Monte Storile (2471 m) seen from Ravoledo

From the square of the Church of Christ the King, begin on the uphill road towards the Ravoledo field and cemetery, immediately facing a steep but short climb. At the end, continue for about a hundred meters on the road to take path N254 on our left. Reaching the fork along the road (around 900 m), take the steep dirt road that shortly leads to the panoramic knoll of Grom (938 m). Continue with four switchbacks, a result of the widening of the pre-existing mule track, climbing one of the unfortunately many burned areas of this slope. The ancient, narrower military track replaces the dirt road and, to the right, crosses the steep slope, impressive despite the signs left by the fire, until a clear junction. Proceed left, where the mule track narrows further and, sometimes cluttered with debris, climbs tight switchbacks up the steep slope among Scots pines and firs. Facing an old landslide, which the mule track ascended with other switchbacks, you must continue to the right, crossing it, following a trace that, passing at the foot of a whitish rock, reaches the edge of a deep valley. Staying on the edge of the ravine, shortly reach a charming isolated hut (1338 m), overlooked by dense woods among which emerge large rocky shields. Now maximum attention is needed: from the hut, go flat to the left, taking a small path in the woods (a little further up there is a water collection tub) that with some slight ups and downs returns to the landslide at a point where a retaining wall is seen. The mule track, now recognizable, slants to the left over the whole body of the landslide and, beyond a fallen larch, becomes comfortable and evident again. The incredible path now crosses almost flat rock walls, sometimes carved into hard gneiss, sometimes supported by cyclopean dry stone walls. Several trunks charred by the recent fire block the way but, before becoming impatient, with some switchbacks, leave this area to reach a panoramic knoll (1480 m) overlooking Val Grosina and touched by the dirt road to Menarolo. Proceed right, beside a boulder, and shortly you meet the dirt road again, following it toward the group of huts above (1535 m). Shortly before the rustic houses, turn right again, finding the military mule track, which climbs with gentle switchbacks among the skeletons of large pines. Gradually moving right, the route emerges onto a large pasture. The mule track skirts the alpine pasture on the right but it is convenient to leave it and proceed along the meadows for their entire length, to find it again near the higher cluster of huts (1825 m). Leaving a dirt road on the right, follow the mule track above the alpine pasture, immediately entering the forest. If at first the passage is hindered by vegetation, after a few hundred meters it improves. Many switchbacks with gentle slope bring you to an area where the tall vegetation begins to lower and thin out. At a modest plateau, leave the mule track to the right, which continues wide and almost flat towards Dos Pesciol, and continue upward using a path that stays roughly along the watershed, now well defined. Reaching a slight hollow with an antenna, from where excellent views over Val Grosina are enjoyed, begin to notice the first war works: trenches, positions, and galleries carved into the rock. The main ridge now rises decidedly rockier and the path avoids it on the right. Thus reach the base of a long grassy slope, visibly marked by the path, which once climbed leads to the broad southwestern slope of Monte Storile, characterized by remote conifer woods and large pastures above. Long to the right, with some ups and downs alternated with short climbs, walk along the foot of the dark rocks of the ridge, reaching the base of a grassy valley. The narrow trace, quite deteriorated, zigzags up this slope (on the left at least two paint marks showing the number '1' can be seen) to end at the trenches on the summit of Monte Storile (2471 m), which during the 1915-18 war would have constituted the 'Third line' of defense of the Alta Valtellina sector if the Austro-Hungarian army had broken through at Stelvio.