“Up there, looking over the Aosta Valley,
from the partisan’s hut”
Altitude: 2280 m
Address: Carisey district - 13814 Pollone (BI) municipality
Opening period: weekends since June to the end of September, all time from the 1st of July to the 10th of September
Contact: +39 015.2562405 hut – +39 015.610916 hut manager - +39 370.3266366 hut manager
Mail: [email protected]
Hut managers: the Chiappo family
The hut is entrusted to the Chiappo family from Occhieppo Superiore (Biella) who for around 30 years have been looking after this family treasure.
The hut
When you arrive at the Coda hut, don’t stop straight away: go on another 5 minutes until you arrive at the nearby Punta Sella (2315 m). Here the spectacle is breathtaking! Starting from Mont Mars, right in front of you, then turning slowly to the left, you see in the following order: Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, the snow on the Grand Combin, Mont Blanc, the sharp peaks of Mont Avic and Emilius, the Gran Paradiso range and … just visible between them, Monviso. There are no words to describe such a view.
With your eyes still brimming with all this, you can return to enjoy the hut. Coda was built in 1946, on the divide between the Valley of the Elvo Torrent (Biella province) and the Valley of the Lys Torrent – Gressoney (Aosta), in order to make the crossing between the Biella province and the Aosta Valley easier.
The hut was the idea of the Engineer Agostino Coda, who dedicated it to his son Delfo, a partisan who was shot dead on the mountains of Traversella. Access to the hut, which currently offers 51 beds, being at a dividing point between valleys, is possible both from Lillinaes and Fontainemore (in the Aosta Valley) and from Santuario di Oropa and Sordevolo (on the Biella side).
Activities
Stopping-off point for the GTA (Grande Traversata delle Alpi or the great crossing of the Alps),the hut is situated in a panoramic place looking out on the Po Valley (on the Biella side) and over a good part of the Alps: from Monviso to Capanna Margherita.
It is the departure point for the ascent of Mont Mars, along the Cresta Carisey and for numerous climbing and hiking tours among which in the Natural Reserve of Mont Mars. Ascending to the nearby Punta Sella (2315 m)the panorama is particularly beautiful to the north-west towards the Matterhorn and the summit of the Val d’Ayas, to the north-east towards Mont Mars, to the north towards the small Lake Goudin and to the south towards the mountain range which ends with the Colma di Mombarone.
Dates and ideas for summer 2012
- 3rd Saturday in July: Party for the hut and Holy Mass in memory of benefactors and fallen mountaineers and Trail 5 colli (45km 3700D+)
- 3rd Sunday in July: race mountain Sordevolo - Rif. Coda (12km 1650D+)
- September: the hut is a check-point for the Tor des Géants. It is the only hut outside the Aosta Valley’s territory to be included in the competition’s course.