The pass unites, the mountain separates.

A true phrase, as this mountain separates two civilizations, but despite this, people have always wanted to cross this barrier: the Scaradra Valley and the Soreda Pass are really rich in history.

Since the early Middle Ages, they were frequented by the alpine herders from the Blenio Valley to go with their cows to Grisons: in search of new pastures for the livestock, the farmers climbed the steep and rugged slope up to the Soreda Pass and faced a long descent to the homonymous alp, today's Lampertschalp.

We hikers, however, discover the Soreda Pass thanks to what today has become an official mountain path; holding onto the rock and aided by chains positioned there, we reach our summit of the day.

The hike starts from Lareccio where there is a larch tree over 500 years old and goes up along the entire Scaradra Valley, named after the river that crosses it, until reaching the Upper Scaradra Alp.

A small detour allows you to reach the homonymous refuge located at an altitude of 2173 m or continue on the path which gradually leaves the green meadows to climb a gully made of rocky debris, specially equipped with chains and wooden steps to reach the historic pass.

From the Pass you can descend on the Grisons side and reach the Lampertschalp hut or continue to the right, where the path becomes white-blue, heading towards Pizzo Cassinello.

The route becomes a bit more challenging, encountering large rock slabs which nevertheless greatly facilitate the ascent, until reaching the summit at 3102 m above sea level.

The panorama is splendid: among the highest Ticino peaks you can see the Adula massif as well as the wild peaks surrounding the Scaradra Valley such as Torrone di Nav (2832 m), Pizzo Sorda (2884 m), Pizzo Cassimoi (3128 m), Cima di Aquila (3127 m) and Pizzo Cassinello (3102 m).

Copyright photo: A. Canepa / D. Vanbianchi