Forcella di Durello, from Ponte del Guat

Access

Camonica Valley (Brescia)
Strada statale N° 42 del Tonale.
SONICO - road to Val Malga - conca del Baitone

The natural starting point for the Miller Valley is the Ponte del Guat locality, which is located at the bottom of the Val Malga valley in the municipality of Sonico.

You can reach Ponte del Guat:

* From the hamlet of Rino di Sonico; follow the road to Garda as far as the locality; four roads; then turn left; the road is a little narrow but all asphalted: after about 8 km you will reach Ponte del Guat where you will find a place to park.
* If you come from the lower Valcamonica, (state road 42 del Tonale) it is best to reach Malonno, then turn right at the crossroads before the bump, for Zazza, continue to Garda, up to the; four roads, where you proceed straight for Val Malga.

You park your vehicle in Ponte del Guat; the problem of parking only arises in the middle of August, for the rest of the year you can easily find a parking space as there is room for several dozen vehicles.

Introduction

Excursion along the right-hand ribs of the Baitone basin to the watershed with the Durello valley. It is possible to observe the complex variation of vegetation according to altitude and exposure: from mixed broadleaf and coniferous forests, to herbaceous ecosystems of pastureland and low shrubs, to alpine cliffs and screes.

Description

From the Guat bridge, for the first stretch (a quarter of an hour's walk) there is a dirt road, we then cross the Remulo torrent and begin the ascent on the orographic right bank; after a short while, at an equipped picnic area, there is a fork: we continue left on the mule track for Baitone. The path (mule track), signposted , zigzags its way up with numerous hairpin bends; it then moves to our right, crosses a small valley characterised by the presence of a cone of snow dumped if you pass through in winter or spring, and in about an hour from the start, we reach Baitoncello (1943m); (just before you come to an equipped picnic area, in a clearing with the remains of a 'baitoncello') where there is the building of the former Enel cableway that connected Ponte del Guat with the Baitone dam. Continuing on, after a few hairpin bends, you cross a new little valley, also characterised by the fact that it easily discharges avalanches of snow until late spring, then, in about twenty minutes from the Baitoncello, you reach a new picnic area at the pastures of the Baitone malga (2065m). Continue along the mule track, take a few hairpin bends, then cross a small valley (even here, there is a snow cone to cross until May), then the mule track becomes less steep and we move on towards the foot of the dam, to climb again on our left, passing a few huts, and finally reach the level of the crown of the dam (2284m; about 2h00' from the start). 

From the top of the dam, continue along the incile completely in a westerly direction, leave the path that runs alongside the lake towards the Tonolini hut and climb up the grassy slope along the line of maximum inclination. At times, you can choose between climbing on the minute moraine or on the grass; you move partly to your left to get around some fairly steep steps or gullies; above the first step, you pass a characteristic protruding erratic boulder (cual), then continue diagonally, moving slightly to your right; Continue diagonally, shifting slightly to the right, and go over other steps of limited height, interspersed with various plateaus, until you reach a last plateau, at the bottom of which a small valley climbs steeply up to the Durello pass (2650m); opposite, on the opposite side of the valley, in a wild, suspended valley, we can glimpse a small lake. The fork has a very severe and wild appearance, and from it there is a view of the entire Durello valley, which in the upper part is developed with immense, steep stones and only at the bottom, from 1800m down, is rich in vegetation. The view towards the Baitone and Miller valleys allows one to admire the horns: del Lago, del Cristallo and the Plem peak, as well as the Prudenzini peak, the Macesso horns, the Campanone del coppo and the Marser mountain. From the col starts, diagonally to our right, a steep chute which, after circumventing a rocky promontory, bends to the left and continues, without interruption, practically up to an altitude of about 1100m; it is a wide, steep, wild-looking little valley, traversed in winter by numerous and frequent avalanches, both coming from the Forcella and from the opposite suspended valley, which prevent the formation of permanent woods up to relatively low altitudes. There is no real path, but only a few traces; one descends by sight along the line of maximum slope; below an altitude of about 1600 m, one moves to the left and crosses the entire band of predominantly coniferous vegetation, always proceeding in such a way as to gain as much as possible on the left, thus circumventing the last spurs of the Val Rossa peak. At an altitude of 1300 m we intersect the dirt road of malga Boiana, we proceed to the left along this road until we reach the hairpin bend of the asphalted road for ponte del Guat, which we climb up to the car park.