Calvi Brothers Refuge

Introduction

A hike in the upper Val Brembana which takes us along the easy Enel road to the Fragabolgia Lake dam and then on to the nearby Rifugio Calvi. There are no objective dangers, in fact the path is always very wide and does not present any technical difficulties, however, we must consider the overall height difference and length (outward and return are almost 15Km) which require a minimum of training. Given the size of the road, the Fratelli Calvi refuge can also be reached in winter, but of course you will have to adapt your equipment (gaiters-knives and poles) and check the snow conditions.

Description

Leaving the car at the hairpin bend along the road, take the path (it is a concrete road) to the right. The road with a good gradient soon reaches the village of Pagliari (1314m) and continues keeping to the left of the valley. It continues, leaving the stone houses behind and you come to the waterfalls of the Val Sambuzza. I did this hike on 26 April and still encountered snow along the trail, in fact from here on the road became white. A gentler path leads to Lago del Prato (1654m) lying on this plateau. Continue along the bridge over the stream and take the uphill road that leaves the lake on the right, continue to the Costa della Mersa hut, the fatigue begins to be felt (especially with snow and without snowshoes) but certain views pay off. At last you begin to see the dam in the distance. When you reach it, climb up towards the guardians' house on the left and then along the steps to the top of the dam. From here it is possible to enjoy a stupendous panorama of Lake Fragabolgia, the upper valley and all the surrounding peaks. The destination is not yet in sight, but it is only a short distance away; in fact, keeping the lake to our right, we continue along an almost level path and in a short time we have arrived at Rifugio Calvi (2006m). Although it is late April, there is still plenty of snow and the hut warden is still keeping watch. From the terrace, it is possible to admire the beautiful panorama. By now it is already early afternoon, it is time to go back and the sun is warming up so much that it feels like July.
The descent route follows entirely that of the outward journey, I think however that a variant is possible, path [247], but due to the snow conditions I had to take the path described so far. Along the way there are other paths: in the beautiful hamlet of Pagliari (1315 m) on the right side there is path [247] (so-called summer path), further on in the locality of Dosso starts path [209] that leads to Val Sambuzza; in the locality of Lago del Prato there is path [224] that leads to Rifugio Longo and path [208] of the Orobie Occidentali coming from Foppolo.

More information can be found on www.caibergamo.it