Vermolera Pass, from Malghera

Access

From Milan to Grosio along state roads 36 and 38; at the centre of the village turn left towards Val Grosina. Continue to Fusino, where you turn left again towards Malghera in the western Grosina Valley. There are ample parking facilities at the huts.

Introduction

Panoramic hike on the path joining the two branches of the Grosina Valley. The landscape, at first bucolic with scattered huts and extensive pastures, gradually becomes exclusively stony with sharp red rocks: small turquoise lakes appear here and there at various levels. In the background, the Piazzi group and the peaks of Lago Spalmo close the horizon.

Description

From the car park at Malghera 1937m, continue along the track closed to unauthorised traffic, reaching the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Neve (or of the Musk) in a few dozen metres; beyond this, a traverse concludes the route at Casera Sacco 2008m. A small path descends to the right fording the stream: on the other side, a stony traverse leads to the Baita Mandre Vecchie 2063m. In the pastureland, the path momentarily disappears, but as it rises through the rhododendron bushes, a wide track can be seen a little further up on the right, climbing in hairpin bends towards the pastures of a vast plateau above 2296m. A gentle ascent up the middle of the valley leads to an isolated hut (bivouac always open) on the edge of the Pian del Lago 2417m (beautiful stretch of water on the right). At this point, the very rare signs in paint direct you to take a small, stonier valley on the left; go up it and you will reach the third plateau at 2511 m. From here, the path steepens and, with a long traverse to the left in a hollow of detritus, climbs the escarpment that supports the plateau of Passo di Vermolera 2732 m, dominated to the N by the curious cusp of Pizzo Matto 2993 m and to the SSE by the mass of Sasso Campana 2913 m. Pushing slightly downhill on the track between the rocky boulders of the upper Valle d'Avedo, you can look out over the terrace below, mostly occupied by Lago Venere 2408m; further down - at the bottom of the same Valle d'Avedo - the Laghi di Tres 2194m.
Return along the outward route.