hike from lake delle fate to potholes of the giants in val quarazza

WARNING: trekking is not like walking! If you can't overcome a passage, go back!
Some of the tracks presented here are set along mountain trails where some passages may require holding to ropes or climbing short ladders, and may have exposed passages without safety protections. These tracts can be a serious danger if faced without the right equipment, awareness and physical condition.
ITINERARIUM® has no responsibility regarding the tracks presented here, their dangerousness, accessibility, praticability and safety. Who decides to take these tracks does it at their own risk.

FORNARELLI - CROCETTE CITTà MORTA - ALPE PRELOBIA DI SOTTO

Val D'Ossola - Valle Anzasca

Download GPX track

Length:
9.5 Km

Our time:
3h00' walking

Total climb:
420 mt

Min and max height:
1185 mt - 1515 mt

Type of track:
there and back

Surface:
trail

Panorama:
river - woods - mountains

Cell network coverage:
very poor

Traced in winter:
no

Traced by bike:
no

The subglacial river has eroded and smoothened the stone for millennia, eventually creating the glacial potholes, also called potholes of the giants, nowadays visible along the river Quarazza. A natural spectacle that makes the power of the water visible in every bend. The itinerary, in fact, develops along river Quarazza, with the omonimous valley’s amphitheater in the background, placed on a side of Valle Anzasca.
The trails starts from Fornarelli, an hamlet of Macugnaga, where the gold mine Guia is set: the first Alpine mine museum open to the public.
Going up the valley, the small town of Quarazza is reached, where a few buildings are visible. Those that, due to their position, were not submerged by the water of lake Fate (Fairy lake), following the building of the dam in 1952.
The trail later reaches Crocette, also called “dead city”, an ancient settlement for the miners who worked in the gold mines of Quarazzola and Moriana. Here some houses and warehouses were built to shatter and wash the gold material, so much so that the area is heavily poisoned by cyanide, mercury and arsenic to the present day. Any contact with the soil is prohibited.
The itinerary eventually reaches Alpe Prelobia di Sotto: an ancient pasture still used to the present day.

WARNING: Alpe La Piana is not reachable proceeding after Alpe Prelobia di Sotto, and its trails can not be joined, because the bridge that crosses river Quarazza is no longer present (to this day, october 2022)

Traveled on: Oct 2nd, 2022