Читать книгу Walking in Italy's Stelvio National Park. Italy's largest alpine national park онлайн

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This guide gives a selection of routes from each of the major valleys, presenting walks across the full range of difficulties and from a couple of hours to a full day in length. Also included are spectacular non-glacier summits that are accessible to walkers who want to go that bit further (Walks 11, 19, 23, 25, 32 and 37).

Vast panoramas towards the Forni glacier and Pizzo Tresero can be enjoyed (Walk 21)

Geography

The alpine landscape in the Stelvio National Park has been shaped by the massive glaciers which covered the area as long as 7000 years ago. In winter they are fed by snow, which compresses into ice, the accumulated weight dragging the glaciers downhill. When the rate of summer melting exceeds that of maintaining the status quo, the ice mass reduces in volume and retreats to higher ground where temperatures are lower, often leaving behind a typical U-shaped trough. Moreover, clumps of roches moutonnées are commonly found on vast rock surfaces that have been left exposed, smoothed by the passage of ice and grooved by stones trapped underneath the glacier and dragged along.