Through the Italian Alps. Gillian Price
Читать онлайн книгу.
do not protect against sprained ankles.
Comfortable rucksack and plastic bags for organising contents.
Lightweight sleeping sheet (bag liner), essential for refuges and hostels.
Waterproofs: jacket and overtrousers, or an ample poncho that covers your rucksack. A lightweight collapsible umbrella is indispensable for people who wear glasses.
Telescopic trekking poles: handy for fording streams, boosting confidence during steep descents, easing weight off your back, hanging out washing, discouraging dogs, opening up passages through thick undergrowth, lowering branches of laden wild fruit trees…
Sun protection: hat, glasses and ultra-high-factor cream – remember that the intensity of UV rays increases by 10% with each 1000m in altitude.
Layered clothing to deal with bitter cold and snow through to sweltering sunshine: windproof jacket, fleece or pullover, wool hat and gloves, T-shirts, shorts, long pants (jeans are unsuitable).
Swimming costume as cascading torrents and picturesque lakes abound; also useful if you take time out at one of the spas.
Lightweight sandals or flip-flops for evenings in huts.
Compass, maps, altimeter (optional but helpful), camera and film/batteries.
Whistle, torch or headlamp (with spare batteries).
Water bottle: plastic mineral-water bottles widely available in Italy are perfect.
Plastic covering for map-reading in the rain.
Salt tablets or electrolyte powders (such as Dioralyte from chemists) to combat depletion through sweating and prevent dehydration.
First aid kit including Compeed (skin-like plasters for thwarting blisters if boots rub), antiseptic cream for nettle stings and insect bites, broad spectrum antibiotic.
Lightweight towel + personal toiletries.
Pegs or safety pins for attaching laundry to rucksack.
Extra food such as muesli bars (hard to find in mountain village stores).
Optional: lightweight stove and pan so you can prepare hot drinks, enabling you to get away early in the morning without having to wait for breakfast.
Plentiful supply of euros in cash. Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) or cash dispensers are listed in the route description.
Accommodation
Walkers will enjoy some marvellous overnight stays, thanks to memorable Italian hospitality. There is a wide range of accommodation available:
Small-scale comfortable hotels in villages
Special walkers’ hostels, known as posto tappa
High-altitude alpine huts, rifugio
Unmanned bivacco shelters
Your own tent.
The First three can – and should – be booked in advance: one day ahead is usually sufficient at off-peak times, but even months before is recommended for groups. The majority of the posto tappa establishments are family-run affairs so need a little advance warning to prepare evening meals. Refuges can be busy on Saturdays with local mountaineering groups, for example on Monviso. The middle fortnight of August is peak holiday season in Italy, so plan ahead for hotels. All necessary accommodation details are given in the walk descriptions, as are phone numbers for contacting the nearest Tourist Office. If your Italian is not up to scratch don’t hesitate to ask staff where you are staying to phone to book your accommodation for you; it is a common practice. However, all efforts at speaking Italian will be greatly appreciated, not to mention essential in some places: English-speakers in the isolated valleys of Piedmont can be counted on one hand! French can come in handy as it is widely understood and spoken. On the phone try:
Dormitory at Campello Monti posto tappa (Stage 45)
Pronto, vorrei prenotare un posto/due posti letto per domani sera Hello, I’d like to book 1 bed/2 beds for tomorrow night.
Parla inglese? Do you speak English?
Quanto costa? How much is it?
Grazie Thank you.
The posto tappa hostels, based on the excellent French gîte d’étape system, are located in hamlets or villages and are usually (but not always) more spacious and comfortable than the rifugi. Designed for walkers, guests stay in small dormitories, usually with an adjoining bathroom and hot shower. Some offer clean sheets and towels for a modest fee, and the odd one accepts payment by credit card. Self-caterers will occasionally have access to a kitchen; cooking facilities are listed when available, as are village grocery stores. It is a good idea to buy your supplies the afternoon you arrive rather than waste precious time the following morning waiting for shops to open. On the other hand Sunday openings are common in summer, and freshly baked bread may be available. It is a good idea to carry a supply of tea bags, condensed milk and biscuits.
Rif. Gardetta (Stage 12)
Several villages en route have modest hotels. Should you yearn for freshly ironed sheets and a large clean bath towel – not to mention privacy – it’s often no more than a few euros’ difference between staying at one of these or at the posto tappa.
RIFUGIO NORMS
Boots are left on a rack at the entrance, where flip-flops are often provided.
Service ceases from 10pm to 6am, which also means ‘lights out’ (the generator goes off).
Unless otherwise indicated, payment is only accepted in euros cash.
Remember that the majority of rifugi rely on costly helicopter transport for delivering supplies, once or twice per season. Fresh produce is rare.
The dedicated staff have to be capable of dealing with everything from a blocked toilet, frozen pipes, refilling a diesel-powered generator, lugging firewood and provisions up steep stairs, repairing pumps and solar panels, organising rescue operations for walkers… and are expected to be gourmet chefs as well!
Cooking polenta at Rif. Arlaud (Stage 22)
Facilities at a rifugio are a little more spartan. These marvellously situated high-altitude huts owned by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) are, more often then not, open to all walkers and mountaineers, whether members (who enjoy discounted rates) or not. They are only accessible on foot and are manned through the summer. Dormitories are again the rule, though bathrooms may be outdoors. If there’s no hot shower (doccia calda), there’s always a (cold) water tap and wash basin. Toilets range from hygienic if awkward ‘hole-in-the-floor’ WCs referred to as gabinetti alla turca (Turkish toilets), to the more usual sit-down types.
Half-board tends to be the rule everywhere; it makes life easier for the establishment and is generally a great deal for customers. Mezza pensione entails bed, a hot shower (occasionally charged extra), breakfast and dinner – pretty reasonable at around 30 Euros. Generally speaking continental-style breakfast (colazione) consists of a choice of caffè latte, tè or cioccolato caldo (hot chocolate) with bread, butter and jam (pane, burro, marmellata). Dinner (cena) on the other hand is a three- or four-course affair – a pasta dish or soup followed by meat and vegetables, dessert and/or cheese. As a rule drinks are billed separately. Many places will prepare packed lunches if given sufficient advance warning – ask for a pranzo al sacco or a simple panino con formaggio/prosciutto (roll with cheese/ham).
The majority of CAI rifugi also have basic winter premises, ricovero