Monte Armetta, from the Colle di Caprauna

Description

At first, the climb is steep, in the forest, but you can be distracted by the little strawberries. . . Although you are in Piedmont, and not by a long way, you are on the AV of the Ligurian Mountains. . . One notices succulent plants and many colours, a sign of the presence of colourful vegetation. . . At 75' from the start, we cross the junction x monte della Guardia (to the left). Approximately from here, after a good stretch, it finally flattens out, but the fog also arrives. . . I don't know which is better. . . so there is no sun, but it is very humid. . . maybe better the sun, but with much less humidity. . . Even here in the Tanaro valley, the heat is felt at the end of July, we struggle a little and descend to Colla Bassa 1570 m (20') and with a last climb, now in an open field (the remains of ancient terracing are evident), we are at the summit of Armetta 1739 m, after about 2h15 (45' from Colla Bassa).

From the summit, the heart shape of Ormea stands out at the bottom (look out!).

Lunch break (what a blueberry pie!!) and return. . .
On the way back, we find the edelweiss (!) that we had already met in the mid-1990s, on the previous and only excursion to Armetta. From Colla Bassa (35'), instead of taking the morning route again, we turn left towards the Pian dell'Arma refuge. With a little attention (there are signs, but a couple more wouldn't have hurt) we proceed along the structure (first red notches and then a yellow line). After the descent from Colla Bassa, we come across several cottages, some recovered others not. . . From a dirt track, we continue downhill and after a few metres turn right and shortly afterwards right again, descending on a track that loses altitude with several hairpin bends, amidst singular rock formations. One more fork and from here we keep to the right on the level.... Finally, we reach the house at around 15.15 (50'). There is some confusion (let's use this generic term . . .) at the hut, 1340 m, we have a coffee (not really the best . . .), and leave with some doubts . . on Tripadvisor the place is praised . . . let's say that, without taking anything away from anyone, it would take a . . more thorough verification. . . You take a path a little above the house, from a non-drinking spring, and, with a short ascent, end up rejoining, almost at the end, the morning route. Thus we return to the car (35', 2h total return, almost 500 m difference in altitude and diff. E)

if you would like some photos at the link
http://www.cralgalliera.altervista.org/altre2013.htm at the corresponding link

NB: in the case of an excursion, always check with FIE, Cai, any park authority or other institutions, pro loco, etc., that there have been no changes that have increased the difficulties! No liability is accepted. This text is purely indicative and not exhaustive.

Info for some other trips in the area are available at the links below:
http://escursionismogalliera.xoom.it/articoli/escursionismomar07.pdf
pag. 3 of http://escursionismogalliera.xoom.it/idea/02.pdf
page 7 of http://escursionismogalliera.xoom.it/idea/05.pdf
page 3 of http://escursionismogalliera.xoom.it/idea/09.pdf
page 1 of http://www.cralgalliera.altervista.org/29.pdf
http://www.inalto.org/relazioni/escionismo/lungo_il_rio_tanarello
http://www.inalto.org/relazioni/escursionismo/rifugio_ciarlo-bossi
http://www.inalto.org/relationships/hiking/la_cappella_di_san_bernardo
http://www.inalto.org/content/il_monte_bertrand

Some photos of hikes in the Tanaro valley area:

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cralgalliera/saline.pdf
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cralgalliera/mongioie04.pdf
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cralgalliera/tanaro2005.pdf (Marguareis)
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cralgalliera/fotorifugio06.pdf (Pian Ballaur)
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cralgalliera/rifugio07.pdf (Saccarello)

http://cralgalliera.altervista.org/rifugio012A.pdf (Missun)
http://cralgalliera.altervista.org/rifugio012B.pdf (Missun)