Day 6 - The Farangole trail

August 25, 2025

Route of the day

Click to see map

Download the gpx file or see the route on outdooractive.com

The starry night

During the night I woke up and managed to catch a glimpse of a wonderful starry night, the likes of which I had never seen before.

If you live in a place with a lot of light pollution, like every medium to large city in the World, seeing a few stars may already be an unusual experience. At the moment I live in a fairly small city, and we literally never see stars over here. We are lucky if we see Venus once in a while.

But I grew up in a small village in a sparsely populated area, I was used to seeing skies full of stars at night. But this time, at 2500 metres above sea level, in the middle of literally nowhere, the sky was soething else.

I did not manage to take a good picture, sorry. I did not feel like going out in the freezing cold, and my phone’s camera is probably not good enough anyway.

The Farangole pass

At Rifugio Mulaz, the sun rises at 6:40 and sets at around 7:05. In the morning. Luckily for you, I got up early enough to catch the sunset.

Rifugio Mulaz is closely surrounded by high mountains. This is the only spot where you could see something in the distance. This time of the year, the sun rises from the peaks on the left of this picture, only to hide away behind those on the right a few minutes later.

It’s a beautiful day, if only a bit cold. This time we get up earlier than usual and we are ready to leave at 7:15. The main challenge of the day is going to be the Passo delle Farangole (2932 meters on sea level), a high mountain pass not far from the hut. Our guide book even suggests a possible alternative route for less confident hikers, but we deemed it within our capabilities.

After steep, but short, climb to Forcella Margherita (2655m) we reach a section of the trail that would not be particularly challenging, if not for the fact that the track is not well marked.

The trail after Forcella Margherita, right before the Farangole pass.

In fact, the traces of the hikers who missed the path are more visible than the actual trail, likely because said hikers made them more clear by backtracking their steps when they realized they were out of the trail. We do the same a couple of times.

We soon reach the start of the equipped trail that leads to the pass, but it looks sketchy, so I decide to try climbing up the scree next to it. This was probably a mistake, so we soon turn left and attach our trusty ropes to the steel supports.

Climbing up to the Farangole Pass.

The track is very steep, and at times exposed, but the steel ropes and the other supporting material is in a good state. Overall, this famous Farangole Pass is easier than we expected.

And down we go. The steel ladder looks like it ends in the void, but actually there is an extra steel beam protruding from the rock, and after that there is only a 60cm drop.

After clearing the pass at around 9:00, we feel satisfied and proud of ourselves. My knee does not even hurt anymore.

Little did we now that the truly difficult part is the Farangole trail, which we’ll have to go through later this morning. But for now, in our blissful ignorance, we enjoy the beautiful weather and we take plenty of pictures as we walk down from the pass.

The view North, towards the mountains we have just passed.

An imposing rocky plateau on the South.

The view to the North-East.

The Farangole trail

As the trail gets tight and very exposed, we realize that maybe this is the section the guide book was warning us about. We proceed carefully, attaching our home-made harness when a steel rope is available. Unfortunately, most of the trail is on a narrow ledge surrounded by grass and soft soil, where no piece of supporting material can be fixed. At least it is not wet today.

My dad walking on a narrow section of the Farangole trail.

Another hiker following us on the same trail.

Since this trail is challenging and dangerous, we have to keep constant focus on our steps and the way ahead of us. We have little time to relax and enjoy the beautiful view, and we take much fewer pictures than we did earlier.

The view from the last part of the Farangole trail, towards the East. Soon we'll have to walk down to the dry bed of the river you can see at the bottom of this picture. The tiny line on the hill on the left is the Farangole trail.

At 12:30 we reach the bottom of Valgrande (Pian dei Cantoni, 2310m).

To Rifugio Rosetta and beyond

The way up to Rifugio Rosetta is steep, but short. The previous part was not physically demanding, but it was dangerous and technically fairly challenging. I am relieved that now I can just let my legs bring me up, and I reach the hut at 13:05.

Rifugio Rosetta

Rifugio Rosetta (2581m) is easily reachable with a cable car, and because of this it is very crowded, similarly to the area around Piz Boè that we passed through on day 3.

This is a good time for a break, so we decide to sit down, drink a glass of skiwasser, and eat another slice of strüdel. Yes, we ate a lot of those. The one they serve in this hut is particularly good, with plenty of fresh fruit and pine nuts.

We get up and leave the hut at 14:05. The weather gets cold and foggy, but luckily for us it won’t last long. Our plan is to walk down until Col de le Fede (2200m) and then up again to Pass dei Ball (2433m).

The way down is slow and tedious, and my knee starts hurting again.

Walking down from Rifugio Rosetta.

The way up to the pass is steep, and there is a long section equipped with a steel rope. But the equipped part is actually very easy compared to other similar trails that we have walked this morning and in the previous days.

My dad walking on this equipped section.

After reaching Pass dei Ball, we walk down slowly to Rifugio Pradidali (2278m), which we reach at 17:05.

Later we would discover that there is an alternative route to go from Rosetta to Pradidali, which starts by walking up to the East and skips both the slow and tedious descent and the more steep section before Pass dei Ball. This alternative path was probably slightly easier, but it would not have saved us that much time and effort.

The Pradidali is a nice hut, but there is no phone signal nor WiFi. The showers are still expensive, and when it is my turn the water boiler has run out of gas, and I can either wait for it to be replaced or do a freezing cold shower. I don’t want to wait, so arctic shower here I come!