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Lepontine Alps

Boundaries

The Lepontine Alps lie to the south of the main Alpine watershed and are mainly in Italy, but parts straddle Switzerland.

Ski Touring Routes

The best known route through the area is the Tour Soleil, which starts at Realp following the range westwards and finishing at Binn (although other variants carry on to the Simplon Pass).

Rotondo Hut - the first hut on the Tour Soleil

Classic Ski Tour - Ossola Haute Route

The Ossola Haute Route is normally done West to East and lies to the south of the Tour Soleil - traversing from the Simplon Pass to the St Gotthard Pass. The route is normally fairly quiet and few other parties will been seen, but has the advantage of some very friendly Italian huts with good food. It goes quite low (1600m) so is best done earlier in the season.

Good accounts can be found in the 2008 Yearbook and the 2011 Yearbook.

Rifugio Castiglioni (1640m) in Alpe Devero on the Haute Route Ossola

Typical Itinerary:

Day 0 Assemble at the Simplon Hospiz. This is run by monks in a similar way to a normal mountain hut. There are many peaks which could provide a warm-up day from the Simplon Hospiz, if required e.g.Spitzhorli (2737m) or Briethorn (3438m)
Day 1 From the Simplon head east to the Chaltwasserpass (2770m) and a lovely descent down the Aurona valley to the unguarded Rifugio Città di Arona (1769m) in Alpe Veglia. The hut is well equipped, but you will need to take food.
Day 2 From the hut it is a straightforward ascent to the Passo di Valtendra (2431m), then trickier ground to the narrow pass of Scatta d’Orogna (2461m) before the final descent to Alpe Dèvero and the Rifugio Castiglioni (1640m).
Day 3 Ski over the (hopefully frozen) Lago di Dèvero (or round it if not) and then up to the pass of Scatta Minoia (2599m). There is an option to ascend the Clogstafel (2967m) before a final descent leads to the (frozen) Lago Vannino and the Rifugio Margaroli (2194m).
Day 4 From the Rifugio Margaroli ascend to the Passo di Nefelgiu (2583m) before descending to the main Ossola valley at Reale (1728m) and a steep ascent to the Rifugio Maria Luisa (2160m).
Day 5 A steep ascent to the Kastellücke (2714m) followed by an ascent of the Basodino (3272m) and then a great descent to the Capanna Basodino (1856m).
Day 6 From the hut climb north past 3 lakes to the Passo di Cristallina (2568m). If time and conditions permit, it may be possible to ascend Cristallina (2912m) before the long descent down Val Torta to Ossasco (1313m) in Val Bedretto. From here there is a postbus to Airolo, which has good railway connections to the rest of Switzerland.