Hiking the Alps outside Torino
In a new article from GoNOMAD.com, editor Max Hartshorne hikes up a mountain in the Alps outside Torino, Italy to a remote cabin called the Refugio Pontessi. The hike begins at the dam in the Gran Paradis National Park and continues past a turquoise lake created by the structure.
Enjoy an excerpt from the story below.
Up above the lake were dramatic snowy peaks, and a set of mountains ringing the water. We were heading way, way up there, to that hut with the yellow roof. Wow it was far up!
Settling into our own paces, we took the increasingly steeper climb to the top and grabbed hold of rocks and branches to keep us moving ahead. Looking back I saw that we all were getting a little winded, but it felt so great on this blinding sunny day to be there. Our prize awaited us in an hour or so up at the top, where steaming cauldrons held bubbling risotto with beef.
An hour of hard hiking, using rocks as stairs and walking through soft forests and then, hiking above the tree line on broad flat rocks. “No one said it was going to be easy,” I laughed, and indeed, it was one of those hikes that makes you feel great because it was tough.
Looking down on that steep path and this light blue water when we reached the Refugio Pontessi, it all felt just right. Inside, a feast cooked on the mountain awaited. Everything comes up to this remote hut via a cable car that’s strung all the way from the bottom. No way you can pack that much up here!
