Trói del Fontanón→Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino in Val Cavalèr

Approach to the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino from the Staolet parking lot

From the parking lot, walk along the small road to the Church of San Felice in Monte and then, after a little more than 200 linear meters, you reach the fork between the CAI 852 trail and the Troi del Fontanon.

The fork is obvious and marked by a stone on the ground with the red writing "ERE".

Turn right onto a good, well-maintained path with varying slopes and after a little more than 200 meters of elevation gain, arrive at the historic forest watering trough of the "fontanon" that gives the trail its name.

Here the clear imprint of the Troi del Fontanon continues straight towards Rifugio Casera Ere, but you must turn left-west onto a thinner track where cut branches as markers are almost immediately visible.

After the deviation, the little path improves and reaches a stretch of denser forest slope that softens in lateral inclination: this is the Pian del Toro ridge, which according to the guide was a nice pasture before the forest "reclaimed control of the situation".

Here, after some fallen but well-cut trees for passage, there are two cut branches and the little path vanishes against other fallen trees.

You simply need to cross the forest maintaining roughly the same altitude and following various discontinuous animal tracks: it's an easy traverse because the lateral slope inclination is low.

After about 110/120 meters in a straight line, you arrive at the edge of Pian del Toro above a rocky ledge, and there is a STEEP obvious path that resumes and descends (with a final small jump) at the only possible point through the rocks: if you don’t reach the exact resumption point of the path, just move up and down about ten meters and you will find it for sure.

Just below the base of the rocky ledge is the trail track that leads towards the Pala Fioca.

It is a long diagonal above a high cliff, beginning on a broad forest bench and narrowing considerably towards the end, where there is a brief caution step for a small landslide and then what, in my opinion, is the single most difficult passage of the hike: a double step on a near interruption of the path, highly exposed and with holds that are not very solid and "generous".

Immediately after, you enter the Pala Fioca with a nice view from below towards the Covolo della Pala Fioca.

Now traverse, on animal tracks and some segments of real path, the entire Pala heading left-west, where I saw a cairn and a couple of cut branches.

It is not fundamental to find these markers; just reach the broad west ridge of the Pala Fioca roughly at the same altitude as the arrival point (perhaps about ten meters lower altitude) where it is easy to identify a grassy terrace on the gentle ridge hump: immediately after begins the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino.

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Route from the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino

Having passed the arrival grassy terrace, gently descend into the forest on the Val Scura / Val Cavalèr side towards the obvious track/path that appears.

Immediately turn a corner and enter a mixed ledge-cornice zone, not difficult in the "scale delle cenge" (ladder of ledges), but still exposed.

Then enter a comfortable and wide forest section and then re-enter ledge-cornice right in view of the Cógol di Col Selvino, which arrives after passing a constantly dripping channel.

After the cavity there is still a comfortable traverse in the forest up to an important little channel for orientation.

At the crossing of the channel, there is a rock-soil step to climb and the path track vanishes on flat ground immediately after.

Here you must ascend the slope more or less beside the just crossed channel, and notice some animal tracks.

After about thirty meters of elevation gain appears a "track with human characteristics" that turns left and leads to a nice saddle: from the start of the climb there are about 50 meters of total elevation gain.

Now descend a few meters on the other side on a steep, somewhat slippery slope, and then resume towards the right on the obvious ledge-cornice track.

You find a first small exposed passage and then a more exposed rock slab that can be considered a Grade I difficulty.

A few more meters and you pass under some black rocks that contrast with the color of the rest of the rock band you are flanking, and there is the final key orientation passage to exit the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino.

Immediately after the black rocks, you enter an area of sparse dwarf pines, with two trail imprints at a junction: one to the right uphill and a (slightly less obvious) one to the left with a slight initial descent; the correct one is the left.

The good track first makes a semicircle around the ridge opposite, and then with a final descent enters the hollow of Val Cavalèr right where it branches; and this is the end of the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino.

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From the end of the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino to the junction with the CAI trail ascent to Monte Pizzocco

Entering the hollow of Val Cavalèr, immediately below there is a clear cairn atop a flat rock.

The rock is perfect as a base to take a photo towards the branch point of Val Cavalèr.

Just behind it is a beautiful spring, whose sound could be heard before going around the final ridge of the Zéngia del Cógol di Col Selvino.

After the spring, ascend the slope on the opposite side from the arrival (right hydrographic side) freely for a few meters, and find the wide path that from Val Scura climbs through Col Selvino toward Col Cavalèr.

The path continues on the same diagonal for a good stretch, then with a left hairpin turn reaches the crest of the ridge.

Now ascend along the ridge crest, no longer on a very wide path base but always on recognizable tracks (a couple of small cairns in this stretch).

After 20/30 meters of elevation gain or 70/80 linear meters (depending on the exact arrival point on the ridge), you reach sparse dwarf pines, with a nice cut branch indicating to enter a track to the left.

The track continues with a few more cut branches just below the ridge line, and climbs another secondary ridge where shortly after you notice a double track descending both left and right: grassy base on the left and forest leaf litter on the right; go right.

To the right you can also spot a first cut branch, though not immediately within the fork (today there was also a ribbon but these appear and disappear over time).

Here the best marker is... the sound of water, as you need to reach a spectacular area of a system of small waterfalls and related plunge pools.

So you can proceed "by ear" and descend quickly toward the first waterfall whose base, however, is not reached.

Next to the first waterfall starts a real ascending ledge with some non-trivial steps.

There is also a rock slab with water seeping from the slope: no problem on a warm day like today, but if not so, you need to find a not simple bypass.

At the end, you arrive in the hollow of this branch of Val Cavalèr after a very narrow and well-exposed little ledge: the base, however, is very solid and you pass with care.

The guide says: "Now it is necessary to cross to the opposite side, and gain some altitude: this can be done by immediately crossing the watercourse and climbing a short steep rock step (4 m; II), or by climbing a short stretch on the right hydrographic side."

The Grade II step does not look nice, and there are two cairns guiding the climb of the short stretch on the right hydrographic side: at the second cairn, traverse and then climb the ridge opposite with a few still steep and careful steps.

Now follow the ridge above the ridge in sparse forest to a small grassy clearing opposite the most classic of the dwarf pine bands of the “very annoying” category.

Here, to cross the band, the guide writes: "... it is advisable to stay, following multiple chamois tracks, mostly halfway between the ridge line and the valley floor, sometimes helping with the branches of the dwarf pines."

Probably something has improved in the meantime, because as soon as you descend to the left to skirt the dwarf pines I saw a couple of cut branches on a chamois track leading diagonally into the valley bottom.

At the arrival in the valley bottom, there is an easy rock slab to climb and then immediately a pair of cairns atop a clear rock, and further ahead you see another couple of smaller cairns.

Here I simply climbed the hollow keeping an eye on the dwarf pine band on my right, and exited at the end of the dwarf pines: no climbing needed, a few meters on tiring scree but always better than dense dwarf pines.

Above the dwarf pines, resume in sparse beech forest with tracks on the ground, and turn right in more open terrain inside a hollow leading to cross two upper branches of Val Cavalèr: the one on the "visual right" from this point is the easternmost branch where the Zéngia de Severino Pagnussat exits.

Here, as indicated by the guide, there are various quite intuitive possibilities.

I reached the branch preceding the exit one of the Zéngia de Severino Pagnussat and climbed (meeting a cairn in the hollow) directly up this one until crossing the little path (barely visible at that point) leading to the Pulpito dei Camòrz – see → Pulpito dei Camòrz via the southwest ledge of Monte Pizzocco.

After a short rocky stretch of this last little path, you enter an open slope where it is not worth wasting time looking for the faint official track marked with some rare almost invisible red dots: the slope is more or less all the same and I simply made a diagonal, looked for a position for a good panoramic photo and then went to the junction with the CAI trail ascending Monte Pizzocco.

Finally, today – among the many possibilities – I decided to return passing Monte Piz and the nice direct descent trail of the Costón towards Rifugio Casera Ere.