Capanna Ribia
Hike 2022
It’s already November, but there hasn’t been that much snow at altitude in Ticino yet. Silvia and Marco suggested doing another hike with an overnight stay. They chose the Capanna Ribia (1998m) in Val Vergeletto. This has a winter shelter and the circular hike looks feasible on the map.
Saturday afternoon we met at the small car park in Vergeletto. The valley was already in the shade and it was quite cold. We followed the road a little further into the valley until the hiking trail turned off to the right and immediately climbed steeply up the mountain. We kept following the sun but never reached it. Halfway up, we took a short break for refreshments.some snacks
There was already a group of five nice English people in the Capanna Ribia. Unfortunately, the open fire didn’t work quite so reliably. The wind outside was sometimes quite strong and all the smoke from the fire was blown into the hut. We then had to open all the windows and doors to ventilate. As a result, the ice-cold mountain air came in. It was decided that we would switch off the fireplace overnight to avoid any risk. Despite good sleeping bags, woollen clothing and several woollen blankets, the night was quite cold.
But in the morning we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. The peace and quiet in the mountains in the morning is indescribably beautiful.
We had breakfast outside in the sun and took our time packing everything up. The English were ready a little quicker than us.
Now we had to climb a little further up to the highest point (2246m). As expected, there was already some snow and the water was frozen. On the descent, we had to find our own way in places as we couldn’t see the waymarkings. Fortunately, most of the route was in the sun today.
We reached our cars again in the late afternoon. No sun seems to come to Vergeletto in winter. Our car windows were frozen over.
