GTA - Balme to Usseglio

You leave Balme on the small road heading south. At the first hairpin bend, you cross the Rio Paschiet on a bridge and continue ascending the valley on a hiking path to the left of the stream. Stay on this path (do not turn right earlier) until after a steep climb at 2018m you reach the small high plateau near Alpe Pian Buel. Here turn right (south). You pass the Laghi Verdi. The necessary stream crossings here still required good balance at the beginning of July 2019 to balance across the boulders to the other bank.

At 2301m you pass the emergency shelter Bivacco Gandolfo. The ascent continues clearly visible over meadows and scree to the well-visible Passo Paschiet (2434m).

From the pass you descend only to a meadow with a large boulder and spring, which can already be seen from the pass. Here turn right and climb again to the Colletto di Costa Fiorita (2445m).

The further descent first runs horizontally along the slope to the left (do not descend directly!) and then in hairpins to a grassy pass. Here the path turns left and leads as a narrow path through a steep grassy slope before meeting the green plain below the slope.

Special attention is required here as the path soon turns left into the next river valley. At the turning point you can only see a faded wooden sign on a short post, which was probably once a signpost.

From here you can already see the further path, which crosses the stream after some hairpins and then leads into the forest. In the forest, it soon goes down in tight hairpins until you meet the river. Follow this. Further down it is canalized. Slightly above the village at a step in the riverbed, cross right (signpost) and go through the forest on a beautiful path lined with old stone walls into the village (keep left at a fork).