Page 11 - 2022 AMA Summer

of the day – you’re never sure how long the route will take and can only begin to relax on the walk off. I can’t help but clock plants we pass though. I go into stealth mode and casually make references of the terrain we’re crossing.
In the grassy alpine meadows, with their thin soils, I could see many bright flowering plants such as alpine forget- me-not, yellow alpine pasqueflower and golden cinquefoil. Members of the Pea family could also be seen in the nutri- ent-poor meadows including alpine clover and bird’s-foot trefoil. These plants compete well due to an association they’ve developed with specialised, nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots. Nitrogen, essential for plant growth, is made available to the plant in the form of nitrates. As we passed wetter meadows, flushed with recently melted snow, I could make out carpets of the brightly coloured
alpine snowbell, beaked lousewort and butterwort waking up in the early morning alpine sunlight.
The numerous rocky outcrops sprinkled across the meadows were home to drought-resistant mountain houseleek. Their compact leaf rosettes and succulent stems help them store water and withstand the desiccating winds and dry rocky habitats they have adapted to exploit.
The route up to Montemoro pass follows an old mule trail. The grassy meadows eventually peter out and the trail follows a much different character of inclined rock ledges and onto blockfields. Fresh waterfalls of melting snow kept the trail wet. I sensed there would be some interesting flowers if I could slow the pace down to look more closely. The meadows are easy pickings to spot plants but those choosing
Alpine Forget-Me-Not
Roseroot
to live amongst the rocks, in cracks and crevices as well as the spring flushes take a more trained and determined eye to notice. I did notice large conspicuous clumps of roseroot down by our feet at the edge of the trail and an occasional flash of brilliant pink of the bird’s-eye primrose hidden in rock crevices.
Walking towards the col the snow cover increased and needed greater attention and the remains of the Tälliboden glacier can be seen to the left below the scree fields of the Joderhorn. Alpine plants make way here and the true alpine specialist, the spore-bearing lichens and mosses, collectively known as cryptogams, cover the dark granitic rock. At the col you reach the upper ski slopes of the Italian resort of Macugnaga to the south. The trail peters out and the guide book (Plaisir West) says to follow a series of red poles to the southern side to Joderhorn and make your way carefully over and around the scree below the rock walls to finally traverse around the SE ridge.
The Joderhorn lies in a region of the Central Alps known as the Penninic Alps. The collision of tectonic plates during the mountain building of the alpine chain
ARMY MOUNTAINEER / 11