Day 8
After fairly good breakfast we set off in the direction of Eita, at least that’s what we thought. As the trail disappeared under our feet we realised that we were following some game path leading nowhere near our trail. Grinding teeth and climbing steeply up we finally come across huge bike trail which we learned was actually posing as a hiking trail to Eita as well. Looking back it seems fairly impossible to miss and we must have looked fairly odd to passing cyclists walking out of the deep forest catching breath like running the marathon.
Remainder of the stage R72 was fairly relaxing / boring walk along biking trail through Passo di Verva (2,301m) all the way to Eita (1,703m) which we covered in good time and pressed onwards. Second stage for the day turned out to be more interesting. First there was steep climb up towards alpine meadows above Eita and around Laghi di Tres (2,216m) and second, there was no clear path beyond Laghi.
We basically went from mark to mark as we spotted them as this part of Via Alpina is so little used that no trail was established yet. Last three hundred vertical meters turned to be real fun as we imitated mountain goats and jumped from rock to rock in order to get to the Passo di Vermolera (2,732m) and around snowfields (as my bro by this time on the trip basically walked his shoes through and was little scared to get his feet wet – totally understandably :) ).
Reaching the pass felt satisfying and long descent towards Maghlera (1,964m) was entertaining as again no clear path (down until Pian del Lago 2,316m) was visible and marks were distantly spread. Stone pyramids set up by previous hikers turned out to be great help to us hastening our descent (we tried to keep this tradition and enhanced some of the structures).
Beyond Pian del Lago path appeared from nowhere and comfortably indicated our way towards the biggest positive surprise on our journey – Rifugio Maghlera (1,964m). Maghlera is hut or rather cottage run by locals – specifically three ladies out of which only one speaks English – and also suits for local gatherings (which we had pleasure to join during our stay). Although full of shouting Italian children on their summer camp, we had pleasure to enjoy proper and hot shower, eight bed room for only two of us and most importantly we had pleasure to eat local food with locals (long live pizzocheri!!!). For a bargain price of EUR 45 we had dinner, sleepover and breakfast for two (and landlady did not even include price for cakes, cheese platter and coke we had been invited to taste with our hostesses). Up until now Maghlera is crème de la crème of this trip with its hospitability and atmosphere. Thank you!
Vertical meters (up only):4,145m
Distance: 26.700km
VA stages: R72, R73
Day 9
Long before Malghera we came to realisation that our initial plan of covering over 630km and seeing all the cities we wanted to visit is more of a fata morgana than actual plan. It was only meter of time when we would decide to start skipping stages and “catching up” with Via Alpina. That point came in Malghera when after peering through map we commandeered in Arnoga (at least we got something for that horrendous money :) ) we decided to skip three stages circling Alltelina valley and massifs around and traverse from Malghera to Poschiavo. By doing this we think we manage to avoid fairly long walks through some valleys which appeared likely from the description given in Via Alpina print outs we possessed. Furthermore, at least one of the three stages was from Tirano, start of Bernina railway to Poschiavo, which was basically climb from 441m to 1,014m. As experienced mountaineers we refused to waste our time and decided to skip stages R74, R75 and R76.
Hike to Poschiavo turned out to be pleasant hike along alpine pastures and Lago di Malghera – obviously very popular fishing spot for locals. Other side – i.e. Switzerland as we crossed borders again – included long winding and zigzagging paved road all the way to Poschiavo (by the time we reached middle of it we were drooling from boredom). In Poschiavo upon further examination of commandeered map, consideration of the lag we had compared to original plan little brother come up with idea to skip additional three stages, jump on the Bernina railway (btw UNESCO listed heritage site) and explore St. Moritz – The place where The rich meet. Of course after three nights when I whined myself to bed I agreed (also afraid of another huge climb from Poschiavo to Passo di Campagneda – 2,609m and beyond).
Bernina railway did not turned out totally to its billing (literally and metaphorically) as it was not only completely commercialized, but our untrained eye failed to fully understand “greatness” of it as the highest non-stack railway in Europe. Honestly? Bernina although completed in 1912 and as high as 2,300m is still good 2,700m lower than that Chinese civilization tool for Tibet. In this case, have to hand it to eastern tiger.
Quick walk through St. Moritz made us realized that this is not the city for us (yet) as even with special Bernina pass (which is free for the passengers) and long list of cooperating discounts-offering establishments, all prices including discounts were out of our price range :) All I was allowed to buy (as my brother held the cash bank in that time) was one postcard and stamp (could not afford anything else really :) ). Anyway, perplexed we hoped on our familiar and now not so expensive Post bus and went to our start for next stage – Maloja.
After searching for some moderately priced hotel we had to settle for – according to recommendation we received – the cheapest option in the town – Sport Hotel for CHF 105 (believe me or not it was even cheaper than lager rooms offered). I have to admit that the whole Engadin valley seemed a bit overpriced even for Swiss standards. Somehow, without discussing or even speaking a word about it, we ended up having small dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. It turned out to be another lucky decision as we met another two Slovak girls working there during school vacation.
Vertical meters (up only):778m
Distance: 15.000km
VA stages: none
Day 10
From Maloja we started off towards source of river Inn – Lagh dal Lunghin (2,484m) – and triple watershed of Lunghin pass (2,645m) (rivers flowing to Adriatic, Black and North Sea start on its slopes). Afterwards, R80 led us through Septimer pass (2,310m) and Forcellina pass (2,672m) towards village of Juf. Allegedly Juf is the highest European year round inhabited settlement (again let me point out towards Asia and countries / territories around Himalayas).
Anyway, back to our story. Descent from Forcellina turned out to be slow and rigorous as numerous zig zags tried resilience of my right foot which started to hurt two-three days ago. In Juf we faced another decision whether to follow Via Alpina further and walk entire length of Bergell valley to Innerferrera or cowardly jump on the bus. Once again our mountaineering ignorance prevented us from simple walk along the valley and we jumped on a bus. Instead of Innerferrera we purchased tickets to Thusis in order to follow yet another diversion from Via Alpina (which we basically abandoned for now). As we passed through Innerferrera we quickly checked that indeed the rumors in our guide were true and only hotel in the village was closed on Monday (in fact the day we planned to stay there) and our ignorance was blessed :)
From Thusis we intended to transfer further to Glasspass where we intended to stay overnight. From there on we planned to walk to Illanz and hop on train to Andermatt and further so we can resume hiking in better terrain. This was due to our mutual observation that Via Alpina in this part of its course turned into valley walks with crossings over moderate passes while we sought some more demanding trails (again our newly found mountaineering ignorance in full swing).
Post bus saved us again and we happily rode it to Obertschapinna. From there we hiked last three kilometers to Glasspass and our officially unofficial accommodation. We stayed overnight in the house of local family after lady running one-and-only and fully booked pension confirmed reservation for us.
Vertical meters (up only):2,325m
Distance: 17.900km
VA stages: R80
