Rein da Medel

Geschichte

The Rein da Medel is the longest headwater of the Rhine. It is located in the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Graubünden and flows through the valleys Val Cadlimo and Val Medel. Rein da Medel is the local Sursilvan, name in Graubünden, which is commonly used to denote the Ticino part as well.The most important places along the river are the villages Curaglia and Platta in the municipality of Medel.Course of the riverThe headwaters of the Rein da Medel flow through the Val Cadlimo, a valley south of the main Alpine ridge in the municipality of Quinto in the canton of Ticino. This is officially Italian-speaking territory; the Italian name of the river is Reno di Medel.There are three almost equally strong source streams: The southern spring stream flows through the Lago Scuro (2451m, between Punta Negra and Bassa del Lago Scuro) The central spring stream rises on the Botta di Cadlimo (2534m) and shortly thereafter flows through the Lago di Dentro The northern spring stream rises beneath the Pizzo Curnera. The northern spring stream is about 640 meters long. The southern and western spring streams are about 1,000 meters from the spring to the confluence at.About a kilometer after the confluence of these spring creeks, the Reno di Medel flows through the Lago dell'Isra (2322m). A gorge runs under the Gotthard Base Tunnel and marks the transition from the Val Medel to the Val Cadlimo. Just below the gorge opens out, a tributary flows in from the south, which comes down from the Passo dell'Uomo via the Val Termine valley. In this area, the Reno di Medel form the boundary between the municipalities of Quinto and Blenio. A few meters north of the inflow into the Lai da Sontga Maria reservoir (1908m), the boundary between Ticino and Graubünden is a straight line between Lukmanier Pass and Pizzo Scai, which ignores the local topography.