Summiting Gran Paradiso, a 4061m alpine mountaineering experience in the Italian Alps

Sep 3

7 min read

Gran Paradiso was my first ever 4000m alpine summit (I have previously summited

Kilimanjaro but this wasn't technical) and what an incredible mountain to start on. I have most definitely caught the bug and will be looking to climb further mountains in the Alps in the future - stay tuned. Before embarking on this journey I spent the previous four days completing the Gran Paradiso Circuit Trek as a warm up.

My trip was organised by Roberto at Trekking Alps - you should check him out for some exciting hiking trips to spend your time in the Alps.

What is Gran Paradiso?

Gran Paradiso is a mountain that stands at 4061m in the Italian Alps, and is the tallest mountain located solely in Italy. The whole hike took us two days and this epic peak is known as one of the more straightforward 4000m mountains in Italy that you can summit. Saying that, it is helpful if you have some winter mountaineering experience under your belt as this will be an alpine experience crossing glaciers, requiring ropes and with some exposed scrambling sections closer to the summit.

When to climb Gran Paradiso?

It is best to climb between June and September, as the weather is more favourable then and the alpine huts are open.

What you will need:

harness
crampons (mine were provided by the guide as I couldn't carry them with me)
boots (doesn't need to be winter as long as they are crampon
compatible)
poles
suitable clothing and layers (it may start off warm when you are leaving the car park but the summit will be cold)
down jacket
waterproofs (jacket & trousers)
sleeping bag liner
headtorch - it is advisable to take one although we didn't really need ours as the morning light was beginning to break through

A lot of other groups had helmets and ice axes - our guide carried the ice axe and crevasse rescue kit and helmets aren't deemed 100% necessary - but that is very much down to the individual and group leader.

Day 1 of Summiting Gran Paradiso

Around about midday I met up with Roberto (the legend who pulled this all together), Michele (our alpine guide) and their two friends Frisco & Allesandro in Aosta and from here we drove on to Pravieux, Valsavarench to start the hike. This is the most popular starting point and you can hike to either of the rifugi from here.

We were heading for Rifugio Chabod. After a quick gear check, we set off from the car park at around 3pm and made our way up through a forest which was pretty steep with lots of switch backs. The ascent through the forest was hot and the sun was beating down. After about 45 minutes of walking we reached an opening where there was a building of some kind and a water trough where we could refill our bottles with fresh water from the mountains. We continued on our journey and before long we could see the north face of Gran Paradiso towering in the distance - the excitement was really starting to build. We finally reached the rifugio at around 5pm which was a very welcoming site, we got settled and treated ourselves to some beer. You can read more about what the rifugio was like here. The evening consisted of discussing tomorrows adventure, getting to know each other, a filling three course meal, a few games of Chinese checkers and cards. Once darkness fell we took in a few last glimpses of the mountain under the stars and set off to bed at around 10pm knowing we had an early rise and huge day ahead the next day.

Over the course of the day we went from 1,850m above sea level to 2,700m at the rifugio. Overall, a pretty straightforward and not too physically demanding day.

Day 2 of Summiting Gran Paradiso

We had planned that a 5am breakfast would give us plenty time to reach the summit and safely descend from the mountain and across the glaciers - as the day goes on and the sun gets hotter there is a risk of the snow melting making a more dangerous glacier crossing. We left the rifugio at 5.30am under the moonlight for our summit push (although I believe some other groups chose to set off even earlier). It was only necessary to use our head torches for around 15 minutes before the morning light was

sufficient to turn them off. A well maintained hiking path assists you to ascend a moraine ridge - this looked a lot steeper from a distance than it was when we were on it (I was out of breath just looking at it 😅). We stopped just before the Glacier del Laveciau to put on our crampons before traversing the glacier and navigating around crevasses - sometimes crossing them via snow bridges, which were built from packed frozen snow allowing you to cross over the middle of the glacier with holes at either side. This was something I had never done before and was equally daunting and exciting. You could see that some of the crevasses were just newly filled with a fresh dusting of snowfall, but underneath this would be a huge plunging hole. Great care had to be taken here to not tread somewhere we shouldn't. From here it was up and up, making sure our crampons were gripping to the icy glacier underfoot. Finally we reached the Schiena d'Asino "the donkeys back" which was a sort of plateau before the final ascent - I felt like part of the hike leading up to here went on forever, I actually found this the hardest bit. I remember feeling tired and my legs were just done and breathing was a bit tough - not so much because the altitude just cause I'm unfit tbh 😅. The weather was a bit ropey on the donkeys back, visibility was low and we were getting battered by the cold. We stopped for a quick snack and to regain energy before pushing on.

From here it was only about 200m more to reach the summit, it was really exciting whilst we were going up and passing everyone coming down who had already summited. You could almost feel their elation. The route continues up a steep exposed slope towards the ridge. There is one final glacier crossing which was pretty simple when we did it but our guide did tell us that sometimes very early or late in the season a ladder is required to cross here. We kept our crampons on for the final rocky scramble, finally climbing metal rungs that made a ladder in the face of the rock. This last 60m section to the top was my favourite - it was really exciting with some pretty hairy exposure and rope

sections for which you need basic climbing skills. After the final pull up from the ladder we had finally reached the summit which was marked with a statue of the Madonnina - signifying the mountains importance to Italy. We had made it wooohoooo! To descend

from the summit you had to cross probably the most narrow and exposed part of the day but there are fixed anchors for you to rope into - now for some reason I had got into my head about this from watching videos and reading blogs but on the day it didn't phase me at all. Just keep your cool and you will breeze it! As we reached this part the clouds that were hanging over us lifted into beautiful blue skies and we were treated to a panorama of the surrounding alps.

When we reached the summit there were no queues (which I had previously read about causing a bit of a problem) so maybe we just got lucky and we got there at about 10am - around 4.5 hours after leaving the rifugio.

The descent saw us taking the other route down and passing Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele (most of the time you will ascend & descend via the same route). I feel like we got to the rifugio pretty quick as spirits were high and there was even some snow sliding (safely) on the way down. We took a break here for some lunch, well deserved beers and a rest. I tried Italian crispella which is very similar to lasagne. This rifugio was super busy as I believe it is popular with day hikers as well as those staying overnight to summit Gran Paradiso. The descent from here was pretty simple but to me it seemed like it took FOREVER, I think it's because it had been such a long day and there was so many switch backs. But the stunning scenery along the way made up for it. We finished at La Breuill where there was a large mountain hut (and more beers) before Michele hitched a lift to the start point to retrieve the car.

Top Tips & Questions

Training - you should be physically fit and mountaineering experience would be beneficial. A good level of fitness is required as the summit morning is long.

Altitude - I felt completely fine but I guess some people may experience a shift in the altitude and notice a small change in their breathing as the air becomes thinner. Staying in the hut the night before is important to allow your body to acclimatise.

Guiding - whilst this mountain can be done independently, I would highly recommend getting a guide who is knowledgeable of the area and of the movements of the glaciers

Staying in the Rifugio -

I believe both rifugi to be fairly similar so this information should cover both

The rifugio is around 50 euros per night which includes a 3 course meal and breakfast
3 course meal - soup, pasta, a meat dish and desert (I had a crème caramel)
there is limited signal but it can be found by walking a short distance
It slept around 70 people over two floors so it can be pretty busy and noisy
you will be sharing a room with numerous groups so take ear plugs
the rifugi on this route are extremely hospitable
you will be given shoes to wear inside and must leave your dirty boots at the door
there are games to play for evening entertainment

Where To Stay Before Your Hike?

I'd recommend staying in Aosta Valley or near to there, I stayed at Villa Kate just outside Aosta. After having just come off the Gran Paradiso Circuit Trek, I decided I needed a few rest days and this was the perfect place. Only a 20 minute walk to Aosta - which is a lovely place to spend a day. You can read about things to do in Aosta here.

And with that I've reached the end of my blog. I hope I've given you a good insight into what summiting Gran Paradiso is like. As always if you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below and any shares or likes are appreciated.