Hikes in the Alps in July

July is the month when the whole mountain range is finally open: the snow has retreated almost everywhere below the glaciers, the huts are staffed without interruption, and long hikes and multi-day tours become possible without too many unknowns. It is the time to go high, towards the glaciers and high lakes that were out of reach in spring, and to leave the Prealps, which in July are often hot and veiled by haze from the plain. The one real unknown is the afternoon thunderstorm, which sets the timetable more than the path itself.

Among the multi-day routes, the Cima Brenta tour from Molveno and the ten-lake loop of Monte Avic are in their proper season in July. In Switzerland, the Glacier d'Orny with the Cabane du Trient and the Capanna Boval on the Morteratsch Glacier are two different ways of standing face to face with the ice, while in the Aosta Valley the Rifugio Bertone and the Testa della Tronche look across at the giants of Mont Blanc from Val Ferret. In Lombardy, the Rifugio Gianetti in Val Masino and the Rifugio Benigni loop with the Trona and Zancone lakes are long days full of granite and water.