GTA: Stage 8B Riale - Alpe Cruina | Biella Valsesia Vercelli

Highlights and tour details

The variant, which allows the connection with nearby Switzerland, starts from Riale where, after passing the first houses of the village, you can see the path on the right that partly follows and largely cuts the track that leads to Rifugio Maria Luisa and the Toggia dam. After the first, steeper section, leaving the fork to Lake Nero on the right, the path flattens out and you can reach Rifugio Maria Luisa in about an hour and then continue along the orographic right side of Lake Toggia. It gradually rises up over the wide grasslands above the lake and, after leaving the track that leads to the alpine pastures of Alpe Regina on the left, you reach Passo San Giacomo on a track with several deeply eroded and ruined stretches, which is about an hour from the Refuge. After passing the wooden cross and the old sentry post, you enter Swiss territory and follow the path on the left that goes along the hillside on Val Corno and shortly arrive at the Corno di Gries hut belonging to the Swiss Alpine Club. From here you quickly descend to Alpe Cruina.