Ospizio Sottile (2480m), trail 11

At the end of the steep cobblestone road that passes through the picturesque houses of the hamlet of Valdobbia, we arrive at the trailhead, where a wooden sign below the usual yellow trail signs indicates our day’s destination.

The entrance to the trail, at the end of the cobblestone road.

The trail immediately climbs steeply, as is typical for all trails in this area. After about twenty minutes of continuous turns, you reach the junction between Trail 11 to the Sottile, on the left, and Trail 11B to Princes Valley, on the right.
Obviously take the left direction and continue to climb steadily and at a steady pace. The large bars of avalanche protection will be seen at the top: at that height the valley step ends, where the slopes begin to soften.

Avalanche shelters mark the end of the valley step

When you pass a small section on rock, often traversed by a thin trickle of water, you come out of the woods on the left and a turn just ahead marks the most scenic point of the trail. The view sweeps over Gressoney, Weismatten and the Mont Nery chain, Taf, Taille, Rena, Ciosé and Punta Valnera.

The view of Weismatten in May

After a further left turn, protected by a steel cable guardrail (which seems quite useless), you come to a ruin that marks the end of the valley step and the entrance to the upper part of the valley. You come to a ridge, where you first hear the sound of the Valdobbia stream (if the water flow is significant), and continue to climb without turning until you reach, at about 1900m, the lodges of Cialfrezzo Inferiore. This is where you first see the Sottile, up there at the top in the hollow of the Valdobbia Pass.

The lodges of lower Cialfrezzo (1900m), far up the Valdobbia pass

Past the cabins and a new marker post, the trail crosses the creek to the left on a makeshift bridge. From here we resume climbing the first of a series of steps, in the middle of which we cross a sparse larch forest.

The sparse larch forest you pass through on the first step

Once past this first step, you come to a new ruin after which, a few dozen meters further on, you can see on the right the avalanche-proof drywall protecting the huts of Upper Cialfrezzo (2040m), practically not visible as you pass by them (but will be well seen during the initial stretch of the descent).

The avalanche walls that protect Upper Cialfrezzo

After Upper Cialfrezzo, the trail climbs halfway up the hillside, always without turning, until it crosses a second rocky step. Past this step, the trail passes another ruin and emerges into a wide basin, which gives access to the final part of the trail.

The entrance to the basin. It climbs up until it cuts to the right into the central snowy gully.

Crossing the basin, at a certain point the Ospizio Sottile disappears from view, hidden by the slope, and you will not see it again until you are almost there. Past the basin, the trail climbs on the left, at a steep gradient, until it reaches a snowy or stony gully (depending on the season) that is cut (very easily) to the right. When I pass this gully, psychologically I always feel I have practically arrived, even though there is still about 200m of elevation gain to go….

The snowy/rocky gully that cuts off to the right

You climb one more rocky step, first staying to the right and then moving sharply to the left, and when there is about 70 meters of elevation gain left you come out on the final slope, where you can again see the Ospizio Sottile, now comfortably close.

The final twists and turns before arrival

From this point, if snow is found (as in the photo below, taken in early May), it is almost always leaning against the right-hand slope, the one facing north, along which, however, the marked trail would pass. In this case, you can climb up by moving to the left and carving out a path on sight (the slope is not worrisome

The snow-covered final slope

One last effort and you are there. Never will hard wrinkled wooden benches seem so comfortable to you :-)

Ospizio Sottile in early May

If the shelter is open, absolutely recommend going in and eating anything, because everything is so good :-)

Shank with porridge!

Finally, it is advisable to make reservations and stay overnight, because the sunset seen at high altitude is always exciting.

Sunset from the hut