PIGRA - MONTE GALBIGA - mt 1698
It’s the second highest mountain of the territory.
Strongly recommended departing from Argegno with cable car up to Pigra (880 mt).
Pigra - Monte Galbiga: through the path "strada ai monti” you reach the altitude of 1700 meters in a couple of hours. You will meet the Alpe di Colonno (1237 meters) – with its restaurant – and then Boffalora (mt 1252) - about 20 minutes later - with restaurant as well. From Boffalora, the military road goes up and leads to Rifugio Venini (1576 mt), managed by ANA (Alpini) of Lenno, and leads up to Alpe di Lenno and Alpe di Ossuccio, still used by farmers (cheeses sale). The summit of Galbiga is not far from here, but the trail gets steeper. From the summit we may want to continue the ridge to Mount Crocione (30 minutes, clear metallic Cross) with spectacular views of Lake Como. On Mount Galbiga are the remains of fortifications and the military road of the war in 1915 - 191818, re-used as air-raid lookout stations in the war of 1940 - 1945. Inside of a now collapsed trench, about one hundred meters from the rear of Rifugio Venini, there is an Astronomical Observator: only the dome of 4 meters is visible from the outside. It is managed by the Gruppo Astrofili Lariani, who provided the equipment (headquarters: Albavilla - CO- phone: 3476301088, from Monday to Saturday from 18:00 to 20:00).
VARIANTS:
- from Alpe di Colonno: you can descend, in about 20 minutes, to Alpe di Sala – here’s a farm.
- from Boffalora: the trail that connects to the Alpe di Ponna is part of the traditional path used by the Benedictine monks of the Valle Intelvi to reach those of Tremezzina.
Going down to the lake there are two possible routes:
- in a couple of hours up the steep trail (-833m vertical drop), following the signs (“F” difficulty), leads to the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Soccorso (419 mt), Sec. XVI - XVIII, which rises sull'orrido peak of tufa . From the Sanctuary, descending along the trail of the 14 chapels of the mysteries of the Rosary, after another half an hour you arrive on the shores of Lake Como, in the resort of Ossuccio.
- the alternative path leads directly to the Hermitage of San Benedetto Val Perlana, of medieval origin (800 mt),surrounded by woods: the path is not easy (“EE” difficulty).
- l'”Abbazia dell'Acquafredda” (Sec XVI) mt 319, 1 km far from Lenno, is connected on one side to the Hermitage of S. Benedetto and on the other to the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Soccorso, which are connected between each other by an impervious way, in a sort of circular circuit.