Adula

Whenever I go to our cabin, the first thing I do is check on Cima della Negra; sometimes she is clothed in snow, or basking in the sun, or gray under a rain cloud. The very first time I saw her, she was timidly hiding in a fog, only venturing to peek down at us every now and again. As I stared up at her, I spied a light in the mist and when I asked my father what it was, he told me it was a refuge, namely Capanna Adula. I immediately wanted to go there.

There are actually two refuges, the second of which I couldn't see at the time due to the fog. The first sits at 2012m, while the other is situated farther up at 2393m, providing shelter for those looking to cross the Bresciana glacier and summit Adula, the highest peak in Ticino at 3402m. In German, it is called Rheinwaldhorn, and acts as one of two sources of the Rhein, which flows all the way through Germany and the Netherlands to empty into the North Sea.

I have yet to traverse the glacier, but I have trekked to the second refuge a dozen times. It remains my favorite hike to this day. You start off at the village of Soi and plunge into the pine forest, before coming out onto a rather precarious trail that snakes all the way up the mountain face. Then you emerge onto a treeless upland, the lap of Cima della Negra. There, cows and goats graze, and you hear the whistling of marmots, and - if you're lucky - you glimpse a steinbock.

It is a different world up there, under the gaze of Cima della Negra. Every once in a while, I feel pulled to go back and I cannot help but heed her call.