Val della Corda→Val Pian dei Zocchi→EX Sentiero CAI Castelfranco

Premise

This route was traveled on March 28, 2022, and all subsequent observations and considerations can fully apply only to that day.

↓

From the start at Rivalta to the junction with the former CAI Castelfranco del Grappa Occidentale Trail along CAI 934, and up to the beginning of the descent variant towards the former hunting hut

From Rivalta, take the well-marked CAI 934 which rises up to the bottom of Val di Rivalta, goes briefly inside, then climbs on the steep right side heading uphill or the hydrological left.

You arrive at the ENEL pylon 434, and you must leave CAI 934 a little below the pylon for a trace-path that leads right towards Val della Corda.

At the moment (end of March 2022) there is a tree fallen on the ground right at the start of the deviation and the entrance is not visible.

There are some broken branches that have created a "little passage" and entering in reveals the trace.

Then you bypass two more fallen trees and finally resume diagonally with a slight ascent.

The path soon levels off, becomes wide and then narrows again with the first exposed steps.

After about 350 linear meters of walking from the start of the deviation, and just before bypassing a small ridge, there is a tree with a faded white-yellow trail marker and continue.

Further on, you should notice – about twenty meters higher on the left – a tree stump covered with a black plastic tube and also some cut branches if you look carefully: it is not to be reached but continue on the path which here has a drop of about two meters downwards.

Then, to bypass one of the various bends of the slope, there is a small descent with a safety cable which, in my opinion, is unnecessary compared to many other free passages.

Shortly after the small descent, there is the steep right-hand deviation downwards towards the former hunting hut: up to here there are about 670 linear meters of walking from the exit of CAI 934.

This junction is not very noticeable by itself but there are two clearer references to identify it.

Exactly at the fork there is a cable of a cableway on the ground and you risk tripping, but you could also step over it walking normally without noticing it.

About 30 linear meters after the junction, instead, there is a very obvious base-terminal of a forestry cableway in the middle of the path: if you get here, just turn back and you will immediately spot the junction.

↓

From the start of the descent variant junction towards the former hunting hut, to Val Pian dei Zocchi until rejoining the former CAI Castelfranco del Grappa Occidentale Trail

From the junction you pass the above-mentioned base-terminal of a forestry cableway and continue on a still evident small path up to the bottom of Val della Corda: there are no really difficult spots and no more paint trail markers.

You cross the basin at an easy point and the path resumes on the other side with a different degree of difficulty-exposure.

Outside the forest, start with a traverse on a NARROW but solid base soon reaching the first of two delicate passages in this section.

It is an almost interruption or irregularity of the path’s little cornice, where there are a few steps (base still solid) where you put only one foot at a time occupying the entire passage line.

Then you enter the forest and on a quieter ground trace you reach the second delicate passage.

Here there is a short landslide of the earthen base exposing an exposed rocky slab dirty with unstable soil and small stones: it is sneakier than it looks at first glance and requires attention.

With a little… goodwill, you can bypass it from below by descending into the forest.

Soon after you reach a ledge with another base-terminal of a forestry cableway and continue on the path among numerous branch cuts.

Forward on the easy path and you reach a saddle just below the gentle summit knoll of Col Pieri: this saddle leads into Val Pian dei Zocchi.

Descend the other side of the saddle on a continuous diagonal trace near the rock band on the left and encounter, this time in the middle of the path, another tree stump capped with a black plastic tube.

Continuing naturally you reach an easy small gully of a few meters that drops onto the former CAI Castelfranco del Grappa Occidentale Trail at an ENEL marker with a red arrow and number 433 painted on a small rock on the ground.

Actually, on the way out I cut down before the more correct final gully because I had seen markers below in any case on an easy forested valley.

From that connecting point with the former CAI Castelfranco del Grappa Occidentale Trail I then returned (with less than 100 linear meters) to the painted number 433.

To return to Val della Corda I climbed up the correct gully staying on the grassy ridge beside it, and then repeated exactly the same route.

The key points to remember for the return are: 1) tree stump capped with a black plastic tube; 2) saddle of Col Pieri; 3) base-terminal of a forestry cableway; 4) exposed passage on landslide bypassed from below on return; 5) very narrow irregularity of the path's little cornice after leaving the forest.

Once passed the basin of Val della Corda, without real difficulties you return to the starting junction of the descent variant towards the former hunting hut, which is located about 30 linear meters after a base-terminal of a forestry cableway.

↓

Descent towards the former hunting hut in Val della Corda along the former CAI Castelfranco del Grappa Occidentale Trail

It is difficult!

The beginning is almost straight descent on slippery lichen-covered rocks, and the trace leads on short turns not far from the cableway cable lying on the ground at the start.

You pass the cable moving slightly left in a spot where there is still a very faded white-yellow trail marking.

Then you cross it again going back to the right with another faded white-yellow paint mark.

Soon after there is a white-yellow marker on a nearby small rock and begins the most DELICATE part of the traverses to the right.

In practice, it is a via ferrata-type trace where the biggest problem is the frequent alternation of surface: rocky patches dirty with gravel and slanted, lichen on soft ground, lichen regrown on the side and "laid" above the hard ground with gravel, and any other combination that does not allow you to decide firmly whether it is worth putting on the crampons which would have been very useful until now.

However, how possible and/or advisable is it to put on and take off crampons in such precarious balance conditions?

Everyone makes their own choice based on their experience with crampons.

After the traverse with varying surfaces, you arrive at a ridge and descend briefly on the ridge line with a hard base without lichen.

Then still steep lichen with turns keeping an eye on an isolated fir tree below and the small side gully on the right.

Shortly before the fir tree (10/15 meters?) the trace leads to cross the small side gully on almost flat small rock slabs above a drop (here I found the trace very little visible, but the passage point to aim for is quite intuitive).

On the other side of the small gully the narrow path resumes with a couple of white-yellow marks on rocks, then one on a small tree, and you reach the 4 reference birches a few meters before the former hunting hut (there is also a marker on the birches but it is visible only from the opposite direction).

The former hunting hut and the group of 4 birches are clearly visible throughout the final part of this descent.

I repeat it is a difficult descent and that the recommended direction of travel on the former CAI Castelfranco del Grappa Occidentale Trail is the opposite.

↓

From the former hunting hut, descent exit on the hydrological right of Val della Corda to SS 47 in Valsugana

From the former hunting hut, descend beside the terraced slopes to the basin of Val della Corda.

You walk less than 100 meters inside the easy basin and exit by a clear trace-path to the right.

The path continues to a large red marker on the left on a tree, at the point where it becomes a spectacular ledge frame, wide and enjoyable.

With some not difficult narrowings, the ledge continues following various bends of the slope and ends when you are close to being vertically above SS 47.

Here there is a nice red marker indicating to descend a steep path to the left.

Now you must follow carefully the winding but not difficult route well marked by red dots.

A few meters before reaching the final landslide containment fences above SS 47, the marked trace turns more decisively left re-entering about thirty meters towards Val della Corda but still high relative to the basin.

Shortly after a small bend with red markers there is the steep final descent trace to the right into the basin.

It is hardly visible (at least for me who did not see it immediately 😉) and if you go straight you end up at another base-terminal of a forestry cableway: about-face and the deviation is spotted (I deleted the error from the GPS recording).

This final small drop is about 4 meters and can be defined as almost grade I with solid rocks and root aids: I descended facing downhill just to say.

At the base of the drop, there is a red mark to help those who have to take the path in the opposite direction from today.

From here another 30 flat meters and you are on SS 47, between km 58-VI and 58-VII, on the north side of the Val della Corda bridge right where the sign indicates the Rivalta junction.

The car is less than 300 meters away, of which few on SS 47 and the rest from the junction on.