Rosazza Bivouac, from Glassier

Access

Take the A-5 Turin-Aosta motorway, exiting at the Aosta East barrier, and head towards the Gran San Bernardo Tunnel; after the second tunnel you will immediately find the junction for Valpelline, which you take and follow until you pass the main town, where on the left is the diversions for Ollomont. After crossing the village, continue along the little road until it ends at the hamlet of Glacier, where there is a car park where you can leave your car.

Introduction

The bivouac is a beautiful wooden building located on a small clearing at the Col de Bouegno Bas on the long ridge that descends to the orographic left of Col Valsorey; the view is a little closed towards the north but is exceptional in every other direction with unusual perspectives towards the nearby Mont Velan, Grand Combin and Mont Gelé and sweeping over the countless peaks of the southern part of the Valle d'Aosta. This hike, exposed all the way to the south, should be tackled in the slightly late season with well-seasoned snow conditions and the slopes beyond Tsa de Porchère and the final gully already unloaded. The ascent, which is very open and scenic, is not very popular and therefore it is necessary to take into account that the absence of the track increases the effort even if the route itself is quite clear.

Description

From the car park, go back along the road for a few tens of metres, reaching the signposts at the start of the itinerary; then go up the marked path that, with an almost straight course, traverses the side of the mountain slightly uphill, arriving shortly at the Pont hut (1689 m), which you pass passing under a small aqueduct, following the signpost for By. Now the route rises more decisively with wide, panoramic hairpin bends that soon reach the trace of a road, at which you turn left and arrive at the nearby Chapel of By (2000 m); leave it to the right and walk towards the small dam of the small lake where you descend a few metres to pass under its front and climb again reaching the base of the gentle slopes that you climb up towards the east, arriving at another road (2038 m) that surrounds a wide ridge. From here, start to climb freely up the ridge moving towards its centre and, having gained about 250m in height, you will reach a small widening where the Tsa de Porchère hut (2297m) is situated to the left of the ridge line itself. From the huts, move to the left to make a long traverse, a little exposed, which you follow halfway up the slope just below the edge of the ridge for about 400 m, then traverse slightly downhill to the left and reach the bottom of a steep gully. Now begin the ascent, 800 m of very tiring climbing, making narrow hairpin bends in the middle of the gully, and then at its end move to the left, coming out onto slopes that are a little less steep. From the exit of the gully, we turn sharply to the right, climbing a short, somewhat steep section again, aiming for the nearby ridge line where the panoramic bivouac is located, which is only seen at the last.
Descending, if you wish and depending on the conditions, you can descend the gully to its bottom where it widens out more and more until the point where you cross the track of a road to which you turn left; with a slight ascent you skirt the wide base of a ridge and, after passing above an alpine pasture, you arrive at the intersection of the uphill tracks.