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ANDONNO E CUNEESE - CLIMBING IN SOUTH-WESTERN PIEDMONT
Severino Scassa
When you arrive in Cuneo, the Monviso immediately makes an impression. Majestic, called also “il Re di Pietra”, the “King of Stone”, a symbol of the struggle with the mountains in Piemonte, the symbol of the Club Alpino Italiano and also for us the start of the mountains and of the Valli Cuneesi, the Cuneese valleys. At the foot of the Monviso you find the Valle Po, the Po valley, starting at Saluzzo and the Varaita which starts from Costigliole di Saluzzo. The first hills to the left of the Monviso form the watershed with the next valley after the Valle Varaita, the Val Maira, which starts at Dronero. Passing then to the Valle Grana (Caraglio) our gaze falls on another majestic mountain which stands out between the other lower summits: the mountain in the distance in the south-west is the Argentera massif, including the last 3000m peak of the Alps, Monte Clapier. It delimits three valleys: from North to South in order, the Valle Stura, the Valle Gesso and the Val Vermenagna which are reached by going from to Borgo S. Dalmazzo. The Valle Vermenagna and the Valle Stura are the two valleys which have crossings over into France, the first leading to Val Roya and the second to the Valle dell’Ubaye.
If we continue to shift our gaze leftwards along the mountain chain, we notice that the mountains remain severe but less pronounced and majestic. In the foreground there’s Cuneo’s mountain, the Bisalta, with its volcano-like shape sculpted in the middle of the Valle Colla. The Bisalta forms the watershed between the Valle Vermenagna and Chiusa di Pesio’s Valle Pesio, at whose head is a distinctive loaf-of-bread shaped peak surrounded by rock walls: it’s the Marguareis, the preferred domain for cavers. Now our gaze on the mountains moves east, where the Alps start to disappear into the Apennines and the Langhe and Roero.
We’re at the Alpi Liguri, the Ligurian Alps, a series of pretty valleys radiating from the Valle Pesio: Valle Ellero, Valle Maudagna (famous for the ski stations of Atesina and Prato Nevoso) and the Valle Corsaglia, all easily reached via Mondovì. Finally, when in the distance where the hills of the Langhe disappear into those around Ceva, there is the pretty and still-unspolied (especially in its upper part) Val Tanaro from where, descending into Liguria, we are in the part of the Valle Pennavaira that’s still in Piemonte.
Whatever the time of year, weather or the type of climbing you’re after, here there’s a crag for every combination of conditions and tastes. You want friction climbing like the Valle dell’Orco or the Val di Mello? Oncino and its incredibile gneiss is the answer. You prefer athletic climbing on vertical or slightly overhanging walls? Try the fine-grained gneiss of Monte Bracco. Want the heady feeling of climbing on richly-featured limestone which 150 million years ago was under the shallow Ligure-Piemontese Ocean? Stop at Pianbernardo, Tanarello, Mongioie, Arimonda, La Brigue,… Are you interested in climbing some of the Alps’ oldest rocks, 600 million years old? The migmatite of the Scoglio Tetti Lupo at the Rifugio Migliorero could be what you’re looking for. You’d like to get your hands on rocks that 250 million years ago were beaches and have become quartzite, “cooked” during the formation of the Alps? Go to Miroglio or Roccavione. Or you can try the crimps of the old volcanic rocks (280 million years old) of the Falesia della Valle Ellero. You are most comfortable with Alpine weather? Valle Po and Variata. You want to be able to see the sea and climb in a Mediterranean climate? Valle Roya.
It’s raining? Envie, the Coppo di Rure, the Cornarea and Bandito caves. And so on…
VALLE PO
1 Revello 2 Envie 3 Rocciarè 4 Monte Bracco
VALLE VARAITA
5 Coup d' Rure
VALLE MAIRA
6 Roccabruna 7 Camoglieres 8 Falesia del pilone
VALLE GRANA
9 La Piatta
VALLE STURA E UBAYE
10 Roccasparvera 11 Moiola 12 L'Altare 13 Rifugio Malinvern 14 Avancorpi della Cordiera 15 Sant'Anna 16 Salto del Camoscio 17 Placca del Sole 18 Placche di Serre 19 Rifugio Migliorero 20 La Crosa 21 Hotel Miramonti 22 Falesia dei Militari 23 Pont Voutè 24 Rocher du Piroulire 25 Placca degli spagnoli
VALLE GESSO
26 Roccavione 27 Grotte del Bandito 28 Andonno 29 Saben 30 Zodiaco 31 Pianard 32 Sant'Anna di Valdieri 33 Placche dei Camosci
VALLE VERMENAGNA
34 Bec Moller 35 Cournalet 36 Folchi 37 Limone Piemonte
VALLE ROYA E BEVERA
38 Colle di Tenda 39 Discoteca 40 Arimonda 41 Casterino 42 La Brigue 43 La Bergerie 44 Sospel 45 Castillon
VALLE COLLA
46 San Giacomo di Boves
VALLE PESIO
47 La Roccarina
VALLE ELLERO
48 Falesia della Valle Ellero
VALLE MAUDAGNA
49 Miroglio
VALLE CORSAGLIA
50 I Quarzini 51 I Bassi
VALLE TANARO
52 Bagnasco 53 Pianbernardo 54 Canion di Ormea 55 Dente di Ormea 56 Falesia del Bosco 57 Cantarana 58 Rocca Rossa 59 Tanarello 60 Grottone di Cornarea 61 Settore X 62 Falesia del Suono 63 Mongioie 64 Piancavallo 65 Nivorina 66 Poggio Allodola 67 Upega 68 Barchi
VALLE PENNAVAIRA
69 Rocca dell' Arma 70 La Sorgente 71 Alto La Corsia72 Alto Red Up 73 Alto Marvel Area 74 Alto il Grottone 75 Planetarium
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Severino Scassa
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