Alpine Adventure

The best day to date weather wise. So we head for somewhere where there is snow.

Macugnaga (or Monterosa) is on the Swiss/Italian border and an hour's drive from the nearest main road. A vitally single track road takes you up through a twisting valley with waterfalls and beautiful alpine villages that, on occasions, seem to be clinging to the rocks. Eventually you reach the base of Monterosa, which in the winter is a ski resort and a step back in time feeling more like a seventies style Apline model village than a teeneies post-Berlesconi Italian tourist destination.

Admittedly all the info I could pick on this town had said an under-explored part of Italy and am glad to say that it's true. The people were still incredibly helpful but the whole place had an atmosphere being isolated from the rest of the world, maybe not helped by the fact that the road stops literally at the foot of a mountain.

I would imagine that in winter very little gets through here (even in summer at the top of the cable car is snow) and the whole place is picturesque beautiful with Alpine style architecture and mountain air, ice-cold streams fed from melting glacier snow and pine trees to put any episode of twin peaks to shame.

Would recommend a visit.

No shots I took sum up the day perfectly so you get this black and white postcard shot of the mountains.