I had Monte Berlinghera on my bucket list for a long time. The so-called Mountain of Light is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Como and, at 1,930 m, offers a breathtaking panorama. The view from the summit is sensational: to the north the Valchiavenna valley and Lake Mezzola with the Pian di Spagna nature reserve, to the left the majestic Monte Legnone and to the south Lake Como with its surrounding mountains.
But let's start from the beginning. It's February 17th, 2022, two days ago it snowed down to about 200 m. In order to distract from snowboarding, we decide to go hiking. In the area of Lake Como the forecast promises around 15 degrees and sunny weather. Sounds like summer. We head for San Bartolomeo, a village at 1,200 m, where the trailhead is located. Suddenly we are facing a roadblock. The passage is closed all day from Monday to Friday. Well, that was not included in our plan. And usually in the mountains, there is only one road that leads to the top. We quickly find out that Monte Berlinghera can also be approached from the valley next to us. The hike will be much longer, but what other options do we have? So we first drive back a bit and then head to Alpe Piazza at 1,320 m. The road becomes snowier with every meter of altitude until at some point there are no more car tracks. We are stuck. Thank god, we have snow chains in the car. Let's continue the ride - at least until the point where the snow is around 30 cm... So we are looking for a place to park our Beetle.
Given the conditions, it also pays off that we happen to have our snowshoes in the car. We had actually expected a summer hike, but we have already said goodbye to that in our minds. We finally start walking, meanwhile it's already noon. With snowshoes, the path is of course a bit more difficult, but the hike is wonderful. Noone around, only our footprints in the snow. Around 3:30 p.m. we reach Alpe Pescedo, located at the foot of Monte Berlinghera. A magical place. From here it is another 50 minutes to the summit, according to the signs. Oh dear... Given the conditions, we can easily add another 30 minutes. And then we have to go all the way back to the car - that won't work at daylight. With a heavy heart we decide to let the summit go and instead take a long break and a photo shoot on this beautiful alpine pasture. And it was really worth it - here are a few of Micha's masterpieces.
Take a look at this unique panorama in our short video:
At around 4:30 p.m. we make our way back. There are only 1.5 hours until it gets dark. We want to hurry up but again and again keep stopping to take pictures or just enjoying the stunning views at the golden hour. We hike into the sunset and marvel at the alpenglow, with a view of Lake Como and the surrounding mountains. We couldn't have planned it better. All in all, a wonderful hike - however completely different than planned. And we'll definitely be back to tackle the summit.
Do you also want to enjoy this unique view? Of course, the hike is also described in detail on Love Valchiavenna. Here's the link:
