Pizzo Ruggia

Pizzo Ruggia  is a very nice little peak between the northern side of Val Vigezzo and Valle Onsernone.
Reaching it's summit is a relatively comfortable scramble unless you hit snow. The latter  was our case.
We,  ten members of CAI - Laveno and the 4-legged Margot,  started from our parking place just below Arvogno under some annoying rain and made our way up through the woods until Bocchetta di Muino, 1.977m. Here we got on the snow, somewhat expected, but it least it had stopped raining. Then we made a wide walk contouring the Scheggie di Muino ridge until the Greppi bivouac and further on until Alpe di Ruggia and Bocchetta di Ruggia 1.990m. The ridge to Pizzo di Ruggia appeared to be almost completely snow-free, although at times slippery. We got to the summit just the time for a couple of photo-shots and rapidly moved away under a strong wind. The NW ridge, planned for our descent, was not practical at all, too much snow. We therefore scrambled wildly down the western flan of Pizzo di Ruggia until we hit the path from Arvogno to Passo di Fontanalba which led us to Alpe I Motti where we had a well deserved stop. The way down back to Arvogno is along a stepped path. A stream crossing, below Alpe Villasco, was heavily covered with snow and caused us some trouble. If you plan this route in the next few weeks this has to be taken into account. Nothing to add, the rest of the way down is just a long nice walk in the woods.