Refuge Guide d 'Ayas (Lambronecca)

The place

Capacity: 80. Recently built (1990). Has around ten beds in the winter room. The altitude given is an average across the full mess of paper and/or online sources, which report figures ranging from 3394 m to 3425 m. Whoever next goes up with a GPS can tell us the real figure... Photos on this site, and on this other one an info page. This cabin significantly shortens routes to the summits along the border ridge, at the expense of the old Mezzalama refuge. Caution: this information is drawn both from the web and from the volume "Guida dei Monti d'Italia - Monte Rosa", as I have not been up there myself: to be verified on site!!! From [->2329], a track heads north and reaches the upper Verra glacier on its left bank (at around 3150 m), where you need to skirt a serac fall from the left before heading back right towards the long rocky spur separating the upper and lower Verra glaciers (aptly named "Lambronecca" on maps). The refuge is built on a masonry base forming a platform. Roughly speaking, it takes a good 1h45/2h depending on the state of the glacier. Which would mean 6h30/7h from St Jacques. Private: Sté des Guides Champoluc-Ayas. Refuge phone: 00.39.0125 308 083