Quintino Sella Refuge (3591m), trail 9

from Biel to the Quintino Sella Refuge

Close-up of the Quintino Sella Refuge

Trail 9 starts from Biel (1780m), a hamlet just below Stafal, and arrives at the Quintino Sella Refuge (3591m). It is 9429m long and the total positive elevation gain is 1837m.
The approximate time for the climb is 5h29. The trail is classified as being of EEA difficulty.

The Quintino Sella Refuge sits on a rocky plateau at the edge of the Felik Glacier: this is where all the ropes for the western 4,000-meter peaks of the Rosa range, e.g., the Castor and the Lyskamm, depart from. The place is truly spectacular, one is in the immediate presence of the high mountains: for those who are not used to it, it is certainly a thrill. Note that the food at the hut is great (the homemade pasta is outstanding): leave the sandwiches at home for this hike!

Behind the new building (built in 1981, last expansion in 2021) is the old Quintino Sella hut (built in 1907, moved and expanded several times in subsequent years), currently used as a winter bivouac.

Encounters with isolated ibex, accustomed to the constant passage of mountaineers and therefore easily photographed, are frequent along the route.

Caution: the trail is technically quite challenging in the final part (not surprisingly, it is rated EEA) due to the long equipped section, which is very often exposed and vertiginous. Strongly recommended helmet, because of the stones that those ahead of us might move-the trail is busy, and a pair of via ferrata gloves in order to cling to the steel cables and handles with confidence. Also recommended is a via ferrata harness for those who prefer to secure themselves and not take the slightest risk.

Don’t forget to bring appropriate clothing (including gloves) in your backpack to shelter from the frigid wind that is a certain presence at those altitudes, even in the middle of summer.

The original route of Trail 9 starts in Biel, a small hamlet just before Stafal. Once at St. Anne’s Chapel, at the arrival of the cable car, and up to the arrival at Bettaforca Pass, the trail runs alongside the chairlift, conincident with Trail 8, which stops at the pass.

It is possible to shorten the route by getting as far as the Bettaforca pass with the ski lifts (first the Stafal-Sant’Anna cable car, then the Sant’Anna-Colle Betta chairlift), thus avoiding the first 1,000 meters or so of elevation gain.

For those who would still like to start on foot from the valley floor, an excellent alternative to departing from Biel is Trail 1, which, starting from Stafal, makes it possible to reach the Bettolina Inferiore pass (where you rejoin Trail 9) through an extremely wild and very little-used environment.

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

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Ascent to the Bettaforca pass by chairlift

The lunar scenery in which the entire route is developed

One of the tame ibexes often encountered along the trail

The view to the south once the ridge section is finished

The cairn indicating the beginning of the equipped ridge section

La Trinité visible in the distance on the way up to the refuge

A section equipped with canapons and metal steps

From the refuge plateau, view of the access ridge

A particularly vertiginous section of the ridge

The refuge plateau as it appears as soon as the access path is finished

The old and new Quintino Sella hut from the back

The main hall of the Quintino Sella Refuge

Monte Rosa as seen from the arrival station of the Sant'Anna cable car

1. Start and finish

Trail 9 starts from Biel, the elevation is 1780m.
See on Google Maps, or see on Google Street View.

Latitudine e longitudine (WGS84 - EPSG 4326): 45.8485980685, 7.81271483829

The arrival location is the Quintino Sella Refuge. The altitude is 3591m.
See on Google Maps.

Latitudine e longitudine (WGS84 - EPSG 4326): 45.9010063923, 7.79278935974

On Waze or Google Maps follow the signs for“Biel Chapel, Selbsteg.” Just before reaching the chapel, the road crosses a small bridge over a creek with an opening to the right for parking. It is from this point that trail number 9 starts(see on Google Street View).

2. The route

This page details the route starting from Bettaforca Pass. If you want to start from Biel, park where described here and follow the very simple trail (for the first hundred meters the trail is 9A…

At the departure from Biel continue to 9A on the left (the bridge passes the 15)

…then crosses at a marker post with trail 9) until it reaches the plateau of Sant’Anna, where the arrival stations of the Stafal-Sant’Anna cable car and the departure station of the Sant’Anna-Colle Betta chairlift are located.

The path from Biel is very well marked: you pass a first prominence…

The first prominence to overcome

…then a second…

The second prominence to overcome

…after which St. Anne’s Chapel (2178m) finally appears.

St. Anne’s Chapel

From the chapel, the trail proceeds to Bar Restaurant Jutz (2182m)…

From the Jutz restaurant starts the dirt road that climbs up to Sitten

…then passes near theHotel Ristoro Sitten (2300m)…

The Hotel Rifugio Sitten

…and finally continues monotonously near the pylons of the Sant’Anna-Bettaforca chairlift, almost always on a comfortable dirt road, until it reaches Bettaforca Pass (2672m) .

Instead, to start directly from Bettaforca Pass, park in Stafal and take first the Stafal-Sant’Anna cable car and then the Sant’Anna-Colle Betta chairlift. The journey with the two facilities is completed in about half an hour.

Ascent to the Bettaforca pass by chairlift

The Bettaforca Pass (2672m) is separated from the Quintino Sella Refuge (3585m) by about 900 meters of elevation gain: the approximate ascent time for this last section of Trail 9 is about 2h30.

Trail 9 starts to the right of the Bettaforca Pass terminus: excellently marked, it runs entirely over rocky terrain and without the slightest trace of vegetation.

The lunar scenery in which the entire route is developed

We first cross the Lower Bettolina Pass (2909m), where Trail 1 arrives from Stafal…

The markers at the Lower Bettolina Pass

…then the Upper Bettolina Pass (3101m), the junction point with Trail 8 coming from the Ayas Valley.

The giant cairn of the upper Bettolina Pass

A little further on, camouflaged among the rocks to the left of the trail, is the mule hut (inside which Guido has been declaring his admiration for Celentano for years…), a shelter intended for the mules that were used to carry loads up to the hut. From here on, loads were carried on the back…of a man, and the fact that this was the last point reachable by a mule makes it clear that things get serious from here on. In fact, soon the paddles will have to be put back in the backpack.

The mule hut

Continue for a while more climbing halfway up the ridge, to the right of the ridge, then return to the ridge and continue to trudge upward, sometimes resting your hands on the rock, until you reach a big cairn at about 3470m which is the beginning of the most aerial and enjoyable ridge section of the entire route. Hemp and steel cables, metal steps…

A section equipped with canapons and metal steps

…and wooden footbridges make a section where one will undoubtedly experience the subtle thrill of “oh my God, I could get killed here” sufficiently safe to tackle.

A particularly vertiginous section of the ridge

Upon arrival at the rocky plateau on which the Quintino Sella Refuge stands…

The Quintino Sella Refuge

…you will finally be able to admire the Felik Glacier in its entirety, the various ropes on the way back (if you get there in the middle of the day), and the slew of 4000s visible from here: Western Breithorn (4164m), Eastern Breithorn (4139m), Black Rock (4074m), Castor (4225m), Western Lyskamm (4479m), Sattelkuppe (4433m), Eastern Lyskamm (4532m), Lyskamm Nose (4272m), Parrot Peak (4434), Vincent Pyramid (4215).

Overview of the Felik Glacier

St. Anne’s Chapel
On the way back down to the valley, before boarding the cable car back to Stafal, I recommend a quick photo detour to the picturesque and tiny St. Anne’s Chapel, set in a scenic location. It was built in the year 1726 by notary J. J. Thedy, first judge of the Valleise barony, and restored in 1995. Every year on July 26, Holy Mass is celebrated in honor of Sts. Anne and Joachim (the, uh, grandparents of Jesus).

St. Anne’s Chapel

On a small rise just before the chapel, a wooden cross has been erected that, when observed from a precise position, follows exactly the course of the Lyskamm Nose.

The wooden cross at St. Anne’s

Near the cross is a sculpture of St. Anne and her daughter Mary made by Aosta Valley sculptors Simone Allione and Stefano Arnodo .

Saint Anne and her daughter Mary

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

26/8/2021

Beautiful day, clouds only appeared in the sky around 2 pm. No trace of snow on the trail, encountered four lone ibex, one of which was so “tame” that it allowed itself to be approached to within a few meters.