Pizzo Leone

Patience beats pace

On paper, Pizzo Leone is a harmless T2: a good 25 kilometres, no hands needed, nothing exposed. But the numbers hide the essential bit — the loop starts practically at lake level and then doesn’t stop climbing for a very long time. 1900 metres in one go, the kind you honestly feel the next morning.

The climb grinds up steeply through shady chestnut forest — not technical, just relentless. Long stretches sit on loose rock: perfectly fine at walking pace, a constant small correction at running pace. This is a route that rewards patience, not speed. And if you walk rather than run, you have time to look around — which pays off here.

Because up top the forest opens, and there is Lago Maggiore, spreading out and stretching away south into Italy until it vanishes into the haze. The narrow grassy ridge above it is the heart of the loop: a wide view to both sides, absurdly far on a clear day, almost nicer on a hazy one.

Tip: Spring and autumn, not summer! The route runs low, on south-facing slopes, above a lake that does an excellent impression of a radiator in July. In April or October it’s near perfect — cool in the forest, warm on the ridge, with that Ticino autumn light. And take more water than the distance suggests: there’s barely any along the way.

How it went for me

I set off in running shoes, vest and soft flasks, fully intending to make a run of it — and ended up hiking most of it. Too steep, the rock too loose; everyone I saw that day walked it too. The best moment was when the forest tore open and the lake, on that hazy day, simply ran out into nothing, like a painting someone never finished. Down at the end a coffee waited by an old stone ruin, and a swim in the cool pools. Seven hours, a proper lunch break — and legs that knew exactly where they’d been the next day.