Friday, 13.7.2012

We woke up in the president's suite to the rain and didn't hurry, the rain had already decided for us that we wouldn't take the long way (7 to 8 hours) to St. Maria, but the short one to Rossa. We had a lovely breakfast at eight, waited for the rain to ease or stop and then went down. The path was easy, but still walking wasn't comfortable because of all the slippery stones and roots. At Rossa we caught a bus to Grono where we picked up Maurizio's car and had a drink while deciding where to sleep and find out where the nearest Pizzeria was.

Buffalora from far:

And close by:

We arrived very early and had a very warm welcome by Jeanette and her husband, who already knew about us from Roberta. We have a room for us and Pizzoccheri for me! After two days of eating almost nothing! Another wonderful place and hut with such nice people. I am so lucky and happy to do this. By the way, Swisscom is repaying me half of the money I apparently spent. Well, a lot better than nothing.

Lago Calvaresc on the descent to Buffalora hut.

The path wasn't difficult, but again the path was very close to the edge. Careful, but wonderful walking.

Piz Ganan, our highest point today. Incredible view.

This is the view back at rifugio Ganan, such a beautiful place. The night, however, was COLD. There were enough covers, but the wind and cold air entered through the cracks. We left late at 9:30 seeing we would be walking only about three hours. Beautiful path, little shock for me because there was a tiny but very steep snow field, but otherwise stunning trek.

And this is the loo. You shouldn't be afraid of heights if you use it. It was a good decision to stay at the bivak, a thunderstorm came about an hour after we arrived. It cleared after that and we washed at the tap outside in the sun. And then we spotted the ibexes. How beautiful they are and so close, they came closer and closer and we watched then dir hours at a distance of about 20 metres. Then another thunderstorm and sun again. We walked about five hours to Ganan, climbed 760m and went down 780m and our highest point was 2500m.