Argentera Valley – Mountains of the Moon OFFROAD

The territory of Cesana Torinese is the one that accommodates the largest development of ex-military roads in the Susa Valley and boasted the masterpiece of the carriage road that climbed up to the Chaberton peak at an altitude of 3,131 m. to reach the massive battery equipped with eight rotating turrets. In recent years that road has been lost to neglect and landslides in some of its most exposed sections.

We propose to bikers a route that binds a long ride in the Argentera Valley in the municipality of Sauze di Cesana and then ride a large part of the Moon Mountains Roads open to motorized tourism: a circuit along the roads Bousson-Lago Nero-Colle Bercia-La Coche-Sagnalonga

This vast area of extraordinary beauty and great geological importance lying between the Chenaillet Massif in France and the Cresta della Luna on Cesana-Claviere takes the name Monti della Luna and in the years between 1930 and 1939-as did the entire Conca di Cesana-saw an enormous defensive effort with the construction of a very large number of Alpine Wall works to accomplish which a network of military roads and mule tracks were built that are still practically all practicable.

This network is then grafted onto some more modern routes connecting ski lifts and also the Green Marble Quarries Road that from Fontana Dalmà re-enters Cesana, between Cesana and Bousson.

A natural-bottomed roadway complex that originates in its entirety from a series of highly intersecting carriageways and still provides the main function to serve mountain pastures, refuges, and permanent and second homes, especially in the Sagnalonga area:

This network is closely connected to the adjacent Thuras Valley and originates from a complex of as many as 8 military roads.

The Argentera Valley Road

Passing the beautiful hamlets of Bousson, Rolleres and the village of Saunze di Cesana, in the direction of Sestriere, a little later is the current junction of the former military road Sauze di Cesana-Gorgia built in the late 1930s, which has been partly irreversibly damaged by landslides at the height of Pont Terrible where it joins precisely from the SP 215 Cesana-Sauze di Cesana-Sestriere downhill on the old route. The dirt road runs all along the glacial Ripa valley.

The road climbs from about elevation at 1,650 to 2,410 m. about Alpe Gran Mioul with a development of almost 16 km. among pastures, forests mainly of larch trees that in autumn color with golden hues.

From Pont Terrible, past a few hairpin bends and ruins of an old ammunition depot located near the Scorce Pylon, we arrive at the Brusà del Plan pasture-which can also be reached by a dirt track from Bessen Bas-at about 1,800 m. From here begins the very long plateau along the stream touching the small rural settlements of Troncea, Clotes, Argentera and Grange Gaces, among small groves, where there are also picnic areas and an RV area.

After about 12 km, at an elevation of about 1,900, before the arrival of the old military at Gorgia the stasis forks: two agricultural tracks to the right and left go up to Alpe Gran Mioul through Pian della Milizia and to Alpe Plane at an elevation of 2,010, respectively. Watch out after Pian della Milizia for the climb, but especially for the steep descent on the return from Gran Mioul. From the valley floor there is access via mule tracks and paths to the various defensive works of the Alpine Wall.

The Valley is bordered on the orographic right by the Troncea Valley and on the left by the Thuras Valley and is a regular destination for “day hikers” who take advantage of the picnic areas, the creek as a loisir terrain, by hikers, cyclists, MTBs, by campers, thanks to a special area, by motorcycle and 4×4 enthusiasts. Many alpine pastures including the one higher up, where quality cheeses are produced including the distinctive Plaisentif, the violet cheese.

During the summer, a toll levied at the beginning of the dirt road is required for access and do access is limited to 350 vehicles per day.

Thuras Valley and Thures

Two military roads and a mule track built in the 1930s connected the valley bottom of the Ripa di Cesana, from Bousson to the Rhuilles (1,665 m.) localities in the municipality of Cesana Torinese, passing below Thures (1,633 m.) – two beautiful and scenic alpine villages of seventeenth-century origin – then after about 6 km in the locality of Ponte Ciatagnera, at an altitude of 2,064 m., the road gave way to a very long mule track that reached the Colle di Thuras. The infrastructure as a whole served the various casemates and defensive posts at the head of the valley.

Today with a new variant going up to Thures, the road is paved for about 3 km and is a branch of the SP 215 in Sauze di Cesana. Where the asphalt road ends at the intersection with the old road, it continues on original dirt surface for 3.5 km to Arpuilles: beyond that, motor vehicles are not allowed to continue.

On the return from the Argentera Valley then, just before the village of Bousson it is necessary to turn left and reach these beautiful hamlets, the first to be visited on foot. Immediately after Rhuilles a stone bridge crosses the stream the dirt road climbs to the Grange Chabaud and from there to join the dirt road from Bousson to Black Lake. It is the Bousson-Lake Nero-Col Bousson road, at the atezza of Fonte Tana.

The Roads of the Moon Mountains

In the Mountains of the Moon part alone, the various ex-military routes total about 60 km of natural-bottom roads, with the possibility of parenze and arrivals from Cesana, but also from Claviere, using the SS.24 as a return route. The highest point is reached at the Bercia Pass, at about 2,230 m so with 1,000 m of elevation gain from Cesana and 800 from Bousson

If we then extend to the mule tracks and trails that can be traveled by MTB, we connect to the entire Montgenèvre area, including the classic trip to the Lake of 7 Colors/Lake Gignoux and Col Saurel from the Capanna Mautino Refuge while from the side on Claviere is the Baita Gimont hut. An area now connected by the lifts and ski posts of the Milky Way and Montgènevre.

At the center of the path the Black Lake (2,010 m), with the Alpeggio above and and dalal Capanna Mautino, a point of great scenic value, although in progressive eutrophication., but the landscape varies continuously from coniferous forests, to the almost lunar landscape of the stretch below Serra Granet, with a spectacular passage with a view of the Chaberton under Rocca Clarì between La Coche e Sagnalonga.

The entire development is open to vehicular traffic, frequented a lot by 4×4 owners, somewhat less by motorcyclists, day hikers with “normal” cars, and a sporty MTB crowd offering the entire system really an almost infinite number of variant possibilities.

The proposed circuit allows you to touch all these points with re-entry on Bousson and then Cesana., but due to the fund and the slope it requires good driving skills on dirt roads.