Gran Paradiso: First 4000er

Gran Paradiso National Park, Aosta Valley · Italy

Moderate2 daysEurope~£650 est.

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Overview

There is a Madonna on the summit of Gran Paradiso, and reaching her is a rite of passage: at 4,061 m, this is the highest mountain entirely within Italy and the alpinist's classic first 4,000er. The final metres tell you why it counts — after four hours of easy glacier plodding, the route suddenly narrows to an exposed rock ridge where you shuffle past the statue with the Aosta valley 3,000 m below your heels and Mont Blanc filling the northern sky. The climb is a perfect two-day package. From the road-end at Pont in the Valsavarenche, a beautifully built mule path zigzags to the Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II at 2,732 m (or the quieter Rifugio Chabod), where you eat pasta under blankets of marmot whistle. A 4:30 a.m. start puts you on the glacier at first light, roped against modest crevasses. The catch is the summit block: fine in the dry, tense in rime or queues; most parties want a rope and a confident leader. Base in Aosta or Cogne; climb late June to September. Guided two-day ascents cost about £650 including the hut half-board; the national park — Italy's oldest, thick with ibex — is worth extra days on its own. Book the refuges weeks ahead for July and August weekends.