Val Canzoi – Val Càsole – Severino Pagnussat Route – Val Fiesole

Premise

This route was traveled on July 29, 2021, and all the following observations and considerations may fully apply only to that day.

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From the parking lot at the end of Val Canzoi to Casera Fratón climbing up Val Càsole

From the final parking lot in Val Canzoi, cross the Caorame Stream via a stone-cement paved passage, then continue to the left on a small road (about 200 meters) until another brief paved passage over a side channel-ravine.

Immediately after this second passage, a small path begins on the right: if there is no cairn (which … comes and goes over time) the start is not noticeable, but by looking just behind a "patch of fine gravel on the ground" it is surely found.

This small path quickly ascends to join the Val Canzoi Nature Trail.

From the entrance point onto the Val Canzoi Nature Trail, take the eastward-descent direction that goes down to the east vertex of Lake Stua – you can appreciate the tree-cutting work to restore the passage after the Vaia Storm.

Here begins the first variant of the old path to bypass a wide area of forest blown down by the storm.

Simply continue inside the easy bed of Val Casole for about 400 linear meters, following some curves of it, until arriving below the large landslide descending from the Col del Mus area.

The original path would cut halfway across this landslide, and to reconnect to a still good section you must climb up the green side on the right side in the ascent direction of the landslide.

Once the path is found, bend slightly uphill diagonally to the right up to an obvious saddle where, at the exit, there is a large cut branch used as a marker.

Just beyond the saddle begins a nice path to the left that crosses a small channel and runs into an extensive forest area severely damaged by the 2018 Vaia Storm: about 100 linear meters in total to reach this point.

Here, to completely avoid the fallen forest, it is better to descend on the right over an easy slope to enter the underlying main channel-bed (which is still the main one of Val Casole).

Now continue on the not difficult bottom among the boulders for over 300 straight meters – there are only two drops of 4 or 5 meters: the first is easily bypassed in the left forest, the second through a short steep on the right.

You arrive where, on the left in ascent direction, behind a big rock, a secondary small channel with vertical start and several wedged boulders branches off.

Here, before the secondary channel, exit the main Val Casole channel onto the steep left forest side which has sufficient steps to progress without major difficulties.

Climb about 30/35 meters elevation and meet the original path "just leaving" the extensive forest area felled by the Vaia Storm (in fact, shortly after resuming the good path, I found on the walkway a "big and complex" fallen tree from this year, since it still had the light green seasonal regrowth leaves).

Following the path for about forty meters, with a slight descent, you reach the crossing (at a very easy point) of the aforementioned secondary channel that initially was vertical with wedged boulders.

After the crossing, the path continues east and then southeast, making a wide arc of about 500 walking meters (about 450 in a straight line) up to the ruins of Casera Fraton.

At first, the track follows a slightly pronounced ridge and is quite grassy (at least at the end of July) where I found a couple of cairns and some isolated cut branches – then it enters a very gentle forested valley up to the hut ruins.

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From Casera Fratón to the start of the Severino Pagnussat Route

From Casera Fraton turn right (almost perfectly south) for 35/40 linear meters until re-entering the usual main channel-bed of Val Casole.

Here the track is not obvious but the walking plan is logical: at the base of the ruins (clearly visible from the former entrance door opening) there is a large arrow made on the ground with stones indicating the exact direction.

Now comes the most confusing and less marked part.

Entering the channel-bed, do not cross it, but continue inside it; shortly after, there is a branch and take the right branch, which is less evident, until it bends right and ends inside the forest side: in total about 65/70 meters in a straight line.

At the right bend of the secondary branch continue straight on grassy ground which is the base of a trail now absorbed (better seen as a trail when coming downhill) – after about twenty meters you must climb a small ramp to the right where I noticed only some footprints on the steep ground: here, unfortunately for clarity, there is a nice group of cut branches but it is almost 10 meters inside the deviation and not visible from below.

After the ramp, ascend to the left on a wide forest side.

Logically, you have to climb anyway on the forest side and, ramp or no ramp right, in some way you get up.

From the arrival point above the forest side you have to climb adapting to the humps and slope changes: there are some discontinuous traces but nothing that can be defined as a path.

Here ascend about 80/90 meters (depending on the entry point to the forest side) of elevation until you meet a visible cairn in the center of the logical walkway (before this cairn I saw 3 smaller ones on the right, but there could be more).

From the cairn emerges a real trail that climbs gently diagonally to the left and leads in about 60 linear meters above a sort of short ditch descending steeply into the usual main channel which here is very wide.

There is a cairn at the head of the ditch and one halfway: the last few meters descending into the channel are on a precarious diagonal like a ledge requiring attention.

Begin to climb the very wide channel staying on the right side where you almost immediately find a couple of cairns.

Shortly after (perhaps about seventy meters in a straight line, but here the GPS is unreliable), you reach a very wide almost "T" junction with very open "arms" of the branch: go right.

Entering this branch, the cairns continue and lead to shift the climbing line from right to left.

It is really difficult to give metric references due to the satellite signal unreliability.

You can say that, roughly, you follow the cairns on the left side of the channel for a little more than 100 meters in a straight line.

You see that the channel continues in its base bed until it narrows in the distance below a vertical drop.

After this "about 100 meters by eye", on the left of the channel bed a large bench (a real "overpass") rises sharply, at the base of which you must aim at a single right spot to find the start of the Severino Pagnussat Route and climb onto it.

So, follow the cairns on the left side in the climbing direction up to a last cairn which – now beneath the jump providing access to the bench – is at the base of a short rocky rib with a few moves between I° and II° grade (I honestly cannot differentiate between I°+ and II°-).

After this, end up under a patch of dwarf pines on a very steep few-meter section.

After "piercing the dwarf pines" (there are no clearings but passage is easy) you arrive below jumps with a narrow and deep notch on the right: at the base of these jumps (near the notch) are the red writings marking the start of the Severino Pagnussat Route.

There is an alternative avoiding the approach rocks between I° and II° grade, and this is the one I followed on this occasion.

Before reaching the last cairn widen to the right continuing to bypass a large rock.

Just above the large rock there is a steep slope to the left that, with a bit of trace in an initial green patch, ends up above the rocks and below the final dwarf pines: this seems easier to me.

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From the start of the Severino Pagnussat Route to the saddle at the head of the Canalone della Val Fiesole

At the start – with the typical red Severino Pagnussat writings – there are two rocky ribs separated by a deep notch.

Besides the "PS" signature, also in faded red paint, there is a "1979" referring to the year and several bands indicating the climbing line.

The start is on the left of the left rib, climbing with a few not difficult moves up to a chockstone.

From this first chockstone you must traverse right toward another chockstone with a cord loop, then above the rib crest next to a rounded (but useful) spur.

From the first chockstone to the spur are just over 3 meters, definitely very difficult for a hiking level (the mountaineering parameters differ) even with the presence of chockstones that must be used well.

From the small spur, drop just into the notch and pass onto the other rock rib with a "half split" or "long step".

Now climb above the crest of the other rib – as was evident from below too – among the dwarf pines: they are never thick and passage is good, a few meters are quite steep.

Here you must start to get used to the available markings: some of the bigger structural branches are "stripped of bark" as an evident human hand (or rather, knife) trace; other smaller branches are broken halfway and few very small ones are cut cleanly (these last ones, however, do not at all resemble classic cut branches).

The dwarf pine patch leads to the edge of a deep channel-notch crossing the entire large elevated bench you are walking on.

You reach a spot where the notch is "blocked" by wedged stones creating a flat base for passage, but the "signals among the dwarf pines" continue upwards, and a few meters higher make you descend onto another "block" allowing the crossing.

From here starts a thin but obvious upward diagonal crossing the large steep rocky bench: there is always room for the feet, but some steps are dirty with gravel and not very stable; it is similar to a ledge section and hands can be used for help.

Enter a second dwarf pine and various shrub section that after a first steep section becomes gentle and almost grassy.

At the exit the north face of Monte Tre Pietre is very evident (this is not the summit section) and there remains a not difficult (average for this route) slab to climb.

There are several logical paths between the rocky bands, and I chose a line to the right in the climb direction: it is not the only possible one.

Shortly before the base of the summit rocky band, I noticed a cairn on my left above another rocky list separated from mine by a kind of wide partly unstable ditch.

(This cairn is the only one I saw from the start of the Severino Pagnussat Route until the end of the descent of the Canalone della Val Fiesole.)

Now, looking at the vertical face opposite, there are two gullies one facing the other at left-east and right-west.

The left-east one is narrower and taller and still had some patches of snow and dripping meltwater today.

Go right-west with a climb on a broad base of about 70 meters elevation.

At the saddle at the head there is a single large, cut branch for marking, a "real" cut branch!

The branch is on the left in the arrival direction of the saddle and "invites" to pass through the dwarf pines to approach the rocky band, where there is a descending trail leading to a plateau introducing another gully to be climbed going left (here on July 29 there was still snow, and it might not be an easy passage at the beginning of the season).

Climb about fifty meters elevation and you are on the saddle at the head of this gully: on the other side begins the long descent of the Canalone della Val Fiesole.

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Descent of the Canalone della Val Fiesole to Casera Col de Pédena

It is long: about 700 meters elevation drop, quite a steep drop!

Above the saddle there are some scattered dwarf pines with some stripped branches.

Trying to give some metric references, but in a place like this satellite reception is clearly "unstable" and there is no precision in recorded data.

The first about 200 meters elevation are a beautiful straight line where you dance among boulders without major difficulties (always average for this route).

Arrive at the first jump to bypass, and the observation point from the jump is a few meters below the start of the bypass line.

The bypass starts on a grassy ledge "hanging" on the right side rocks in the arrival-descent direction: a few meters but delicate.

Enter a very steep, little stepped traverse, mixed grass with rock slabs.

The slabs are insidious and really exposed, and I preferred to climb on the steep grass to bypass them from above, with better foot support (still little anyway).

Then descend a few meters diagonally on a small meadow toward other stripped branches: here I also saw a real cut branch, a rarity.

Vegetation markers lead onto a "very steep" direct descent section among sparse dwarf pines with some minimal steps: a few delicate meters.

Here it might already be the case to use the rope exploiting the dwarf pines.

At this point I did not use it, but took it out of the backpack to have it ready later.

Descend like this into the channel bed, and almost immediately leave it to start the more complex bypass of the second jump (which is double), always to the right on a grassy traverse.

This traverse is not as difficult as the first and leads above a grassy slope descending steeply without major problems into the bed: here there are no vegetation marks, I went down anyway and … indeed ended up above the second part of the double jump.

I climbed back up (I erased this deviation from the GPS record) and continued to traverse following traces among the dwarf pines: a few meters passing over the head of various slides-gullies seeming to all descend below the last jump.

Here I did not see a clear indication where to descend: I tried a couple but all ended above a lateral little jump to the bed too mountaineering-like to descend without a rope.

I kept going until a wider slope composed of a large rocky slab with two descents passages on both sides.

I descended helped by the rope (on a small larch) on the arrival side (left descent direction) but then, looking from below, perhaps the farther right side was better.

All these slides-gullies are found within no more than about forty meters of traverse from the last seen trail markers and are very close openings from above, even only 3/4 meters.

(In hindsight, perhaps it was better to use the rope directly above the lateral small jumps to the bed that I initially discarded because difficult to descend without rope; starting with the – CORRECT – intention of using the rope, it is perfectly and easily possible to also descend from above the second part of the main jump in the bed.)

After doing all this, the real difficulties are over.

Enter a nearly flat stretch with vegetation, and then again into a steeper rocky bed.

It is still a dance among boulders where I found two points where I had to bypass a little into the steep right forest.

Arrive where the slope flattens greatly and the gully becomes a shallow channel (with several curves) in the forest where one can walk comfortably.

At the side appear some traces that can be used to avoid always being among stones.

The finale is inside a wider forest clearing that was probably the pasture area of Casera Col de Pedena, anticipated by some cut branches and a large very white cairn.

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Return to the parking lot at the end of Val Canzoi from Casera Col de Pédena

Initially descend on the Val Fosserla path with various cairns and cut branches for marking: today there was only a large recently fallen tree interrupting the descent line.

After about 200 meters elevation you cross a path with purple-blue trail marks and turn right.

Then there are other branches where follow always the same marks, and in about 500 linear meters of walking you arrive at a small house currently under renovation.

Here begins a forest road that is left to the right after about 100 linear meters, following an arrow indicating "ORSERA - S. EUSTACCHIO" (Sant’Eustachio spelled with two "C"s).

It is a long and beautiful path all marked with blue trail marks leading to the locality Sant’Eustachio and then entering the paved bottom valley road of Val Canzoi.

After 300 meters on asphalt, exit right for the Val Canzoi Nature Trail.

Another long stretch of nice path with ups and downs until just before reaching the parallel of the parking lot on the lower opposite side of the Caorame Stream.

There is a good small path exiting with a left-turn downhill from the Val Canzoi Nature Trail and then with a right-turn brings directly to the crossing of the Caorame Stream at the same starting point of the excursion.