Summary: tough pass... new tough hikers!
Madeleine and David arrived as planned, and after a pleasant second evening at the excellent Hotel Engiadina, we set off bright and early to cross a high pass to the duty-free resort of Livigno. The day started off warm and sunny, but, as we got closer to the pass, it turned cloudy, windy, and cool... which was a good thing, because the trail, as it got closer to the pass, got steeper and steeper.
We went into the Swiss National Park somewhere along the Trupchun valley and saw small groups of brown animals high up on the slopes surrounding us. They were too far away to identify with the naked eye, but they might have been Ibex.
Russell took the lead, marching to the tune of a song in his headphones, followed by David and Madeleine, with yours truly bringing up the rear. But I consoled myself with the thought that maybe it was a day for tortoises... :-).
The last stretch before the pass was steep, gritty, and like climbing a sand dune... if you weren't careful, you slipped back two steps for every three steps forward. About 200m from the pass Russell's hare-like pace did him in, David put on a surge and overtook him, followed by Madeleine, and the tortoise crept closer. David reached the top and whooped. Madeleine was second. And then, 30m before the pass, the tortoise crept by the panting hare. :-)
2830m... the Trupchun pass was the highest so far on this section of the H3H... and also the border between Switzerland and Italy. A few photos, some shivering (the wind was cooooold) and then we headed down into the balmy south. A nice surprise: about two dozen Ibex (Steinböcke) were grazing just on the other side of the pass. We took photos from about 25m at the closest... not that they were afraid of us.
The way down was at times steep and along narrow trails on very steep slopes... a good thing that neither Madeleine nor David had vertigo. We reached our hotel in Livigno under war sunshine about 5:30PM, very tired indeed and very hungry. Unfortunately, being now in Italy, dinner wasn't served until 7:30PM (in contrast to 6-6:30PM in Switzerland)... or perhaps fortunately: Madi and I promptly went to sleep :-).
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