Monte Renoso is one of the six major mountains (Monte Cinto, Monte Rotondo, Paglia Orba , Monte Padru, Monte d'Oro and Monte Renoso) on Corsica. It's summit is easy to reach, the summit "ridge" is some 100m wide. The main difficulty is halfway up the slope when you have to cross a field of rocks an boulders but since the trail is marked there is nothing to be afraid of.
One of the main attractions (aside from the views) is Lac de Bastani some 100m of altitude below the summit. Temperatures and winds can be rather nasty. Though Corsica has a rather moderate climate the summits often are freezing cold with gusty winds. Just have a look at the pictures of Lac de Bastani which were taken at the end of May.

Getting There

Probably the greatest difficulty in climbing Monte Renoso is reaching the trailhead at the former ski station Capanelle (1640m). Monte Renoso is situated near the center of the island and only accessible by side roads.

Starting point for this description is Col de Vizzavona, which lies on Route Nationale 193 midway between Ajaccio in the west and Bastia in the north. From the Col you take RN 193 to the north until you get to the intersection with D69 which you turn onto in the direction to Ghisoni. The road climbs to a pass among a barren scenery. Most of the trees in that region have fallen in an autumn storm a couple of years ago. After Ghisoni the road winds another 5km until you get to the intersection which leads us to Campanelle. This is a very narrow side road so don't miss it.

(Another way to get to Capanelle is to take the great corsican trecking trail GR20 from Vizzavona. The trail is marked in red and white and hard to miss. You need to hike some three hours until you are at Capanelle.)

Red Tape

No permits or parking passes required.

When To Climb

Monte Retondo can be climbed all year round. In winter the region was used as skiing region but the lifts don't run anymore. In winter you should take the trecking trail since the side roads will only occasionally be cleared of snow.

Camping

Camping is allowed in the region. You can find other accomodation in Vizzavona or Ghisoni. There are a lot of campgrounds to be found but unfortunately not in the vicinity of Monte Renoso.

Mountain Conditions

For Weather information for Corsica lookup the Meteo Corse page.

Maps 'n' Books

As for Maps I used only a road map scale 1:200000 since the guidebook I used has maps and is really excellent.

The book is:
Corsica (Corse / Korsika)
Klaus Wolfsperger, Tom Krupp
Rother Verlag
ISBN: 3-7633-4819-0 (English)
ISBN: 3-7633-4907-3 (French)
ISBN: 3-7633-4280-X (German)

Images