Monte Albanu

Overview

Monte Albanu seen from the north-west

Monte Albanu, also Monte Albano is a 2000m mountain in the north-central part of Corsica / Corse. It is located to the south of the ridge of the island's highest mountains and thus offers a first rate view of Monte Cinto, Punta Minuta and Paglia Orba. Also, it is set apart from the most popular hiking routes, though not as far as being hard to reach - quite on the contrary! Still, only occasional hikers head for the mountain, making it a real interesting solitary destination.

In fact Monte Albanu is the culmination point of a very interesting ridge which runs from south to north. The ridge consists of five (or more) granite towers, the Cinque Frati (Five Brothers). The traverse is a UIAA II - IV affair and ends right underneath the summit block of Monte Albanu. The regular ascent makes use of an old transhumance trail used to drive sheep and cattle across the mountains during the spring and autumn trecks. It ends in a saddle on the other (nortehrn) side of Monte Albanu, which separates the mountain from Cresta di l'Inzecche, the south ridge of Capu Falu, with 2540m Corsica's third highest mountain. The final ascent of Monte Albanu's summit block requires some easy (UIAA II) chimney climbing work.

Monte Albanu is close to the intersection of three well known trekking and hiking trails: GR20, Corsica's difficult long distance trail runs by to its west coming down from Bocca Borba and heading through Val de Viru; Mare a Mare Nord, the northernmost treck from the west coast to the east coastruns by to the south; a well known hiking loop, connecting Corsica's highest elevation villages is located to the east. Thus you'll encounter crowds on all of the access routes but rarely during the ascent to the mountain itself.

Summit Panoramas

Summit Panorama west and north

Summit Panorama east and south

Getting There

The closest village to start from is Calasima, at 1100m Corsica's highest village. From there a dirt road runs towards Val de Viru, ending in a broad space which can be used as parking lot.

• From the airport Bastia Poretta:
  
  • Take N193 south direction Corte
    
  • At Francardo switch to D84 direction Col de Vergio.
    
  • At Albertacce switch to D518 direction Poggio di Lozzi
    
  • After 500m turn left onto a narrow mountain road to and through Calasima.
  
  
• From the airport Ajaccio
  
  • Option 1: via Col de Vizzavona
    
    • Take N193 north all the way across Col de Vizzavona and through Corte to Francardo
      
    • Here switch to D84 direction Col de Vergio.
      
    • At Albertacce switch to D518 direction Poggio di Lozzi
      
    • After 500m turn left onto a narrow mountain road to and through Calasima.
    
    
  • Option 2: via Sagone and Col de Vergio
    
    • Take D81 north to Sagone
      
    • Switch to D70 to Evisa
      
    • Switch to D84 across Col de Vergio to Abertacce
      
    • At Albertacce switch to D518 direction Poggio di Lozzi
      
    • After 500m turn left onto a narrow mountain road to and through Calasima.

Red Tape

In 1971 the Parque Naturel de la Corse was established. It comprises 2500 square km, mainly in the centre of the island. Monte Albanu is at the outskirts of the park. Camping is not allowed in the park and apart from that the usual restrictions apply.

Accommodation

Accommodation has changed a lot during the last ten years. Today it is possible to book holiday homes, hotel rooms or apartments from any travel office. Also, there are a number of sites on the internet dedicated to Corsica accommodation. You can get apartments and holiday homes in any of the villages nearby but in the summer season most of them will be booked. There are inns (Gites d'Étape) in virtually all of the villages along D84, the departmental road which runs south of the mountain, catering to the Mare a Mare trekkers in particular. Also, there is a campground at Lozzi, which is the trailhead for the southern route to Monte Cinto.

Weather Conditions

Maps & Books

Maps

• Corte / Monte Cinto
  1 : 25.000
  Carte de Randonnée 4250 OT
  ISBN: 978-2114250038

Books

There are quite naturally quite a number of guidebooks, most of them in French. I found the following as good as could be expected:

• Corsica (Corse / Korsika)
  Klaus Wolfsperger
  Rother Verlag
  ISBN: 978-3-7633-4819-0 (English)
  ISBN: 978-3-7633-4907-4 (French)
  ISBN: 978-3-7633-4280-8 (German)

Images

View Monte Albanu Image Gallery - 22 Images