Multi-day hike in the Verzasca valley: from the river to the mountain
In short
- What: A multi-day hike around the Verzasca valley in Switzerland
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Duration: 2 days
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Distance: 24 km and 1340 height meters
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Wildcamping: tolerated above the tree line
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Seasonality: June – October
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Public transport: Sonogno (arrival) and Giornico, Pease (departure)
- Highlights: Verzasca river valley, capanna Cognóra
When we did this multi-day hike in the Verzasca valley in Switzerland it was still early in the year. We already saw most of the Jura, so we searched for other warmer, or not so high areas. Naturally we started to look into Ticino, the italian-speaking kanton of Switzerland. Ticino is located south of the alpine massive and therefore the climate is much more moderate, it being part of the Mediterranean. Going to Ticino is really as if you are entering a different country. Apart from the language and the climate, also the culture and the architecture is very different. Palm trees can be found on the side of the road, pizza on almost every corner.
This multi-day hike in Verzasca later became known as the ‘suicide’-hike. We had a few people with us, who never did an overnight hike in mountainous environments before. And although we were in Ticino, there was still snow this time of the year, from around 1700 m.
![Evening view on the mountains across the Verzasca valley from the Cognóra hut [picture made by Sofia Tynelius]](http://hikersguidetoearth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/view-from-capanna-cognora.jpg)
The hike
From water to snow
The Verzasca River valley where we started was extremely beautiful and sunny. It is famous for its clear water and many waterfalls. In many places the river cuts through huge boulders of granite and limestone. We started hiking through the valley, and had a small discussion on going up or not. Our hiking guru, Loki, warned the rest that there would probably be snow up there. That we could also simply hike to the end of the valley and return from there. However, hiking to the end of the valley would not have been very exciting, and meant that we would have almost been there. Therefore we decided to go up, me naively thinking that we would not come across too much snow.
Up until 1700m we were completely fine, confirming my thoughts about that we would survive this hike in Verzasca without passing through any snow. Unfortunately, the last steep hill that we needed to hike up before we reached a safe spot, started to be very snowy. The problem was, that this was not a big layer of thick firm snow. The snow had been melting the whole day, and was not evened out over the whole slope. Some boulders had already been freed of snow, creating snow bridges around them, through which you would fall when stepping on them. The slope was steep and we reached the top of the treeline, which also made it more and more sketchy. Falling would mean sliding all the way down without any means to stop yourself. In the end one of my friends fell backwards, and slid down on her backpack. Luckily another friend caught her a few meters below.
![Looking over the river valley [picture made by Sofia Tynelius]](http://hikersguidetoearth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/verzasca-river-rotated.jpg)
![View on the Verzasca river valley [picture made by Sofia Tynelius]](http://hikersguidetoearth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/view-on-verzasca-valley-rotated.jpg)
a safe haven
We decided to hike up to the Cognóra hut, which was at 1950 m and stay there for the night. One great thing about mountain huts is that during winter they mostly keep one or multiple rooms open, for hikers in need. There was even some wood in the hut which we used to make a campfire. Some of us slept inside the hut, and some of us outside in tents.
The day after we decided that going further and ending the hike as planned would not be possible, and the best option was to turn back the way we came from. Some of us decided to continue a bit more along the set out path, to see how far we would get. We turned around at a sketchy river crossing. Arriving back in the sunny river valley late afternoon we were all happy we made it down alive, with nothing more than a few scratches.
The route
How to get to Verzasca
For this multi-day hike in the Verzasca valley, we started at the busstop Sonogno and ended (if we would have finished the hike as planned) at the busstop Giornico, Pease. It takes you respectively 3 hours from and 2.5 hours back from Zürich HB (main station). A more train schedule can be found on the website of the swiss train company.
Good to know
- Tourists – The Verzasca river valley is extremely beautiful and also a bit touristic. Going off-season might help to avoid the crowds! Although going up in the mountains probably already does this 🙂
- Capanna Cognóra – We never did the full route, but just hiked until Capanna Cognóra and back, which has an open winter department 🙂
Best time to hike around Verzasca
I recommend doing this multi-day hike around the Verzasca valley early season. Make sure to check the snow maps to see if there’s snow fields that need to be crossed, to make the hike safer. You can also check when the Cognóra hut opens to be sure if it’s safe to take the path up. During summer this area of switzerland is extremely warm, although going up will also give you the advantage of escaping the extreme heath (but still being unprotected from the sun). For a more accurate weather forecast check meteoswiss or SRF Meteo. More information about snow fields can be found on the SLF website or on the SwissTopo app.
![Watching the sunset after a terrible hike through the snow [picture made by Sofia Tynelius]](http://hikersguidetoearth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/sunset-verzasca.jpg)