Thursday, August 14, 2014

Stage 13 -- Saas Almagell to the Almagellerhütte

In which not much happens... it was only a hort hike :-).

We had a late breakfast, accompanied by pouring rain, which, however, fortunately stopped around 11AM just before we left. The climb up to the Almagellerhuette was uneventful (other than that we met Jakob and Manfred along the way -- we'll hike tomorrow with them). In fact, there's not much to report other than two tidbits that show how far apart Saas Almagell and Macugnaga are, despite being on either side of a mountain pass.

I told our waitress at dinner in Saas Almagell that we had hiked there from Macugnaga. From where? Macugnaga. She had never heard of it. The Moro pass, yes, but not what was on the other side. Amazing.

And then walking through Saas Almagell I saw some old buildings that had been built on posts with a large round disc of stone at half height (imagine a mushroom with a post sticking out the top of the cap). This is a typical construcion I've seen in many other Swiss villages that serves to keep the rats and mice out of grain/hay storage. It's a simple and (I imagine) effective solution... and yet I have never seen it anywhere on the Italian side of the border.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. Wish me luck sleeping... the bunkrooms look crowded :-(.

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