How I joined 3 strangers – Capanna Cadlimo / Ticino.

Hut hike in Ticino: Airolo – Lago Ritom – Capanna Cadlimo – Lago Stabbiello – Airolo.

I was new in the area and I was a bit tired of hiking on my own. My friend, which I met through another colleague, suggested that I join one women’s group for a weekend hike. She wasn’t coming but I honestly, didn’t mind. I was on the mission to find a team so why not? I only knew, that it’s for 2 days and that I should bring sleeping bag and swimsuit as there is a lake next to the hut.

It was middle of July when I joined Mary, Ana and Susan (I changed the names to protect their privacy) with dog Lu with huge personality (Can I say it if it’s a dog? Should it be dogality instead of personality? Sorry, for ruining English language, however as non-native speaker, I can’t promise that it will get better…).

You know, it was one of our first longer, high altitude hikes, in Swiss mountains. There were some things, which we didn’t count with and we didn’t have clear idea, how long and how hard it could be to hike 1400m of elevation and about 16km in one day.

We parked at the part of Airolo village called Murone and started our hiking journey. It was looong walk, it was warm, and we did many kilometres on the pavement. When we got to Lago Ritom, picturesque water dam with cows hanging around, we were halfway through with elevation and distance. But it was already way after the lunchtime. Lesson #1: start early.

We kept walking on the left side of the dam and took the trail, which led us to Lago di Tom. There are lot of beautiful lakes in Switzerland but this one, got even little white sand beach, which is calling you for the wild swim. However, because we still had few hours of hiking in front of us, we decided just to cool down our legs up to the knees and we continued.

We started the last but long climb. Straight after the second curve we met super sporty older guy, brown leather skinned from too much sunbathing, topless, in shorts but huge hiking boots. He glanced at Ana, who worn reef shorts, tshirt with visible swimsuits straps behind the neck coming from underneath and lightweight running shoes. And as soon as he said: “Buongiorno!” he also added that we should not continue like this, that we were not ready. What do you think we did? We of course continued. Reaching 2300m above the sea level, we started to understand why. Slope was covered with wet muddy snow. Yes, in the middle of July! Lesson #2: never underestimate summer in the mountains, invest in good boots, and have your ‘winter outfit’ in the backpack just in case. Also, mountain huts are usually open just for summer and start of the season depends on snow conditions. Our weekend was one of the first weekends, so we could have counted with rough conditions.

Ascent was still ok though. One step forward, and sometimes, one step back. Maybe for some people, hiking poles are not cool, but believe me, they were so helpful on this hike, otherwise, it would be one step forward and two backwards. Slowly slowly we reached the ridge at almost 2500m above the sea level. Yes, it was how you think. Deep snow from the left to the right with the trail continuing in the steep slope above half frozen turquoise lake. We carefully walked above the water, trying to step into the footprints from other adventurers. I stopped breathing, I just wanted to be on the other side of this narrow slippery trail. Finally. We got through it. We stopped and tried to search the snowy and rocky fields, if we see the hut. It was already 5pm and we could not find the hut… Lesson #3: have a map, study it before the hike, know the distance and elevation. You can avoid lot of mental stress. We kept hiking for another 15 minutes and suddenly swiss flag appeared. That view always makes me happy since back then. The flag in the mountains is for me the symbol of reaching my destination.

We arrived to the hut tired and hungry. However, we missed the dinner time. Lesson #4: when booking the place to sleep, always ask when dinner is served to avoid disappointment and the stage of delirium. So, bring extra snacks with you. We waited another 2 hours to get our food! Can you imagine? Walking whole day, going through the hell in the snow, not being able to find the hut and then NO dinner? I think that was one of the two times, when I saw Susan angrily marching to the kitchen and successfully getting the bag of peanuts. 2^nd time, when I saw her angry was in Budapest, when the taxi driver tried to charge us few bugs extra but that is another story. To sum up, mountain huts have to deal with more difficult conditions and need extra planning so they are not as flexible as we would think when it comes to food preparation.

Btw. do you remember my swimsuit, which I took with me? I obviously didn’t need it. Everything was frozen. Even water in the washing basin inside the hut was freezing cold, right from the glacier or icy lake. When I washed my face from all the sweat and tried to put cream on it, it didn’t spread. It was that cold!

What I also like at the huts, there is usually general “bed time” around 10pm. Electricity is scarce, people are tired from hiking and many times you have to sleep with many other strangers in the same room so everybody tries to go to his/her bed almost at the same time not to wake up the others if going to bed later. I’m the one, who either dance through the night or is done at 10pm. Therefore, hut timing works well for me.

We woke up fresh and full of energy next morning. Right after breakfast we took the other valley down, west side of the Punta Negra mountain direction to Lago Stabbiello and Airolo. Right behind the hut, there was again steep slope down, full of snow. Our speed was not extraordinary, but we were a bit braver walking through the slippery areas than the day before. We safely got through the hell and were marching down. Suddenly, we were approaching Alps, the place, where they make cheese. I mentioned Lu only at the very beginning of the trip. Yes, she was coming on the stage. She spotted tiny kitten. From that moment, everything happened very fast. In a second, she started to run after it. However, she did not expect, that kitten had a big friend. In the next moment, we just saw, how big German shepherd is chasing Lu. And Lu just screamed like hell. She was running full speed and crying forgetting about kitten. We all believed that her life was running in front of her eyes and she thought that she would not make it. It was for sure one long minute in Lu’s life. Luckily, farmers called the German shepherd and we even were invited for cheese tasting. Yummie. That was for sure great break and we continued rolling back to Airolo. At that point, we were exhausted, and we stopped talking. Until now, I’m not sure how we got back home. We all slept in the car and I don’t understand, how Susan managed to drive.

Have to say, that it was many lessons learnt and lot of muscle pain in next few days. Kat was even thinking to sleep in the car as she did not want to climb 4 floors to her flat (lifts are great invention indeed).  

Location: Airolo / Ticino

Car: Parking at Murone, Airolo

Public Transport: train to Airolo (add +2km from&to train station)

Trail: 27.4km (15.6km to Capanna Cadlimo / 11.8km down)

Elevation: 1670m (1508m up / 162m on the way down)

Highest Point: 2570m

Difficulty: difficult

Time: 9hrs 30 mins (5hr 45 mins to Capanna Cadlimo / 3hrs 45 mins down)

Condition of the trail: wide road, trail to Lago Ritom, then mountain rocky path

Best to visit: without the need of special equipment July – September/October (check snow conditions before you start)

Services: Shop at Brugnasco, Rifugio Lago Ritom – restaurant & hotel at Piora, Capanna Cadlimo – restaurant and overnight stay