SI E09

After the long previous stage, this is a decidedly shorter route with less elevation gain. From the Soria Ellena Refuge, you descend to the Piano del Praiet and take the left path that goes uphill to the Colle delle Fenestrelle, where you will find two small lakes. You continue downhill until reaching the artificial reservoir of Chiotas. From here, you turn left along the road that quickly leads to the Genova Figari Refuge, situated between the lakes of Chiotas and Brocan. The two dams that allowed for the creation of the reservoir took a long time to build due to significant winter snowfall and were completed in 1982. This project is part of the "Luigi Einaudi" hydroelectric system in Entracque, which also plans to use excess energy produced when it is not needed (e.g., at night) to pump some of the water from the lower Piastra reservoir to the upper Chiotas reservoir, allowing it to be reused when demand is higher. The current refuge was donated by Enel to CAI in 1981, replacing the old building that was submerged by the reservoir.