Night Snowshoeing in Valle Gesso: Stars, Ice and Occitan Music with My Son
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Night snowshoeing Valle Gesso: a walk and the time we don’t see passing
Night snowshoeing in Valle Gesso starts at 17:30 from the Locanda del Sorriso in Trinità di Entracque — about forty of us, headtorches on, sky already dark. My son, who looks upward at night with the same focus I bring to a spreadsheet, held his torch like a navigation instrument. Technically, that’s exactly what it was.
The snowshoes sank into fresh snow. The path towards the Suffiett waterfalls was invisible — you follow the person ahead, listen to the guide, trust the group. Somewhere in the darkness, Occitan music drifted down the slope. My son touched my arm and pointed upward.
“Dad, that’s Orion — you can see the belt straight away.” Then, after a moment: “Why is that star more yellow than the others?”
I explained stellar temperature. He nodded and kept walking.
A few minutes later he stopped again. “Will it change colour?”
“Not in our lifetime. It would take an enormous amount of time.”
“How long?”
“A hundred thousand years, maybe more.”
Silence. Then: “So it will change. We just won’t see it.”
I smiled. Things change even when we’re not paying attention. That’s precisely what’s missing in most of the decisions I see made every day — not the data, not the tools. The awareness that the context has already shifted while we were looking somewhere else.
When your reference points disappear, navigation changes
At night, in a snow-covered forest, you can’t do what you do in daylight: read the terrain, scan ahead, anticipate. You use different tools. You listen. You watch the snow in front of you. You trust the person who knows the route. You slow down — not by choice, but because the environment insists on it.
It’s an unfamiliar feeling for anyone used to working with data, forecasts and budgets. In the dark, you have no visibility. You have only the next step.
At the Suffiett waterfalls we stopped in silence. Frozen water, steam rising in the cold air, torchlight catching the ice. Someone passed around warm drinks. Nobody looked at their phone.
There are moments when you stop optimising and simply exist in a place. They’re not wasted moments — they’re the ones where you can think about something you can’t see during the working day.
What my son already knows and I keep forgetting
On the way back, my son was hungry. And he still had something to ask me — I could tell by the way he was walking.
“Dad, can we come back here in summer?”
Yes, I told him. It’s a place that changes with the seasons.
He nodded, then picked up the pace — the Locanda was close.
Walking through the snow in the dark that evening, with a son who already knows where to look, I realised that finding your bearings doesn’t always mean seeing far ahead. Sometimes it means knowing exactly where you are right now, with the tools you have, in whatever darkness you’re in.
The Suffiett waterfalls in January aren’t something you find on a map. You have to go. You feel them before you see them.
Route stats
Further reading
- Rifugio Garelli from Pian delle Gorre — a summer hike with my son
- ICT Procurement: when assumptions cost more than prices
- Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime — Valle Gesso and Entracque
What is the Entracque night snowshoe hike to the Suffiett waterfalls?
It’s a guided winter snowshoe excursion organised by the Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime in collaboration with the Locanda del Sorriso in Trinità di Entracque. The hike takes place in the evening with a live Occitan music accompaniment, a stop at the frozen Suffiett waterfalls, and dinner on return.
How difficult is the snowshoe hike to the Suffiett waterfalls?
The route is suitable for families and complete beginners — it’s fully guided and the pace is naturally slow. The main challenges are the cold and the darkness, not the elevation. No prior snowshoeing experience is required.
When does the Valle Gesso night music hike take place?
Departures are scheduled on specific dates between December and February. Booking is essential and places are limited — contact the Locanda del Sorriso or the Parco Alpi Marittime directly for dates and reservations.
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