Alpetto Pass (2774m), trail 9

from Rong to Passo dell’Alpetto

Alpetto Pass, 2774m

Trail 9 starts from the hamlet of Rong in Gressoney Saint Jean and arrives at Alpetto Pass (2774m).
It is 5126m long and the total positive elevation gain is 1333m.
The approximate time for the ascent is 3h58. The trail is rated EE difficulty.

The Valdobbiola and Alpetto passes are located at the end of a valley above the hamlet of Rong that forks in a Y shape, culminating in these two passes that are separated from each other by the long rocky spur of the Cresta Rossa (2986m)

The narrow notch of the Alpetto pass

They are both little-used passes from ancient times, because to get to Valsesia it was much more convenient to go over the Valdobbia Pass along Trail 11.

The path up to the two passes is number 9, at first in common between the two destinations: having reached the hut of Schenébiel (2318 meters), Trail 9 continues to the left and leads up to Alpetto Pass (described on this page), while to the right starts the short Trail 9A, which leads to the Valdobbiola Pass (2635m).

Both 9 and 9A are almost always well-traveled but very little-used trails: the little valley up to Alpetto Pass is less arid than the one leading to Valdobbiola Pass, but the last gully immediately below the pass is extremely isolated, with no view of the valley floor, and the microscopic, inhospitable and often icy pass certainly does not invite you to stay there for long. It is the ideal route for anyone who loves wild and absolutely solitary scenery.

From Alpetto Pass you can continue towards the Cresta Rossa following the Valsesia Trail 1B, ascending to a vent at 2860m, from which you can descend to Valdobbiola Pass, and from there continue downhill to Schenébiel, from where you return on Trail 9 of the outward journey. The connection between the two passes is nontrivial, although well marked: you have to know your way around steep, crumbling slopes.

More information on level of difficulty, ascent times, maps and GPX tracks

Photo Gallery

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The post indicating the beginning of the trail

Valdobbiola Inferiore (1898m), June 2021

Valdobbiola Inferiore (1898m), October 2020

Valdobbiola Inferiore from above (1898m)

The junction of 9 and 9A at Schenébiel, 2318m

Halfway down the final gully, looking down toward the basin.

From the pass, Lake Bianco on the Valsesian side

From the vent, looking at the road made from the Valdobbiola Pass.

Descending from the final basin, June 2021

Descending from the final basin, October 2020

1. Start and finish

Trail 9 starts from Rong, the elevation is 1441m.
See on Google Maps.

Latitudine e longitudine (WGS84 - EPSG 4326): 45.798466078, 7.82416453103

Trail 9 starts from Rong, the elevation is 1441m.
See on Google Maps.

Latitudine e longitudine (WGS84 - EPSG 4326): 45.798466078, 7.82416453103

The trail starts on the road leading to the hamlet of Rong, which unfortunately cannot be set on either Waze or Google Maps.

To get to Rong from Gressoney-Saint-Jean continue toward La Trinité for 1.7KM to the parking lot on the left from where trail number 6 to Alpenzu Grande starts. Continue further and take the first right turn you come to, just after a garbage shed (there is a blue “Rong hamlet” sign).

Coming up from Saint Jean, the right turn.

The post indicating the beginning of the trail

If you come down from Gressoney-La-Trinité, go over the only two hairpin bends that descend to Kastell and pass the Kleine restaurant on the left: take the first left turn you come to, just before a garbage shed (there is a blue “Frazione Rong” sign on the left and, on the small bridge over the Lys that you come to just after the turn, a small post with 3 yellow markers).

The tiny parking lot at the end of the street

Park as high as you can, following the road to the end: there is a tiny parking lot there, which is almost always occupied. In that case turn back, and (being careful not to use one of the private parking lots) try to see if one of the few clearings along the road is available. Almost at the end of the road, after the last hairpin bend to the left, you will encounter the marker post that marks the beginning of trail number 9

2. The route

Like the vast majority of trails in this part of the valley, Trail 9 begins with the usual, dense sequence of turns in the steep larch forest, and this trail more than the others is at first decidedly steep. We leave the valley step and (momentarily) the trees at about 1883m, where the slope finally softens slightly, and the 4 scattered huts of Valdobbiola Inferiore appear. First two lodges that are not touched by the path…

First huts of Valdobbiola Inferiore at 1830m

…Then two more huts, behind which the trail passes.

Second huts of Valdobbiola Inferiore (1898m)

A video from June 25, 2022 showing 3 of the 4 huts in Lower Valdobbiola.

A few meters above the last hut of Valdobbiola Inferiore, when you come back for a short stretch through the trees, that you have to pay attention: you will in fact find an unsharp vignette, which seems to mean “go straight” where there are traces of senetiero, while instead it means “go left.” If you are overthinking you will go straight and find yourself in a dead end (which turns out to be so after several meters). In June 2022 I found branches to bar the path, so it should be harder to go wrong.

Here go left, and not straight!

In this second panoramic photo you can see the obvious path to the left (you have to be dumb to go straight, huh? yet I did!).

The path turns left, don’t go straight

Having passed this tricky point, from here on the trail has no more surprises. After passing a rather steep section through the woods, you almost touch a vertical rock face and go around it to the right, after which you pass another step and finally leave the tree line, arriving on a plateau where you first meet the beautiful hut of Tené Gavene (2182m)…

Tené Gavene (2182m)

…and shortly afterwards the wonderful huts of Valdobbiola Superiore (2209m) .

Upper Valdobbiola (2209m)

The trail turns right toward the center of the valley, approaching a central spur that descends from the Cresta Rossa. You cross a stream on a small wooden bridge and arrive at the isolated hut of Schenébiel (2318m)…

Schenébiel hut, 2318m

…behind which is the obvious junction between Trail 9, which leads to Alpetto Pass, to the left of the spur, and Trail 9A, which leads to Valdobbiola Pass, to the right of the spur.

The junction of 9 and 9A at Schenébiel, 2318m

It obviously continues to the left, entering the left branch of the valley. You go up a short gully…

The gully to be climbed after Schenébiel

…at the beginning of which, just after the junction, the trail is less marked, and you might risk losing it. Keep an eye on the map on your cell phone, keeping in mind that the trail, after fording a stream again, gradually moves to the left of the small valley, climbing up its side toward the end.

Above the gully is a first shelf that lies to the right of a small hollow with a scree: the trail goes around the hollow from the left, keeping almost horizontal for a stretch and then climbing up the next step.

Shelf at 2540m, the basin is on the right

Thus we arrive in a wide amphitheater, at 2590m, isolated and very rocky: the Alpetto Pass lies to the right, and still out of sight.

At 2590m, the foreground gully rising to the right leads to the Pass

A video from June 25, 2022 showing the amphitheater to the right of which the gully leading to Alpetto Pass starts.

One enters the amphitheater following the many vignettes, and arrives at the sight of the final little valley on the right. The photo below was taken at the end of October: in the summer months, traces of a snowfield could be found just below the pass.

The beginning of the final gully, 2610m

From here the final stretch begins. Ascend the short little valley following the markers: the trail first keeps to the left, at the edge between grass and rock, until it crosses a step beyond which the Alpetto Pass is finally visible. In the photo below (taken on June 3, 2021), the pass is the deepest V, right in the center of the image.

The step finally visible

Halfway down the final little valley, looking down.

Only toward the end does the trail cross the scree, and after a final, very crumbling ramp we finally reach Alpetto Pass (2774m) .

Alpetto Pass, now almost reached

The pass is not exactly hospitable: it is a sharp opening, almost always windswept, where you stay just long enough to take a few photos.

Alpetto Pass, 2774m

From the pass, Lake Bianco on the Valsesian side

A video from June 25, 2022 with the view from Alpetto Pass.

Junction with Valdobbiola Pass (2635m)

From Alpetto Pass, one can join in a short time (about 1h) with the Valdobbiola Pass (2635m). South of the pass (i.e. starting from the side right of the carving, looking toward White Lake) follow the very frequent yellow and red vignettes of the Valsesia Trail 1B,Of a fairly intuitable route but on unstable terrain (rock and scree)…

Rocks and scree climbing up to the vent

until reaching a Mouth at 2860m.

The vent at 2860m

Beyond the vent is a wide rocky basin, at the bottom of which the Valdobbiola Pass can be seen.

From the vent looking toward Valdobbiola Pass (June 2022)

For a first section you quickly lose altitude descending almost vertically, on very steep and landslide terrain, take extreme care . Later, the trail descends more gently, contouring the rocky basin on the right.

Coming to the Valdobbiola Pass

You arrive without any more difficulty at Valdobbiola Pass (2635m) .

The Valdobbbiola Pass

From this point, return to the Schenébiel hut via Trail 9A, and from Schenébiel return to the valley following the same Trail 9 as the outward journey.

3. The GPX track

This is the map of the trail, according to the SCT Trail Cadastre of the Aosta Valley.

Download the trail in GPX format

4. A recent hike

26/6/2021

I walked this trail on June 26, 2021, going up to Valdobbiola Pass and coming down from Alpetto Pass.

The only thing to note is that I lost my way at the beginning, at a point (mentioned in the trail description on this page) that I indicate in the GPX track below. You have to be extremely careful at that point, because there is an arrow on the path that you can hardly make out, and if you don’t see it, you are headed for an old path that ends in nothingness. I returned to the “normal” trail by trudging up very steep grassy slopes, searching for it via the map loaded on my phone (which unfortunately I had checked too late).

The inconspicuous arrow to the left (I went straight!).

Although it was late June, as can be seen from the photos on this page I still found snowfields in the passage from Valdobbiola Pass to Alpetto Pass. No particular problem, they crossed without too much trouble.

Download the trail in GPX format