meters by cableway and take it extremely easy: have lunch in a mountain hut next to a lake, then take on the short climb to the mountain hut where we will spend the night. The next day would be dedicated to the descent, taking it easy and exploring the valley.
The plan worked out great despite the wet and chilly weather, so much that Maria has decided that we will have to come back at the end of the summer!
Enjoy the pictures below!
Maps and Stats
Max elevation: 2162 m
Total climbing: 1973 m