Gran Paradiso Tour with High Mountain Guides

• Enjoy 4 good days ski mountaineering in the Italian Valle d’Aosta & Gran Paradiso National Park with the ski ascent of the Gran Paradiso (4061m)
• Complete some ski and mountain training during the first two days whilst touring & acclimatising in the process
• Spend two nights in Italian Mountain Refuges and enjoy the associated pasta, vino and coffee!
• Meet up with like other like minded ski mountaineers for a sociable 3 day ski journey in the mountains

Pre Course. As with all our ski courses, we recommend you prepare as much as possible in advance with relevant ‘ski fit’ preparation and then arrive at least a day or two early to both warm up your ski legs & check equipment. This is especially important if you will be renting boots or skis & bindings. Please also make sure your skis are well serviced & bindings correctly adjusted. This course starts on a Monday giving you the opportunity to arrive at the weekend and sort equipment & ski legs ready for the more committing hut to hut touring trip ahead. Day 1. Intro to the course, equipment check and drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel to access the high ‘Punta Helbronner’ lift. A day spent around 3400m skiing, training, acclimatising and enjoying the truly spectacular views of the Italian side of ‘Monte Bianco’. Descend (either on skis or by the lift according to conditions) and return to Chamonix.  Any kit adjustments can thus be made after this first training / acclimatisation / warm-up day. Day 2. Journey over to the Italian Val d’Aosta and up the beautiful Valsavarenche. A steady 3 hour approach to the lovely Chabod Hut gives our first view of the mountain, impressive from this northern aspect! After checking in at the hut and re-stoking with past and cafe we can often skin higher up in to the lovely valley beyond the hut for a better view of the route, a bit more acclimatisation and to get some turns in! A social night in the hut is then spent and the plan discussed for the Paradiso summit day starting early the next morning. Day 3. An early breakfast is taken to begin the substantial (C.1300m) ski ascent of the Gran Paradiso. The journey involves snow covered glaciers, steep snow slopes and, at the top, a short but impressive mountaineering ridge. A great summit with fantastic panoramic views of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. The ski descent down to the Vittorio Emanuelle Hut allows a traverse of the mountain to be completed and offers some fine varied skiing, mainly on northerly aspects and often with powder at the top and spring snow lower down. After a late lunch there is the opportunity for another little leg loosening skin, a bit of technical training, or, commonly, a siesta! Day 4. This final day turns the ski ascent of the Gran Paradiso in to a lovely tour of the upper Valsavarenche and offers a superb long final ski descent out of the high mountains. A steady traversing ascent is made below the magnificent North faces of Ciaforon (3642m) & the Becca di Monciair (3544m) to where some excellent skiing links down in to the main upper Valsavarenche. This lovely final valley leads up to the Col Grand Etret at 3150m offering fine views to the South towards the Valle dell Orco. Again this upper north facing section often gives lovely sheltered powder slopes running down the massive main valley in to spring snow lower down and hopefully lasting all the way to the journeys end, the cafe in the small hamlet at Pont at 1960m. Pasta & cafe here whilst admiring the mornings tracks over 1000m above is a great end to the course before returning to Chamonix mid afternoon.  

A good general level of fitness is required to complete all three days and particularly the long summit day (an ability to comfortably maintain an ascent rate of 300m/hr on skins for up to 5 hours). Effective off-piste skiing ability is also required. This means being able to make linked short radius turns in a variety of steep off-piste snow conditions up to the off-piste equivalent of black runs. Some ski touring experience is also required so if you don’t have this check out our introduction to ski touring course. Mountaineering experience with crampons would be useful but is not essential.