Lake Sorapis

The water is what people walk in for: a milky blue-green held in a basin of pale scree right under the Sorapis walls. A refuge stands by the shore, and the prices in it are not steep. Getting to the water is the other half of the day. Trail 215 covers about 12 km there and back with 450 m of ascent, and a party stopping often for photographs took four hours over it; trail 217 puts about 600 m of height difference into the legs and asks for hands on rock in a few places.

• Arrive early: in early June the roadside parking was nearly gone by half past nine.
• Wear hiking boots: parts of the trail are secured with cable and a few sections are tricky underfoot.
• Two routes in: trail 215 runs about 12 km round trip; trail 217 climbs about 600 m and involves some scrambling.
• No services near the lake: nothing is mapped for toilets or drinking water; the refuge by the shore is the only stop.
• The way down is the hard part: on trail 217 the descent asks for more care than the climb.

No road reaches the lake. Cars stop on the roadside below, and everything after that is on foot. Two waymarked mountain trails lead up, 215 and 217, and both cross sections secured with cable. Trail 217 also involves some hands-on climbing, and that is the part people find hardest on the way back down. Whichever route you take, count the return leg into the day as well.

Better: an early start.

Avoid: setting off mid-morning in summer, when the roadside parking has already filled — in early June it was nearly gone at half past nine.

An early start also puts the lake in front of you before the bulk of the day's walkers arrive, and it leaves the afternoon free for the descent, which is the leg that takes the concentration.