The capanna is part of an alpe that isn't an alpe any more (the boss of this place unfortunately is unable to tell me since when it doesn't exist anymore). Now most of the "cascine" (huts) are holiday homes. It's not bad were, but it is not beautiful. And I'm not sure I will sleep well, I have TOURISTS in my dorm, children too. And breakfast not before eight (!), thank god I don't have to leave early tomorrow. I walked eight hours and forty minutes today, climbed 1060m and went down 1255m. My highest point was 2700m. Oh dear, there is a television and they switched it on. Aargh. My fond thoughts go back to beautiful and peaceful Pian di Crest. By the way, on my last night (in between playing rounds of Skip-bo) I learned how to count in Ticinese (this will be difficult to understand for my Italian friends): vün, dü, tri, quatar, cinq, ses, set, vot, neuf, des, vündas, dodas, tredas, quatordas, quindas, sedas, derset, discdot (German: dischdott, English: dishdot), discneuf, vint and so on...

And this is capanna Grossalp, more a hotel than a capanna. They do most of the business in the winter, seeing it is a skiing resort. I'm not complaining, I was able to have a shower after my long walk, and there is Internet connection and they are friendly enough, but it is a world apart from the "real" mountain huts and the food and the service is nothing compared to the other capanne. And it is not at all cosy. I have been offered my second grappa though. Hicks.

Look at these giant stones. Navigating them up to Pizzo Cazzola was hard enough, but coping with them going DOWN from Bocchetta Formazzöö was worse. My knees hurt at the end of the day.

Looking back from Bocchetta Formazzöö. The whole path was beautiful, but not really a path. Mostly stones and some steep grass. But well marked. I had phoned Fiorenzo to ask about the marking because the path was neither in my maps nor in my gps. He himself had marked parts of the path some seven years ago. He had put a giant blue and white spot at the point where you pass Pizzo Cazzola. Strange that the otherwise perfect Swiss map system hasn't updated it yet.

Looking back at Pizzo Cazzola. It was quite exhausting getting up there because the stones were so BIG There was a lot of scrambling, quite hard work and it took me what seemed like ages to get up.

A nice view of the Laghi della Crosa, walking up towards Pizzo Cazzola. Seeing I took the high route I didn't pass them directly, but I could admire them from above for a very long time.

After two days of waiting for good weather I finally left Pian di Crest today. It had rained and rained and rained on Monday, but in the evening the sun came out and we were all optimistic that this time the weather forecast would be right. This is a picture of Bocchetta della Crosa in the morning, the moon is there too. And not a cloud in sight. I left at half past seven, knowing that I was in for a long and challenging day, taking the high route to capanna Grossalp. Not ideal after more than two weeks of "not walking", but I wasn't happy with the alternatives.