In Montespluga the purest soul of the mountains, between ski mountaineering and nights under the stars In Montespluga, in Valchiavenna, there is "Homeland", the first ski area without ski lifts. Here you can rent equipment, practice outdoor activities with mountain guides and sleep in tents. And discover a new dimension
In summer, when the road pass that connects Italy and Switzerland is open, the Montespluga locality, a hamlet of the municipality of Madesimo in the province of Sondrio, is a passing point for many tourists. In winter, the scenery changes completely. The valley, delineated by the Stuetta dam, is almost uninhabited. Only silence reigns. The landscape is completely white, snow is still a certainty here, but there are no ski lifts. The human hand is not transformative, but rather exploratory. This is why Montespluga proved to be the perfect place for Homeland, a project dedicated to the mountains to be experienced in its purest form, created by Tomaso Luzzana, CEO and founder of the Spiagames agency.
Those who want to practice ski mountaineering at all levels, go with snowshoes or a splitboard (the snowboard also designed for climbing) can come here, rent equipment, follow safety training courses and go on outings together with Mountain 360 alpine guides. A more conscious way of experiencing the mountains, respecting the nature it welcomes.
The experience with Homeland is the choice to abandon some comfort to reawaken the sense of wonder that is within us. «Who didn't grow up exploring the woods or mountains behind their house, with the total freedom and carefreeness that comes when you're only focused on discovery? Homeland is not just sport, but it is this state of mind. This spirit brings together all the people who have a passion in common, which is not the mountain, but its soul. The Homeland project was created to revive these emotions that each of us treasures, from the most expert to the least expert in sports", explains Tomaso.
Homeland motivates you to think about winter sports differently. Tomaso calls it human powered, that is, oriented towards climbing with one's own strength, enjoying direct contact with nature. Fun is contrasted with performance, freedom with already defined routes, awareness with being experienced by lifts and slopes. All of this right in Montespluga, whose history is affected by the construction and then abandonment of cableways, and is therefore a symbol of the failure of the old way of thinking about the mountains.
To mountain lessons
But what do you do on the weekend with Homeland? The first thing - after having rented skis, skins, boots, backpacks with airbags and a safety kit consisting of shovel, probe and Artva - is to follow the safety camp, the course for going to the mountains in safety held by Nicola Ciapponi, ski instructor and mountain guide from Mountain 360. Theory and practice to understand the winds, the type of snow, the slope, the avalanche danger and to know how to deal with an emergency.
Every place can be home
For the evening we set up a real base camp in the valley that opens up from Montespluga. We set up single-person tents which we would illuminate in the evening with head torches. On the floor there is a mattress that insulates from the cold and to sleep you put your clothes inside the thermal sleeping bag. This is the Homeland Night Experience, always available on weekends upon reservation. For some it could be an extreme experience to try in winter, but it is the activity that best sums up the journey: enjoying the beauty of the landscape in which you are immersed, and the sense of wonder that gradually awakens. Because it is when you experience the mountain in its purity that you carry out an exploration inside and outside yourself.
In the morning, we are ready to go up the slopes of Spluga, chasing the sun's rays. And after a dose of healthy effort, we look at the valley, white and immaculate. We descend, leaving our trail in the fresh snow. But how did we already get off? In the face of beauty, time is always an internal state.
Is ski mountaineering the future of winter sports?
Does this approach to the mountains represent a more sustainable future? Without a doubt, since the pandemic, ski mountaineering has been a discovery for many. The feeling of having achieved
will the summit without the support of ski lifts become an aspiration for many? Many experts hope and predict that in the coming years there will be an increasing number of ski mountaineering routes on pre-established routes. And there will be more and more places where it will be possible to try this discipline freely but in a controlled and peaceful context: in practice, in ski areas, but without facilities. Do you want to prepare for this future? Put Montespluga on the map, at the top of Valchiavenna, where the mountain is still silent and nights under the stars.
Those who want to practice ski mountaineering at all levels, go with snowshoes or a splitboard (the snowboard also designed for climbing) can come here, rent equipment, follow safety training courses and go on outings together with Mountain 360 alpine guides. A more conscious way of experiencing the mountains, respecting the nature it welcomes.
The experience with Homeland is the choice to abandon some comfort to reawaken the sense of wonder that is within us. «Who didn't grow up exploring the woods or mountains behind their house, with the total freedom and carefreeness that comes when you're only focused on discovery? Homeland is not just sport, but it is this state of mind. This spirit brings together all the people who have a passion in common, which is not the mountain, but its soul. The Homeland project was created to revive these emotions that each of us treasures, from the most expert to the least expert in sports", explains Tomaso.
Homeland motivates you to think about winter sports differently. Tomaso calls it human powered, that is, oriented towards climbing with one's own strength, enjoying direct contact with nature. Fun is contrasted with performance, freedom with already defined routes, awareness with being experienced by lifts and slopes. All of this right in Montespluga, whose history is affected by the construction and then abandonment of cableways, and is therefore a symbol of the failure of the old way of thinking about the mountains.
To mountain lessons
But what do you do on the weekend with Homeland? The first thing - after having rented skis, skins, boots, backpacks with airbags and a safety kit consisting of shovel, probe and Artva - is to follow the safety camp, the course for going to the mountains in safety held by Nicola Ciapponi, ski instructor and mountain guide from Mountain 360. Theory and practice to understand the winds, the type of snow, the slope, the avalanche danger and to know how to deal with an emergency.
Every place can be home
For the evening we set up a real base camp in the valley that opens up from Montespluga. We set up single-person tents which we would illuminate in the evening with head torches. On the floor there is a mattress that insulates from the cold and to sleep you put your clothes inside the thermal sleeping bag. This is the Homeland Night Experience, always available on weekends upon reservation. For some it could be an extreme experience to try in winter, but it is the activity that best sums up the journey: enjoying the beauty of the landscape in which you are immersed, and the sense of wonder that gradually awakens. Because it is when you experience the mountain in its purity that you carry out an exploration inside and outside yourself.
In the morning, we are ready to go up the slopes of Spluga, chasing the sun's rays. And after a dose of healthy effort, we look at the valley, white and immaculate. We descend, leaving our trail in the fresh snow. But how did we already get off? In the face of beauty, time is always an internal state.
Is ski mountaineering the future of winter sports?
Does this approach to the mountains represent a more sustainable future? Without a doubt, since the pandemic, ski mountaineering has been a discovery for many. The feeling of having achieved
will the summit without the support of ski lifts become an aspiration for many? Many experts hope and predict that in the coming years there will be an increasing number of ski mountaineering routes on pre-established routes. And there will be more and more places where it will be possible to try this discipline freely but in a controlled and peaceful context: in practice, in ski areas, but without facilities. Do you want to prepare for this future? Put Montespluga on the map, at the top of Valchiavenna, where the mountain is still silent and nights under the stars.