Via Alta Vallemaggia

Two hundred kilometers. Around 16,000 meters of elevation gain. And at the end you're exactly where you started — just a full alpine circuit smarter.

Via Alta Vallemaggia doesn't run from point A to point B. It circles one single valley — the Vallemaggia in Ticino — around its ridges. You set out above Locarno, traverse both sides of the valley and return to the river. It's a trek that has no distant goal. The goal is the circle itself.

And that circle is fresh. The idea of connecting Cardada to Fusio first came up in 2004. They opened the first section, over 50 km long, in 2009. Only with completion of the Fusio–Ponte Brolla section did the dream close — the circuit around all of Maggie was complete. The route returns you to the times of mountain herders: some sections once saw cattle herds, others goats with shepherds. Every hut where you sleep is an old converted pastoral building from those days.

This isn't a walk. Officially the route divides into 19 stages and difficulty climbs to T5−. It alternates between red-white ridge trails (T3) and blue-white alpine routes (T4–T5−), where chains and steps hang on exposed passages. Grass on the ridges, scree, small firn fields, stone crests, larch forests, alpine lakes. A half-dozen terrains change underfoot during your day. If you have alpine confidence and legs that can handle two weeks above two thousand meters, you can do the circuit in one go or by sections.

Route overview. You start at Cimetta viewpoint above Locarno — a balcony over Lago Maggiore, accessed by cable car via Cardada. A chain of huts follows: Capanna Alpe Nimi, Rifugio Alpe Masnée, Rifugio Alpe Spluga, Capanna Tomeo, Rifugio Alpe Fontana. At Alpe Fontana you choose between east and west variants; east leads into traditional mountain town Fusio. From there up to the trek's rooftop — Capanna Cristallina CAS at 2,575 m, a Swiss Alpine Club hut beneath Basòdino Glacier, the highest mountain and glacier of the Ticino Alps. Via Passo di Cristallina you can reach across the border into Italy: Rifugio Maria Luisa sits in Val Formazza below Lago Toggia dam. Back via Rifugio Pian di Crest, Capanna Grossalp, past Cimalmotto, Rifugio Ribia, Capanna Alzasca CAS — and the final stage is a long descent to Ponte Brolla, the valley gate where the Maggie meets the main river.

Who's it for. Seasoned alpinists. T5− isn't a rating to give a novice — there are short exposed passages with falling risk and climbing moves. A beginner on a ridge has no business here. But if you know what you're doing and aren't afraid of height, you'll get one of the wildest circuits the Swiss Alps offer — and solitude you won't find on famous ridges.

When to go. Best season runs July through September, exceptionally October. Some huts open in June, but connecting stages often still lie under snow and freeze hard in mornings, dangerous. Want certainty, come in summer.

How to book. Arrange beds in advance — without a reservation you could easily end up under stars, not by choice. SAC/CAS huts (Cristallina, Alzasca) and private rifugios book ahead; the official viaaltavallemaggia.ch site has a portal to check availability. Reservations here aren't formality. They're a condition for the circuit to work.

Two hundred kilometers around one valley. And when you return to the river, the only thing alien to you is the realization you've been circling something you couldn't even see at the start.