Alpe Campo – Alpe Borlasca Ring

The natural setting is priceless. You move through an alpine habitat that has remained unchanged, in which signs of anthropization are almost absent.

Throughout the hike, you enjoy wonderful views that alone repay the many labors. The whole trail takes about 5 hours and is suitable for those with a good workout in their legs.

For those moving by car, arriving in Gordona it is necessary to take the consortium road to Val Bodengo.

Transit by cars is allowed with permission that can be acquired online https://www.valbodengo.shop/ or at the village bars.

After passing the Donadivo refreshment stand, continue to Pra Pincée (917 m) where the marked trail to Alpe Campo begins from a large parking area. The signage is well marked. The first section of the trail climbs gently through moist alder, willow, birch and maple forests. At the hairpin bend a marker post with trail signs provides directions to continue into the wild, secluded and surprising Garzelli Valley. The Fall of the Giants When you reach the clearing (1031 m), you bend and climb sharply to the left, passing under an imposing dark rock face known as the “Fall of the Giants.” Challenging climbing routes are present here. The trail begins to climb steeply again with narrow hairpin bends and, having passed a first small valley, enters a mainly fir forest where some specimens of silver fir (ambièz) are of considerable size. As you continue, the surrounding vegetation also changes, with larch trees and underbrush rich in rhododendrons and blueberries.

Once past the forest, Alpe Campo (1656 m) suddenly appears with its small huts, which gathered under rocks have almost all been renovated. Looking up, the mountains that frame the alp make it a picture of incomparable alpine charm. The jagged punta Anna Maria, the pizzi d’Alterno, pizzo Ledù, and monte Rabbi or Rotondo close the horizon to the south, while turning our gaze north we see the unmistakable pyramid of pizzo Stella with pizzo Emet and Suretta to its left.

From Alpe Campo we walk to the left and in an easterly direction we reach a plateau, where among sparse larches on a small log we find signposts indicating the direction to Alpe Borlasca, nearby painted on a boulder red-white arrows confirm the direction. We point north and the view opens up to a wide natural spectacle. To the south we can see the Avért di Campo also called Avérton, where at their apex is the wide Manduario saddle, a crossing point to Val Soe. The Manduario saddle is bordered toward Val Bodengo by the characteristic Monte Cucco. Below us dense mixed forests of beech, fir and birch cover the steep banks of the Val Garzelli. To the east we can see peeking out, behind the Codera – Masino rock walls, Mount Disgrazia almost always cloaked in snow.

The trail continues with several hairpin bends, and coming out of the woods the wide knoll with the meadows and huts of Bedolina (946 m) opens up. At the upper edge of this hill rises a small church with a large churchyard shaded by magnificent beech trees. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Consolation and was blessed in 1764. It served the mountain people of Bedolina, Garzelli, Brusada, Prà Pincée and Barzena. On the facade of the church to the right of the portal, a plaque lists the names of workers who died in the construction of the tunnel to bring water to the Mese Hydroelectric Power Plant (1940-1945). As many as 19 of them perished buried by an avalanche in the Garzelli Valley on April 5, 1941. Leaving the little church behind, we walk along the car road to the junction, where the track to Mount Garzelli begins, which we follow to a marker post and walk on a level path back to the footbridge over the Boggia and to the parking lot of the beautiful group of houses at Pra Pincèe.