Hike to the two Chièra Lakes in the Upper Leventina near the Gotthard Pass

Saturday Aug.3, 2019 -- Weather forecast for the weekend in the Lötschental Valley where we had been wanting to go to was for brilliant sunshine, and we were just in the process of booking the accommodation when we realized the TEMPERATURE forecast was for 10 degrees! And for every 100m you climb, you subtract 1 degree, so probably 5 degrees where we wanted to be... well that's refrigerator temperature and not the kind of temperature I want on Aug. 3rd.

Plan B, just South of the Gotthard Pass in the Upper Leventina, also brilliant sunshine and 26 degrees in the valley bottom at Faido, well that would mean 16 degrees at the altitude we wanted to go, so totally acceptable. 

That's what we went for then. As it turns out though, there were lots of clouds after all, and without the sunshine and a cold wind blowing, it still felt like in the refrigerator.

For some time now we have been studying the hiking maps, there were these two lakes high above the valley that looked like they needed discovering, but it would require a climb of 700m and a total hiking time of 5 hours from bus stop to bus stop, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. 

But lately we have been climbing higher and higher, so we decided to go for it, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Except that it was uncomfortably cold up at the lake. Nevertheless, the exhilaration of being 1300m almost vertically above the valley floor is surely something unforgettable. 

What's really great for us (because we don't have a car) is that there is a van-bus that takes us up from 700m in Faido to 1670m in Predèlp so that we only have the final 700m altitude to do on foot. Otherwise this would be no fun at all.

On the way up to Predèlp, the road winds back and forth, always higher above the valley bottom, passing through several villages which just hang on the mountain side. 

End of the line for the Post Bus, and start of our hike: Predèlp, at 1671m above sea level

We even spotted a Golden Eagle, one of the largest animals in the Alps, but not seen often (difficult to photograph)

The freeway is 1000m below us

This little community is called Sompréi

After a comfortable 80-minute walk with only slight ascent, we arrived on the vast upper plateau called Alpe di Chièra.

 

Alpe di Chièra, where we stopped for a coffee break

The cows saw us sitting on a stone wall and came to see what we were all about

 

VIDEO: 

The cows at Alpe di Chièra

From the pasture, it was another hour to climb up to the lakes. In this case we were not unhappy that it wasn't too hot. And the view at every turn was fabulous

 

The wall of stones is actually a sheep pen, for sorting the sheep when they come off the mountain in fall.

Finally at our destination. There are two lakes up here, this is the lower of the two 

Our plan was to spend an hour up here in the sunshine before heading back down again. The clouds were moving fast here over the mountain peaks, and kept blocking the sunshine

All wrapped up in a blanket against the cold wind, eating lunch above the little lake

Even though it was cold, I was glad I made the climb. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd expected. But there were definitely more people than I had expected, as there is a vacation town (for skiing actually) nearby.

This is the upper of the two Chièra lakes, nestled in a real saucer-like dip and surrounded by almost vertical walls. This "surround" photo does not really show how steep the walls around it are.

High up above us we suddenly saw a movement, it was hundreds of sheep moving quickly along a trail near the pass across the ridge

Zoomed in through the camera lens we watched as they all raced across a remaining snow field, in a rush to get somewhere. They then disappeared over the ridge 300m above us.

It took about 2.5 hours to get up to the lake from Predèlp. After leaving the lake, we descended back to the alpine pasture along the same trail, then headed North across a lovely moor and scrubby pine landscape, and then descended to Lurengo through the forest for an hour. 

We had a bus to catch at 16:30 and another almost 3 hours to walk there, so it was time to head down again. The first section was the same as we'd gone up, which I don't usually like to do, but in this case we had the view in front of us, so no problem with that.

For the second half of the hike we kept heading North, across the shrubby area below and then a long descent through the forest.

A little bit of alpine colour

 

A view South across the Alpe di Chièra along the Leventina Valley. We came from the left, and will continue to the right.

 

Back down on the plateau, a fill-up of water bottles at the cows' trough, and then heading away from the ranch.

Through the scrubby pines a view North along the Leventina this time, all the way to the Gotthard Pass, where there is still a surprisingly large amount of snow.

A look backwards to the East: The small lake is in the dip at the top, below the small snow fields (the upper snow field is where the sheep crossed to the other side). The large lake is behind the peak with the cross

As we exited the lovely upper moor and scrubby pine area (a protected natural landscape) we suddenly found ourselves looking almost vertically down into the Leventina Valley to the high plateau called "Dalpe"

 

Enjoying the last fantastic views into the Leventina Valley (through which flows the Ticino River) before the one-hour-long descent toward Lurengo where we can catch another bus.

A little oasis in the forest near Lurengo

Finally arrived at Lurengo, a 700m descent from the pasture (after a 300m descent from the lake). In restrospect we should have probably returned to Predèlp to make a round tour out of it (less descent)

Below Lurengo, a glimpse of the church one village lower down on the hill. There are dozens of these old churches on these steep mountain flanks. 

In Lurengo we boarded another Postbus-Van for an equally exciting ride down to Ambri further to the North. The driver was zipping along these narrow roads with only one hand on the steering wheel. I put on my seat belt this time....

Because of the terrain, especially descending below Alpe di Chièra, this hike actually takes 5 hours to walk. In retrospect we should have returned to Predèlp after leaving the plateau, we probably would have had more sections with view and much less descent.