Föisc (freezing)

Föisc is a diminutive summit located in high Leventina, overlooking the stunning Ritom lake area. Access is extremely easy, provided conditions are reasonably good. That was (partially) not our case. Anyway, having parked at Brugnasco at 07 :30 with the pleasing surprise of a +2°C, we badly needed a coffee to get moving. The bar « Sole » was there, closed, but the owner was kind enough to let us in although opening hour was 09 :00. A really lovely coffee, by the way! We then started gearing up for our walk. Dilemma : snowshoes yes, snowshoes no? We left them in the car-boot and went over to the western side of Brugnasco where, by a farm, the path gently starts and goes up to Campòi and then to Monte di Vento (this name, alone, was clearly prophetical !). Here we were gifted by an amazing sunrise-show. We also could sense that up above the wind was quite strong. Snow on the ground, yes, but very moderate, only occasionally iced. After Monte di Vento we turned left and made it up to hit the paved road which departs from Altanca. We followed it briefly and then turned left to Orlascio. Here (to add some excitment to the hike!) we messed up things following what we considered to be a trace in the snow, now some 30cm high. We ended up in the thick wood, here and there were trees collapsed on the ground and tried following tiny footprints in the snow (yes, with Ry Cooder in mind !), knowing for good that animals know their way best, us being only the occasional guests. The direction to follow was obvious, so, after some quite troublesome steps, we reached the tiny ridge approx 1913m on the CNS. Good, so we could get down to the 1891m point and start following the white-red-white marks which, in the snow reaching up and over knees, led to the Piatto dei Larici area. The wind, at this point increased considerably, slapping our faces with snow. We ended up losing sight of the marks. Question 1: do we really want to go further up? Answer : yes! Direction to be followed was however pretty much obvious. Snow now could go from being completely iced on the surface or absolutely soft and very, very tyring. Question 2: next time are we seriously going to leave our snowshoes in the car? Answer: no! We reached  a sort of hump at around 2160m, from where (wind allowing) the summit cross and the Föisc hut could be seen. A last push and the summit was reached, amid cries of joy. Nobody around, just the two of us and the view. Not immense as it could be, running clouds were all over the place, but still beautiful, with the Ritom lake, 350m below, partially frozen. The screaming,  continuous wind was freezing our bones big time, so we happily accessed the hut, a lovely little recovery managed by the Patriziato di Altanca. We had a bite at our sandwiches and at our delicious Biberli with some tea (ice-cold!), and then started descending. At various points we had to stop and anchor ourselves firmly to the ground to prevent from being carried away by the raging wind, really looking something like a blizzard. Once back at the 1891m point, we chose to turn leftwise, along a white-red-white marked path (substantially invisible) which led us to fall upon the upper station of the Ritom cable-railway. Here we followed (on the right) the paved road which brought us back towards Orlascio and then right down the way we came up. A pity the « Sole » bar was closed, another strong coffee would have been nice and, yes, deserved! All included, that was a seven hours hike. What to say? An easy hike, in regular conditions, but today, at some point we felt as if we were into training for the Himalayas!