Club Alpino Italiano

Italiano

Club alpino italiano (C.A.I) was founded in Turin on 23 October 1863 for Quintino Sella[^]'s initiative. It is an indipendent national association, that "has mountaineering, the knowledge and study of mountains, specifically those in Italy, and the protection of the environment in the forefront in all of its events".[^][^]

Club alpino italiano, in English Italian alpine club, usually is written in the form with the first letter of each word in capital letters, Club Alpino Italiano, in english Italian Alpine Club, while the acronym C.A.I. without the dot after each word, CAI.

On Grignone, the CAI traced the paths until several years ago, probably until, in 2005, the Regional Park of the Northern Grigna was established, whose management is entrusted to the Comunità Montana Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino and Riviera. The old CAI signage are still present on the mountain, with some characteristic signposts with a yellow background and the now faded horizontal signs along the main routes.

I am one of the more than 300,000 members of the Italian Alpine Club, consecutively since 2004.[^] For free I receive the paper copy of the Montagne360 magazine, the magazine of the Club alpino italiano since 1882.[^] At the beginning of each new year, I renew my enrollment at Club Alpino Italiano's Sezione di Milano,[^] going to its recent home in Via Duccio da Boninsegna 21 and 23.

References

1. "Quintino Sella". Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
2. "Storia [History]" (in Italian). cai.it. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
3. "Titolo I Articolo 1: Costituzione e finalità [Title 1 Article 1: Constitution and purpose]". In Statuto [PDF file] (in Italian). cai.it. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
4. Mauro Vezzoli (20 October 2017). "Annual validity stickers of my membership identification card of Club Alpino Italiano Sezione di Milano". In Timeline Photos. [Facebook photo]. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
5. "Montagne360" (in Italian). cai.it. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
6. "Club Alpino Italiano Sezione di Milano". caimilano.org (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2017.

Numbering of the trails

I touch here on the thorny issue of the numbering of the trails, I introduce it with general considerations.
Thinking about the big roads, they have a number in front of the route or its own name, Autostrada A4 Torino - Venezia (Motorway A4 Torino - Venezia), Strada Statale 36 dei Giovi (State Road 36 of Giovi), Strada Provinciale 62 della Valsassina (Provincial Road 62 of Valsassina), and so on.

Club Alpino Italiano in the trails regulators plan explains the reasons why in a network must be numbered, so that each trail:

• become more easily identified by the hiker on the ground and in the hiking maps
• it can be neatly surveyed in a list (register) of the trails
• to be manageable in a computerized system allowing the identification uniquely throughout the national territory

Grignone since 2005 is Regional Park of the Northern Grigna managed by Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino and Riviera Mountain Community which is responsible for trails marking. It not numbers the trails and marks only:

• Colle di Balisio - Pialeral
• Pialeral - Summit (Summer trail)
• Pialeral - Summit (Winter trail)
• Traversata Bassa
• Traversata Alta

The Mountain Community introduces five itineraries Pedalando nel Parco (Pedalling in the Park) for bikes, numbering and marking them in one direction.

Another remark is that on the Grignone remains the old signs of CAI that had marked all the Grigne and numbering it, I cite Sentiero 31 Colle di Balisio - Pialeral and Sentiero 33 Pasturo - Pialeral - Rifugio Brioschi. Breaking down these numbers, the first one, that is 3, refers to the sector Grignone in the slope of Pasturo, the second one to the trail. So the number 1 starts from Colle di Balisio, 3 from Pasturo and goes to the summit as the main trail, while usually the most popular trail is the number 1, there's a bit of confusion.

After these reflections and the examples I have shown, I have to make a decision on how to formally give a title to my trails, I will inevitably be wrong to one or the other, and is more important Colle di Balisio, the quickest route to the top and most popular, even closer when coming from Lecco, or Pasturo the country?
I decide not to put the number, giving priority to a previously partial knowledge of the mountain, remain the locations or references names that already tell who it was, at the expense of the number that directs more easily, and it is not my intention to make a register of the trails. Indeed however, there might be duplicates, I will have to add something in parenthesis. In the content telling what I see, here and there returning the numbers 31 and 33, as do the horizontal trail that occasionally appear faded on the trails, and the yellow trails tables.