RASSA – Colle del Loo

From the parking lot in Rassa (917m) located across the stream on the left side of the village, follow the paved road to the end and then take the steep road that climbs to the left, then take the mule track near Alpe Crosetti alla Cottura (1055m). Leave the dirt road that continues on a slight incline, and in a few minutes, you reach Alpe Campello, (1099m) where there is a cozy refreshment point.

Continuing on the mule track you pass Alpe Sorba (1151m) and the Prabella Bridge, (1180m), at the junction with the path to Alpe Sorbella. Without crossing the bridge, but continuing uphill, you pass Cascina Antaiua (1220m). Just beyond you can still see an old lime kiln and the characteristic Sorba stream waterfall, the “Gula Talheintha.” Crossing the dirt road, you will soon reach the pasture of Alpe Dosso, (1395m).

Crossing the Artorto stream, you reach the hut of Alpe Massucco, (1528m). The mule track, at first flat, then rising more steeply, leads with a few hairpin bends to Alpe Toso (1649m), where the CAI Support Point of Varallo is located.

The trail follows the Sorba stream to the end of the plateau where the ascent begins with its wide switchbacks. Just before Alpe Lamaccia, (1918m), you ford the Sorba stream. The trail climbs the rocky hump on the right and, after passing a spring, climbs with short hairpin bends and crosses the Rio Nero, an outflow of the Three Bishops’ or Sorba Lakes, and then reaches Alpe del Prato (2218m).

Near the huts, partly ruined, we can admire a slab of rock on which we can distinguish ancient inscriptions in Latin dated August 1751, with the name and surname of the person who made them. Our route continues westward among large boulders, thus reaching Colle del Loo (2452m).

On the opposite side, the trail crosses the Loo Valley and reaches Loomatten and then Gressoney St.Jean in the Lys Valley. The Colle di Loo also allows a northward connection to the Maccagno Pass and Alpe Maccagno (2493m) and then to descend to Riva Valdobbia.