Pizzo Arera (2,512 m) by the south normal route

From the Alpe Arera car park you walk up to the Capanna 2000 on the forestry road or on CAI trail 221, which cuts across the meadows on the left: both reach the hut, in less than an hour according to the regional hut portal and in about 45 minutes according to Wikipedia. Luca Gherardi, who started lower down at Plassa, took 1 h 30.

Just above the hut you climb through meadows and take the ridge, grassy at first, that rises to the right of the Val d'Arera; then the path turns rocky and very steep and zigzags over limestone, with red dots and stone cairns, to about 2,400 metres, just below the fore-summit. Here the route cuts right: you cross a slope that is partly grassy and partly rocky and carefully descend some twenty metres of steep scree to the bottom of a well-defined gully.

On the other side you enter a cleft in the rock climbed with metal steps, a short ladder and fixed chains; Luca Gherardi describes a section protected with a metal rope that you climb using your hands. Beyond the gully the path zigzags up loose rock and rocky steps, sometimes using your hands, to the summit cross. The descent is by the same route. From the hut to the top the regional portal allows 1 h 20 in its list of ascents, an hour and a half in the hut's description.

From Bergamo you drive up the Brembana valley to Zogno and take Val Serina, or come from the Seriana valley via Ponte Nossa and the Colle di Zambla. In Zambla Alta, at the start of the village, a sign points left to a minor road that descends gently to the Camping Arera at Plassa, at about 1,200 metres: there is free parking here, and it is the starting point when the upper road is closed.

In summer and without snow you continue on the steep road to the Alpe Arera car park, at 1,600 metres, below the old ski lifts and next to the Rifugio SABA. It is paid, €4 for all vehicles: in a notice of July 2024 the municipality asks drivers to buy the ticket before the climb at the parking meters in Plassa, opposite the apartment blocks, or in participating shops, and to display it.

Starting from Plassa makes the outing much bigger: Luca Gherardi gives about 1,300 metres of ascent, 3 h 45 up and 5 kilometres to the summit. When the SP27 road of Val Serina is closed, as happened from 28 August to 1 October 2026 because of the landslide at Rosolo di Algua, traffic from the Brembana side goes via Costa Serina; alternatively you come up from the Seriana valley over the Colle di Zambla.

The protected section is short: Prima Bergamo describes it as easy and Wikipedia grades it I, while for VieNormali it is still the technically hardest part of the climb. The real dangers are two others. The first is the gravel and loose stones over the whole section above the hut, where a slip is always possible, above all on the way down, as the G.S. Marinelli points out. The second is stonefall in the gully, set off by people above: Luca Gherardi urges those climbing in groups not to send stones down on whoever follows.

For Prima Bergamo all the paths to the summit are for experienced hikers, and the reference for the state of the trails remains CAI Bergamo. With wet rock, fog or snow the gully and the loose rock change character: with snow or ice the passage requires mountaineering equipment and experience, and in winter the road to 1,600 metres cannot be used.

The regional hut portal describes two alternative ascents from the Capanna 2000. The north route, 2 hours and 550 metres, «very difficult», takes the upper path of the 244 to the Mandrone and climbs meadows and rocks to the start of the path to the summit: it is not protected, has one passage now without chains and sections of crumbly rock. Wikipedia describes it from Passo di Corna Piana, with a steep gully once fitted with chains of which only the anchor bolts remain.

The east ridge, 2 h 30 and 550 metres, «fairly difficult», follows the 244 to the right as far as the Forcola di Valmora and from there climbs the ridges to the summit, passing the mountain rescue relay mast: it is little frequented and, according to the hut, chamois are often seen. The G.S. Marinelli walked it as a loop on 1 August 2024, descending by the normal route: 1,100 metres of ascent, 10 kilometres, 6 hours, EE, with four chain sections on the 244 and a climb up steep, poorly marked meadows to the red or blue dots of the Maga race route. Finally, Prima Bergamo mentions the west ridge, known as the Cresta della Luna, reserved for mountaineers, with grade II and III climbing.

From Roncobello you can reach the summit by walking up from the Baite di Mezzeno, accessible by car on a toll road, to Passo Branchino and following the Sentiero dei Fiori to the Capanna 2000, where you join the normal route. It is a long itinerary that Wikipedia and Prima Bergamo suggest splitting over two days with a night at the hut.

Wikipedia lists the whole Orobie arc from the top: Resegone, Grigne, Pizzo dei Tre Signori, Monte Legnone, Pegherolo, Corno Stella, Pizzo del Becco, Pizzo del Diavolo di Tenda, Pizzo Scais, Redorta, Coca, Torena, Recastello and Presolana. Further away Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn, Badile, Cengalo, Disgrazia and the Bernina and Adamello groups; close by to the south, Grem, Alben and Menna.

Luca Gherardi describes it by compass point: to the north the Valtellina glaciers with Disgrazia and Badile, to the east the Presolana and the peaks of the Seriana valley, to the south the walls of the Alben, the Grem and in the distance the Bergamo plain, to the west the Cima di Menna, the Grigne, the Resegone and behind them Monte Rosa. The hut portal adds, on the clearest days, the Apennines to the south.

The cross was placed on 7 September 1958 at the initiative of the Coca mountaineering club of Colognola. In 2019 Prima Bergamo reported that since the previous September a commemorative bell has been fixed to it, blessed in the church of Zambla Alta and engraved by hand, with hammer and anvil, in the forges of Zorzone.

The first recorded ascent dates from 1 June 1875, by the guide Antonio Baroni and Emilio Torri, a climber of CAI Bergamo; the first winter ascent was on 8 March 1879, by Luigi Albani, Giuseppe Nievo and Baroni himself. These are the dates given by Wikipedia, which cites Angelo Gamba's biography of Baroni.

The Abisso dei Due Increduli was discovered in September 2002 by the Le Nottole caving group of Bergamo and within a year passed 500 metres of depth, a provincial record; in summer 2004 exploration reached a sump at 623 metres and today the group gives 634 metres of depth and over 2 kilometres of passages.

In 2009 a new passage linked the abyss to the Laca di Müradei: the system measures about 3,300 surveyed metres and the junction point, 433 metres below the Increduli entrance, is the deepest ever recorded in the Bergamo area. Wikipedia also mentions the «La Dolce Vita» abyss, 485 metres. These caves are reserved for cavers, as Prima Bergamo stresses: nothing of them can be seen from the path.