ChrisButch wrote:Did the GR20 in 1978, before any of the new refuges were built
I guess the early days of the GR20...40 years ago. Was it possible to just camp where you chose to along the traverse?
I guess also that then as now the fear from out of control vegetation fires would be an issue.
The very strict rules today on camping would appear to collect most of the waste, well at least from cooking activities, at the disposal points at the refuges. I recall the ponies leaving from Usciolu loaded with litter to take down to Cozzano and no doubt return with more products for sale at the refuge.
When I returned to the island seven years ago and walked the route from South to North I was aware of the huge amount of erosion that had taken place at the exit from the Cirque compared to our earlier North to South walk in 2007.....vegetation at the slot had been worn away and that combined with the prevailing condition of rapidly thawing snow probably helped to bring about the disaster in 2015.
The route is now marked from Haut Ascu, to get around the cirque, to the high col a short distance from the summit of Monte Cintu. Probably when you walked the route there was no need to go down to Haut Ascu, since as far as I am aware, the marked path kept walkers on the higher ground all the way to the descent into the Cirque of Solitude?