Alta Luce/Hochliecht (3184m), trail 7C

from Stafal to Alta Luce/Hochliecht

The Alta Luce bell

Trail 7C starts from Stafal (1840m) and goes to Alta Luce (3184m), also called Hochliecht. It is 6398m long and the total positive elevation gain is 1355m.
The approximate time for the ascent is 4h01. The trail is rated of difficulty E.

The Salza Hill

Long and beautiful route that starts from the valley floor, passes through the Salza Pass (2882m) and arrives on one of the most spectacular balconies around the Monte Rosa range. Alta Luce (it means “High Light”) stands on a spur that divides the Lys glacier from that of the Garstelet: on the same spur higher up is the refuge Città di Mantova and the Gnifetti Hut (from Alta Luce an unnumbered path rejoins the Trail 6A, which leads up to the Città di Mantova refuge)

If you want to reduce the length of the walk, in Stafal instead of taking path 7 you take … the Gabiet cable car, which in less than 15 minutes takes you to Lake Gabiet, from which you simply take the trail 6B that one must follow (passing through the refuge Orestes Hütte) until it reaches the Salza Hill, a point from which one can continue to Alta luce by following the trail 7C described here.
If you want to avoid going through the refuge, you can take trail 6A from Gabiet, which for several sections is in common with 6B: past the refuge, 6A and 6B come together. As soon as you come to the next fork, where 6A separates from 6B going to the right, continue straight for 300 meters until you reach the Salza Pass.

The trail presents no technical difficulty, and is excellently marked.

More information on level of difficulty, ascent times, maps and GPX tracks

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At the start, the 7/7C trail runs to the right of the Lys

Sign indicating cheese for sale at Cortlys alp.

Junction of trail 7 and trail 7C, theColle Salza is there at the top

Directions to 7C, and possible continuation along 6A to the Città di Mantova Refuge

On the left continues trail 7 to the headwaters of the Lys

From the Salza Pass toward the valley we have just traveled, over there is Stafal

From the Salza Hill looking toward the Alta Luce

From the Salza Pass, the path to the Alta Luce

From Alta luce the Lys Glacier, East Lyskamm and Lyskamm Nose.

Zoom in on the terminal tongue of the Lys Glacier

Descending from Alta Luce: Salza Hill at the base of the pyramid in the foreground, Punta Telcio to the right of the ridge in the background

1. Start and finish

Trail 7C starts from Stafal, the elevation is 1840m.
See on Google Maps.

Latitudine e longitudine (WGS84 - EPSG 4326): 45.8598466868, 7.81251405414

The arrival location is Alta Luce. The altitude is 3184m.
See on Google Maps.

Latitudine e longitudine (WGS84 - EPSG 4326): 45.8833547961, 7.83512040653

2. The route

As soon as you park your car in the giant parking lot in Stafal, continue until you reach the bridge over the Lys at the end of the paved road and take the dirt road to the right: you will soon encounter the marker for the Trail 7, which leads to the headwaters of the Lys, trail that for the initial stretch is in common with our 7C trail.

At the start, the trail is to the right of the Lys

The marked path follows the course of the Lys River on the right, gently gaining altitude. You soon come to a plateau, heralded by a couple of buildings that can be seen from the trail, where the wonderful Alpe Cortlys(1993m) is located. If the sign is displayed you can stop to buy cheese and butter (follow the signs, the hut where the cheese is for sale is a very short distance to the left of the sign).

Sign indicating cheese for sale at Cortlys alp.

The junction between Trail 7 and 7C is located at 2165 meters, near the lower edge of the left moraine of the Lys.

Junction of Trail 7 and Trail 7C: Salza Hill is up there

Leave Trail 7, which continues to the springs, and take Trail 7C, which ascends the long Salza valley, oriented eastward and closed to the south by the rocky wall of Punta Telcio (2833m, reached via Trail 7B). You pass the remains of the Alpe Salza Inferiore at 2323 meters, while as you climb the view of the Rosa mountain range becomes wider and wider. The trail continues to climb, passing short shelves, until it reaches the Salza Pass at 2882 meters (about 3 hours so far from Stafal). The last ramp before the pass is quite steep and slippery; it is definitely the most technically challenging point of the entire trail.

The Salza Hill

There are several options from the Salza pass: you can descend to the Orestes Hutte via trail 6B (and from there return to the Gabiet shelf), or you can continue until you meet trail 6A, which leads to the Città di Mantova hut (and from there to the Gnifetti Hut). We continue along trail 7C, which climbs along the north ridge from the Salza Pass, at first quite steep and over rather slippery scree, then gentler but still on the “merry andante.” The trail ascends into a small stony valley next to the ridge, then continues in wide turns, still on decidedly stony terrain…

Ascending to the Alta Luce

…until passing by the remains of two buildings. The lower ones are from Passera Bivouac (3170m),destroyed by a blizzard in 1983 and never rebuilt: you will find more information on this page.

Remains of the Passera bivouac

The remains just above are instead what remains of a hunting lodge belonging to Baron Peccoz, The lodge is visible in this photo from 1894 when itwas visited by Queen Margherita with her retinue (photo taken from Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, by Alessandro Gogna and Marco Milani, 2007):

Queen Margaret at the Peccoz hut, 1894

The bell marking the arrival at the summit is now very close, as is one of the most spectacular viewpoints in the entire Gressoney valley.

The summit bell of the Alta Luce

3. The GPX track

This is the map of the trail, according to the SCT Trail Cadastre of the Aosta Valley.

Download the trail in GPX format

4. A recent hike

12/09/2021

I started from Stafal along the 7/7C trail, climbed the Salza valley, reached the Salza pass and from there the Alta Luce. I then descended by trail 6A to the junction with trail 7B, climbed to Blue Lake and from there to
Punta Telcio
. I then descended back to Blue Lake, returned to Gabiet, and from Gabiet returned to Stafal by descending Trail 7A. A nice gallop, graced by wonderful weather: starting very early, I managed to get to Alta Luce before several clouds thickened over Rosa, thus managing to take some nice pictures.

Note that shortly after taking 7C, at the beginning of the Salza valley I encountered a group of hunters stationed like cougars pointing at a distant chamois. I was lent the binoculars to see it, but I absolutely could not distinguish it, camouflaged as it was in the slope. I walked away hoping never to hear the gunshot, which fortunately never came.

Halfway up the Salza valley I passed a large group of ibex. No other animals spotted during the day.