We got up pretty early along with the rest of the refuge (another benefit of sleeping in tents). This allowed us to take our time getting started, giving us a chance to take some pictures around the refuge. We also stopped for a while by a high field with some pozzi, although the light wasn't too good for pictures. There hadn't been any rain during the night, but the grey sky had returned. We climbed up toward the Breche de Capitellu on terrain that was more typical of Corsican hiking than what we had been on the day before. After a short stretch of gradual elevation gain among scrub, then a flatter bit following a stream bed through high bush, the trail became a boulder crawl, finally turning into a steeper climb up scree and snow to arrive at the highest point on the GR20.
Up in the col a small crowd had gathered to consider their next hundred or so paces. The trail went across a snowfield that sloped steeply to the left and then dropped straight down about 50 meters into the Lac du Capitellu. If the snow gave way or you lost your footing, there as really nothing stopping you from a fatal plummet into the lake. As much as I wanted to put off this challenge I decided I'd rather not wait as other people slowly made the traverse, so I went across as quickly as I dared, then watched as Markus did the same. We took a snack break on the rocky slope to calm the nerves and enjoy the spectacular views of the twin lakes of Capitellu and Melo, the mountain peaks surrounding them, and the Restonica valley below.
The trail across the ridge was one scramble after another. We'd go down steep rock gullies, then up rock slab. Along the way we passed a Brit, hiking solo, who we'd seen the previous few nights. We stopped and talked with him for a while about the hike, about the weather, and about his scarred knees, which he said he'd ruined by many years of skiing. We had noticed the previous days that he was always one of the first to leave the refuges in the morning, and usually one of the last to arrive. It's pretty impressive that he was doing this hike at all given it's difficulty and the state of his knees, but he knew his abilities and always made it to the next stage.Shortly after our chat with the British guy we started heading steadily uphill, through low scrub. The wind had picked up a bit but we were somewhat sheltered from it by the ridge above us. Eventually we met with Tintin and Snowy (I can't recall whether we caught up with them or they caught up with us), and shared a snack. We walked together up to the Col de Rinoso where we stopped for a longer lunch on the wide, flat snowfields, while some severe weather was hanging over the peaks across the valley to the north. When thunder and lightening started we grabbed our packs and hastily made our way to the Bocca Muzzella. Perhaps this quick getaway was due to some residual adrenaline from the Breche de Capitellu earlier that morning, but in any case we didn't want to be on a high, open field with the threat of an oncoming lightening storm. The trail on the other side of the col lead gradually downhill, away from the dark storm clouds. We picked our way down the usual slab and scree to the ridge above the Refuge di Petra Piana. From there the way down to the refuge was along a wide, severely eroded watershed.
There were some good tent sites on the broad shoulder of rock where the refuge is located, so we pitched our tents and arranged for dinner at the guardian's hut. That left plenty of time to sit on the porch of the hut, where we talked with an older Dutch couple (they were the ones who used caribiners in the Cirque de la Solitude) who told us about their excursions on and near Mont Blanc. A while later Green Tent showed up, and we invited them to join our card game (they were both British). We hadn't seen them for three nights, and thought they had either left the trail or dropped back a stage. Actually, the night we were in the Hotel Castel di Vergio they had camped just outside of the PNRC in the Golo Valley. While we were at the Refuge de Manganu they had stayed near the Bergeries de Vaccaghia.We bought rounds of Pietra for the group (Tintin and Snowy appeared at some point), then pooled our loose change for a bottle of vin du pays, which tasted fine and had near zero alcohol content. We weren't paying attention to the time and somehow missed the call for dinner, so when I went to ask about getting our plates I wasn't well received by the guardians. Of course, they still willingly made us some pasta and soup, and I learned a new French phrase from Ms. Green Tent: "Je suis desolate".
We played more cards after dinner, bought another bottle of wine, and Ms. Green Tent supplied some chocolate for dessert. Before heading off to bed there was still time for Markus and Tintin embarrass themselves, but I won't go into detail.
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