Rocca Rossa
Description
The starting point is the village of Chianale near Pontechianale by the reservoir. From here, the asphalt road climbs up to the Colle dell Agnello pass (2744 meters above sea level). The highest Alpine pass in the Alps has now been conquered. Magnificent views and breathtaking nature are some of the highlights of this tour. The next highlight is already in sight: the ascent to the Rocca Rossa summit. Initially easy to pedal, the route continues up to the summit by pushing or carrying. It should be noted that the last 100 vertical meters can vary greatly depending on the weather conditions. Due to the rough ground, the composition of the trail changes considerably. The summit offers a breathtaking panorama. Monte Viso to the east, France to the west and the Cottian Alps to the south are at their best here.
The descent is also at its best. At difficulty level S3, the route follows the ascent route downwards. In the meantime, however, some paths have opened up in the mountain through the hikers, allowing a free choice of lines. Variants can be easily combined here. From the area of the ridge, the trail becomes relatively flowy and you surf back to the Colle dell Agnello in difficulty levels S1 to S2. Once you arrive at Colle dell Agnello, you share the route with a few motorcyclists. Continue on difficulty S2 to S3 past the Rifugio degli Alpini Mario Bottero direttissima down to Chianale. In the lower section, you then take the high-level trail westwards at Ricovero Carlo Emanuele III near the ruins and add the trail cutter, which also descends to Chianale on difficulty S2 to S3. Conclusion: All in all, one of the best 3000 m descents in the entire Alps. High alpine, fabulous panorama and with few hikers during the week - this tour is one of the top 10 in the Alps.
Map & GPX-Track
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Details of the tour
21 km
1350 m
1350 m
1786 above sea level
3126 above sea level
1 day
Chianale
Chianale
2622
limited
More information
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User comments (3)
About the author: Martin Depauli
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
Tour completed today but without hiking on the Rocco Rosse. Alternatively, I took the descent to rifuge Angel on the French side and pedaled the pass road to col dell'Agnello again, followed by a descent to pontechianale, which made for a nice bike tour.
We did the tour on 25.07.2024. Based on the condition of the path above 3000 m, the tour is no longer feasible - for the most part, there is no longer any sign of a path in the scree and where there appears to be a path, even expert riders won't have any fun. In addition, there are several snowfalls that make the ascent on foot very difficult. Conclusion: The summit is currently not accessible / feasible by bike. Below 3000 m, everything can be ridden smoothly and as described. However, there are much nicer trails in the Alps, including in Valle Varaita, e.g. the descent from Pelvo via Lago Bleu or the Passo Lausetta.
Snowfields (not snowfalls;-) )