Pizzo Diei from Alpe Solcio: 2,906 m via the Solcio gully and the Crosta hut

Pizzo Diei is the peak that closes the Veglia and Devero basin to the south: 2,906 m of pale rock above a plateau that looks like the moon, Monte Leone and the Swiss four-thousanders in front. When the San Domenico cable car is closed, the way is the old one: from Alpe Solcio, up the Solcio gully to the col and the summit.

The route

We start from the Crosta hut, at 1,751 m on the meadows of Alpe Solcio, and take the trail up the valley enclosed between walls. In a good two hours of steep climbing we reach the Bocchetta di Solcio, 2,540 m, where the scenery changes: boulder scree and the Cistella plateau.

From the col we aim for the summit of Pizzo Diei over a slope of loose rock, with a few exposed stretches. Summit lunch, the Leoni bivouac below and the whole Ossola at our feet. Anyone with legs to spare adds Monte Cistella, 2,880 m, half an hour away. Down the same way.

Who it's for

• anyone fit for more than a thousand metres of steep climbing
• anyone comfortable on scree and exposed stretches, with no cables
• anyone who wants a near-three-thousand summit in October, before the snow

Good to know

The consortium road from Varzo climbs to the alp: driving up is arranged with the hut, otherwise you park at Dreuza (1,000 m) and the climb grows by 750 m. The guide confirms the week before: with snow or ice in the gully the summit is off. Packed lunch, hut open by reservation.

Getting there

Varzo is an hour and fifty from Milan: A26, expressway to Domodossola, then the Simplon road. From the village the consortium road to Alpe Solcio climbs 28 hairpins, narrow and rough: driving up to the hut is arranged with the warden, otherwise leave the car at Dreuza (1,000 m, ten spaces) and walk up. Car pooling in the outing's Telegram group.