Park the car and enter in another dimension. The pace is the right one, of those who know how to appreciate details, and the terrain where there is wide, scope for action. The Upper Arroscia Valley: this is our open air gymnasium where we banish laziness, and can discover different environments and ecosystems, in an extraordinary area that runs parallel with the coast line unlike the other valleys of the province of Imperia that develop at right angles. Excursions on foot and by bike in this corner of Liguria are accessible to every one, whatever their level of preparation may be: from the trained and expert sportsman to the occasional tripper, from families with children to older people, to school parties.
Some are well-know itineraries, others rarely used, but they can all stimulate people to put their lunch in their rucksacks and to walk along the nature paths and tracks of years ago, armed “only” with their boots and their own enthusiasm. In the valIey every minute becomes important and silence and contact with nature regenerate the body and the spirit; a sensation to be felt, also travelling along some stages of the Alta Via dei Monti liguri, that dispenses spectacular views of the sea and mountains of the Alps and the Po Valley. In fact on the Riviera, and in its hinterland, the climate is so mild, healthy and therapeutic that you hardly notice the difference in the seasons; allowing the trekker to appreciate nature in all senses, in all aspects, and in all periods.
And for the more adventurous and reckless.Immersed in the freezing water of the mountain streams, hanging onto steep rock faces suspended in the air, swinging back and forth and around; these are all sports that you can practise in this area, from free-climbing to hang-gliding, from canyoning to Alpine skiing.
Not striving for performance but seeking excitement which will not only give you peaks of adrenaline, but will also put you into a magical symbiosis with nature. Testing yourselves against the best preserved realities of Liguria, where you go further than the simple concept of living breath-taking adventures, beyond your own limits. It is a full-immersion in nature. From long flights with your hang-gliderhe.
At Colle San Bernardo di Mendatica, within a distance of 4 kilometres you can reach 2 ski lifts and six down-hill pistes which spread over ten kilometres from the south slope of Monte Saccarello. With-out forgetting that the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri and the same routes that you can take during the summer can be travelled by foot, by mountain bike and on horseback, in winter become fantastic ski-alpinism itineraries. For the bolder and more intrepid, we have another suggestion: the wonderful descents in kayak.
In fact the very waters where this sport is practised are those of the Arroscia, in the series of gulleys between the junction of Montegrosso Pian Latte as far as Ponti di Pornassio (4 km) and especially, in the section between Ponti di Pornassio and Pieve di Teco, where the water level is always high.