[5]
Mount Tenibres (3031 m)
[Maritime Alps, Piedmont - Italy]
[from Piano della Regina, Valle Stura]
General information
Mount Tenibres is located in the Maritime
Alps, on the border between Italy and France. This page describes the
route to the summit from the Stura Valley, about 50 km W of Cuneo, Piedmont
(Italy).
Grade: EE / F
Height to climb: 1592m
Time: 4h 30
Map: IGC - Istituto Geografico Centrale, 1:50000, sheet n.7 "Valle
Maira Gesso Stura" .
Last climbed: August 2006
How to get to the starting point
From the GTA
The GTA path is not far away. If you are walking from S to N, you'll
be descending from Rifugio Migliorero and Passo di Rostagno, heading
for Passo Sottano delle Scolettas and on to Rifugio Talarico. In the
nearby of Rifugio Zanotti the GTA intersects the path coming up from
the valley floor and heading for Mt.Tenibres. But on this more below,
in the 'Notes' section.
By car
From Cuneo to Borgo San Dalmazzo, then follow the road for the Valle
Stura di Demonte. At Pietraporzio (1246m), some 50km from Cuneo, take
the road descending left. Follow signposts for "Piano della Regina"
and "Rifugio Zanotti", and a steep narrow paved road takes
you shortly to the scenic grassy basin of Piano della Regina (1439 m),
where you leave the car.
By public transport
Ati (www.atibus.it)
runs the bus service between Cuneo and Vinadio, and from there to Argentera
(the last village of the Valle Stura). Once in Pietraporzio, however,
you'll have to walk or get a lift from Pietraporzio to where the route
begins, which is at Piano della Regina (if you are walking consider
200m of extra elevation gain).
Route
At Piano della Regina, fill your bottles
from the nice fountain (called "Fonte della Regina" - but
mind the impressive number of bees resting? all around the tap…),
then start hiking up the Vallone del Piz on a mildly sloped unpaved
road, at first in a wood and then through a scenic grazing basin.
In the nearby of the Zanotti hut (Rifugio Zanotti), ignore the fork
L, first descending and then ascending to the mountain hut (signpost),
and keep going along the road. Immediately after a hair-pin bend on
the right another signpost points left for the Passo Tenibres (1h 30
from the car parking)(straight on you'd reach, on the GTA, the Passo
Sottano delle Scolettas, already in sight).
Take this path on the left, and narrow zigzags ascend the shoulder of
the mountain to gain the Vallone Superiore del Piz, a large valley of
chaotic rubble slopes of mixed boulders, rocks and loose stones surrounded
by high peaks. The valley is closed at the very end by Passo Tenibres,
the pass you have to reach.
Past the nice lake Mongioie (2480m) (picture n.1), a well trodden path
leads you up, on the right side of the valley, toward the pass (picture
n.2).
As you get closer, a casermetta - that is a small military building
- now in ruin, comes into sight, just below the pass (picture n.3).
The closer you get to the casermetta and the steeper and harder the
going gets, often on unstable terrain.
Once at the casermetta, you can choose between the ascent of the very
steep and slippery couloir, on the left, that leads directly to the
Passo Tenibres (2940 m), and a short scramble on the right, above the
Casermetta.
The first option (picture n.4) is graded easier than the scrambling
("EE" instead of "F"), but the latter (picture n.5)
is preferred by most hikers and recommended by the CAI-TCI guidebook.
We opted for the short scrambling stretch above the casermetta, and
we found ourselves on the ridge (from which you enjoy some views of
the distant French valley floor). From the ridge you avoid a rocky spur
by carefully descending on the French side, to reach at last Passo Tenibres
(2h 30 from the fork for the Zanotti hut, 4h from Pian della Regina).
The most difficult part of the route now behind you, from the pass you
can spot the cross on the summit, small but real (picture n.6).
From the Passo Tenibres, past a short level stretch with some chances
of late-lying snow, a dim path embarks on the final steep ascent to
the summit (picture n.7), tiring of course at this point, but without
exposure or difficulty.
You are at last on the top of Monte Tenibres (30min from Passo Tenibres,
4h 30 from Piano della Regina), from which you enjoy a breathtaking
view (picture n.8) onto the surrounding peaks (Becco Alto di Ischiator
and Mount Corborant are the closest and easiest to spot), and of the
farther ranges (the massive bulk of the Argentera standing out, as usual,
very clearly on the horizon). Mount Tenibres also towers over the impressive
Lake Rabuons, in France, the largest natural lake in the Maritime Alps.
Notes
This is a tiring and demanding, but also
rewarding route.
The height to gain is nearly 1600m, however, and that's truly a lot.
In addition, there is a short tricky stretch just below the Passo Tenibres,
which entails either some scrambling or the ascent of a very steep and
unstable couloir.
If you are doing the GTA it would be of paramount importance to avoid
the descent to Pietraporzio, on the valley floor. Ideally you should
overnight at the Zanotti hut, but the Rifugio is unmanned, and the keys
must be taken at Pontebernando (Albergo delle Barricate, 0171/96616),
a village located even farther than Pietraporzio!
Try to call them, you never know. You may discover that the night in
question the Rifugio is open because somebody is sleeping there and
has already taken the keys; or they might suggest you another solution
that won't make you lose hundreds of hard-gained metres in altitude!.
Give it a try, Mount Tenibres is one of the two 3000m peaks of the Maritime
Alps west of the Argentera (the other being Mt Corborant), and it is
almost along your route. It would be a pity to miss it.
Related Routes
From the same starting point
==
In the area
- Testa dell'Ubac
ˆ
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