Paglia Orba (SG II)

From the hairpin bend "Le Fer à Cheval", follow the signpost "Bergerie de Radule" heading north, continue straight at a right turn, and soon reach the long-distance hiking trail GR 20. Follow this along red-white markings past the bergerie to a metal bridge over the stream. Shortly after, you reach a fork where you keep left ("Refuge de Ciottulu"). After a somewhat unpleasant passage with coarse boulder terrain, you reach another bridge, which you do not cross but instead continue straight uphill just before it following the markings. At a large rock slab with a beautiful bathing pool, cross to the other side of the stream and follow it further into the valley to a fork where you go straight ahead and continue following the watercourse towards Refuge de Ciottulu. Where a large red arrow points left and the GR 20 leaves the valley floor, continue straight along the stream on a clear but unmarked path, past a bergerie, and then diagonally uphill. Keep all the way to the left, go in a straight line to the cirque's end towards the hut high above, then climb steeply until reaching Refuge de Ciottulu.

On the left side of the hut, a path goes diagonally uphill through scree, which you follow. At the start of the uppermost scree basin, a trail turns off to the right, marked with cairns and leading directly to the base of the cliff. Here, initially steeply ascend between rocks and then turn sharply left onto a gravelly rock ledge (Caution: cairns to the right lead around the mountain and to a route not suitable for ascent!). At the end of this ledge, turn right and climb up into the rocks, scramble up over coarse blocks almost to the base of the cliff, and then follow numerous cairns to the left to a terrain transition. Further cairns lead up to a rocky gorge which you follow uphill. This gorge narrows into a chimney, marking the first key section (SG II), which you climb up. Above, the gorge widens and the climb continues steeply up to a notch. This is the second key section: you must climb sharply right through a crack onto a rocky traverse, follow it leftwards (exposed!), and then climb up another crack to the right where the terrain leans back and becomes easier. Continue uphill over coarse boulder terrain following cairns until reaching a broad ridge and then follow it gently ascending left to a rocky saddle. Here, descend steeply to a notch on the opposite side and climb up again over a rocky scree slope. Further above, the path wing turns sharply left, follows a ramp, and so reaches the summit slope, which flats out relatively gently to the rocky summit block and then up to the actual summit.

For the return, essentially follow the ascent route but you can add the following variations: At the end of the summit descent, keep (downhill) right and follow a series of cairns directly down to the Col des Maures, where a slight down-climbing section awaits shortly before the pass. After the Refuge de Ciottulu di i Mori, you can keep right and follow the GR 20 in a large loop back down to the valley floor.