Fantastic 360-degreeviews, in front of our eyes an endless parade of laces up to the granite walls of Val Masino, that's what this route to do with skins among the mountains of Tartano has in store for us.

The territory of our ski mountaineering excursion is in the province of Sondrio, on the Valtellina side of the Orobie Mountains. We first take one car to Valle Lunga, in the Pila district (1,312 m): we will need it for the return trip. With a second vehicle, however, we reach Contrada Biorca (1,155 m) in Valle Corta. There we find space to park. With skis on our feet, we set out on the snow-covered road, which runs almost flat (mark 113-116), entering the valley. After about half an hour, thanks to a small bridge on the left, we cross the stream and enter contrada Barbera (1,282 m). We thus head into the Lemme valley, letting Trail 116 guide us.

After passing a small tear behind the houses we are embraced by a very pleasant environment. Our ski-mountaineering excursion continues to the Masunascia hut (1,550 m), we cross another small bridge on the right and stay on the valley floor, advancing southward. This brings us to a wooded rib where the path to Alpe Sona climbs, more or less evident. Numerous hairpin bends in the woods lead us to the 1,900 meters of the alpine pasture with its large pastures. We ignore the Casera di Sona Alta (1,904 m), which is further west, and take elevation on the bumps in a southerly direction, then southeasterly skirting the Cavizzola Pass, finally reaching the Vallone Pass (2,220 m).

Taking off the skins we let ourselves slide eastward, as far as possible, on the gentle slopes of the Lemme plateau. We put our skis back on and, in the same direction, aim for the Scala pass (2,300 m), a saddle located between the summit of the same name and that of Lemma (2,348 m). From here, even with skis on, it is possible to touch the summit from the west ridge in a few minutes. When we reach the pass we start skiing again, finding ourselves, first looking north and gradually moving east, between 100 and 200 meters below the Tartano Pass cross (2,108 m). We now bend north again for some good skiing, encounter a small valley on the left and then north again continue pleasantly lowering as we pass into the area of the Beniamino and Pirata refuges. We stop in contrada Pila where we had left the car.

The article from which this route is taken can be found in the pages of the FEBRUARY 2021 GRAN TOUR WITH SKIS magazine.