Ski Touring

Ski Touring the Gran Paradiso - Introduction

The Gran Paradiso was established as Italy’s first National Park in 1922. Close to a century later, the Park retains its wild and unspoilt character and is far removed from the trappings of ski development that has come to dominate much of the Alps.

The Gran Paradiso offers ski touring as its meant to be: there are no lifts and few people, just perfect summits waiting to be climbed and descended on ski.

While the main focus of a visit to the area is an ascent of the 4000m Gran Paradiso, there are no shortage of lower but equally impressive peaks to climb. Making best use of the superb network of mountain huts in this region, we will aim to climb as many of these summits as possible while traversing from west to east across the massif.

Our itinerary leads up to an attempt on the mighty Gran Paradiso from the Vittorio Emanuelle Hut. At 4061m, it is the highest summit which lies exclusively in Italy and a suitably grand way to end a classic week of ski touring.

Ski Touring the Gran Paraidiso - Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrive Chamonix

The trip begins in the Chamonix Valley in late afternoon/evening.

Day 2 - The Aosta Valley and the Rifugio Mario Bezzi

Our start point for the tour is Valgrisenche. From the roadhead it is a steady climb on skis for around 4 hours to the Mario Bezzi Hut

Day 3 - Day Tour from Mario Bezzi

Using the Mario Bezzi Hut as a base, we will head into the mountains for day tour and hopefully a summit of one of the nearby peaks. Today also provides the opportunity to refresh any touring skills and techniques.

Day 4 - Mario Bezzi to Rifugio Benevolo

In good conditions, today offers a brilliant day of ski touring across the Beca della Traversiere (3337m) to the Rifugio Benevolo.

Day 5 - Benevolo to Chivasso Hut

An interesting day of touring through some complex terrain where good navigation is a must and good visibility a bonus!

Day 6 - Chivasso to Refugio Vittorio Emanuelle

From the Chivasso refuge there are options of heading straight to the Vitorrio Emanuelle or pushing for another summit - Punta Foura (3411m).

Day 7 - Ascent of the Gran Paradiso

A pre-dawn start for the long climb to the summit of the Gran Paradiso. From the hut to the summit is a climb of around 1300m. 2000m + of descent all the way to Alp Pravieux. Return to Chamonix where showers and dinner await!

Day 8 - Depart Chamonix

The itinerary ends following breakfast with your own travel arrangements.