Bike & hike to Roccabella (2727 m)

Start of the hike shortly after 9:00 in Bivio. It was still mostly cloudy, but the weather forecast predicted improving conditions, which also happened after noon.

I brought my mountain bike along. Going uphill, I partially biked, and partially walked the bike. At the signpost Cadval, I parked the bike, and continued on the white-red-white marked trail up to Roccabella. The trail marks were a bit faded, but still easy to follow. I did not always follow the trail, though. For the final ascent to Roccabella, I went straight up on the SSE ridge, whereas the trail goes more to the left (west) where it is less steep. Overall the maximum difficulty is T3.

The view from the summit of Roccabella was magnificent, especially since the clouds dissappeared more and more, and it became nice and sunny! Despite nice weather and a marked trail to the summit, I did not meet any other hikers on Roccabella.

For the descent, I followed essentially the same route back to Cadval, except that I tried to surf down on the few remaining snow fields. But there really was not much snow left.

From Cadval, I took the mountain bike and went up the Septimer pass, just to check out conditions for later tours in the area. I would say that taking the mountain bike up to the Septimer pass looks like a great way to shorten hikes in the area.

Equipment:
- Hiking sticks
- Gaiters (used when snow surfing downhill on the few remaining snow fields)

Total tour distance: 21 km, thereof:
Hiking and biking uphill: 10.5 km
Hiking downhill: 3.5 km
Biking downhill: 7 km

Please see attached GPS track for more details.