is backed by the highest peaks of the Gran Paradiso region
This hut is perfectly situated at the upper end of the pastures, above the Moncorvé Glacier. [The glacier has since shrunk considerably, and now lies some way above the hut.] Here the chuckling of hens and the tinkling of cow-bells remind one pleasantly of food which has never been inside a rucksack; across the glacier are four peaks, of which the two furthest to the right are irresistably attractive, one, the Becca di Monciair from the loveliness of its form, the other, the Punta di Broglio because it makes one long to find out if its highest point is accessible at all.
Both these huts are busily occupied in summer, and the paths to them will invariably be heavily trodden when the weather is fine. But despite this popularity they must be recommended on account of the full glory of the mountains in view. To spend time in the Gran Paradiso National Park and to see some of the finest scenery it has to offer, one must put solitude aside for a while and absorb the delights of nature so generously displayed.
Valle di Cogne
‘There is no place which more persuasively calls back the visitor who wants what the Alps themselves have to offer, rather than what has been imported into them by modern life,’ wrote Irving about Cogne before the Second World War. Lately Cogne has absorbed some of what he called ‘modern life’, yet it remains a very modest and attractive resort by comparison with many in the Western Alps; a true mountain village, not a mongrel or hybrid.
The Valle di Cogne is a long valley at the very eastern end of the national park, curving in an exaggerated sweep to the south-east and carrying the park’s boundary with it. Cogne is the only place of any size, and located at the widest part of the valley, ‘in a fair open basin of meadows with the Paradis gleaming occasionally out of a chaos of cloud’, and with the tributary glen of Valnontey draining from the south-west. Looking along the full length of this glen from Cogne, one sees the central block of an amphitheatre of ice-bound peaks cleft by the Col de Grand Crou, ‘a real depression approached by a glacier that does not let you forget its hidden depths and confronts you at the end with a wall which you prefer to be decorated in snow white rather than ice blue.’
This amphitheatre, or cirque, is a wildly impressive piece of mountain architecture on a par with the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees, the skyline in places some 2000 metres above the valley floor, and with a tremendous frozen cascade of an icefall held in suspension from the Gran Paradiso’s lofty ridge. Seen from the valley floor it’s an astonishing sight. But better still there’s a trail that runs along the midriff of the western mountainside, from which one gains an even better perspective. That trail begins at another of the hunter king’s former lodges, the Rifugio Vittorio Sella.
Named after the distinguished mountain photographer and founder of the Italian Alpine Club, the Sella hut is easily reached in a little over two hours from Valnontey village. Just above the hut the largest herd of ibex in all the Alps may be seen during the early morning and evening, but at almost any time of day small groups or individuals may be spied grazing on the nearby hillsides.
The path which provides the fine view of the Valnontey cirque mentioned above, strikes away from the Sella refuge and heads roughly southward along a shelf of pasture containing a small tarn or two, then over boulder slopes before narrowing as a tight and occasionally exposed ledge, high above the valley. After digging into a knuckle indent, the way then rises to a high point about 15 minutes above l’Herbetet (two hours from Rifugio Sella). It is from this high point that the classic view is enjoyed. It is, quite simply, one of the great Alpine views; an astonishing collection of hanging glaciers whose numerous torrents fall in ribbon cascades down the walls of the cirque just to the south. A similar view, but from a slightly different perspective, may be enjoyed from Alpe Money (pronounced Monay) on the opposite side of the valley. This pasture shelf, it has been said, provides a most satisfying point from which to contemplate the whole ridge from the Grivola to Gran Paradiso, while at the same time giving a climber sufficient excuse to spend a week’s holiday based there without exhausting the range of routes available.
The village of Valnontey makes a good valley base for explorations in this glen. There’s a huge car park that is almost empty overnight, a foodstore, small hotels and a couple of campsites, and at the foot of the trail to Rifugio Sella, an alpine garden with some 1500 plant species, worth an hour of anyone’s time to visit.
Above the barrack-like Sella hut a one-time mule-trail heads up to Col Lauson (3296m) for a connection with Val Savarenche. Another climbs behind the hut to Col di Vermia, while a third leads to Col della Rossa (3195m) for yet more incredible views, this time including some of the giants of the Pennine Alps beyond the deep and sunny Valle d’Aosta.
Flowing parallel to, and east of, Valnontey is another tributary of the Valle di Cogne. With Lillaz at its entrance, Valle di Valeille is wild and uninhabited, as is the glen to the east of that, Vallone di Bardoney; the two connected by a walker’s route over Col dell’Arolla, and by another at the northern end of the dividing ridge.
Grande Traversata del Gran Paradiso
Of the two main multi-day walking routes across the Gran Paradiso National Park, the GTGP crosses higher passes and remains closer to the watershed ridge than does the Alta Via 2. It also makes a traverse of a lengthy section of the Piedmont flank east of the Nivolet plateau. Until the route crosses to the south side of the range, overnights are spent in manned rifugios or village inns, but the Piedmont flank has a few bivouac huts where, if used, walkers will need to be self-sufficient with regard to food. The walk begins, as does the Alta Via, at La Thuile, a crowded little village on the road between Courmayeur and the Col du Petit St Bernard. The first crossing, however, could cause problems for inexperienced (or unequipped) mountain walkers, so the route should be joined at Planaval in Val Grisenche.
Heading south from La Thuile the trail wanders through the Rutor glen before climbing to Rifugio Deffeyes in four hours. Above the hut the way edges the Ghiacciaio del Rutor and crosses the Pas de Planaval (3010m). This is a glacier crossing, and local information urges the use of rope, ice axe and crampons. But once off ice the route eases down through a hanging valley to reach the hamlet of Planaval in Val Grisenche.
It is at Planaval that the GTGP and Alta Via 2 part company. Our route strikes south-westward along the left-hand mountainside, and after dropping to the valley bed at Surier, heads upvalley to Rifugio Bezzi, and from there crosses Col le Bassac Derè, before descending through the Goletta glen to reach Rifugio Benevolo at the head of Val di Rhêmes.
Continuing the eastward trend the next pass crossing is that of Col di Nivoletta, which brings the trail down to the Savoia and Chivasso huts in that lovely lake-adorned plateau at the head of Val Savarenche, with views to the Gran Paradiso’s glaciers. A minor road twists its way from the south, but the onward route ignores this and, entering Piedmont, makes a long eastward traverse linking numerous alp clusters above the Valle dell’Orco (sometimes known as Valle di Locana) which carries the southernmost limit of the national park. Along this section of the GTGP there are four bivouac huts (Giraudo, Ivrea, Revelli and Davito), and two rifugios (Pontese and Pocchiola-Menghello) – the last-named of which lies just south of the trail by a dammed lake. The trail eventually descends into the Valle di Campiglia, a tributary glen that spills into the larger Valle Soana, itself a tributary of the Orco.
| Day 1: | La Thuile – Rifugio A. Deffeyes |
| Day 2: | Rifugio A. Deffeyes – Pas de Planaval – Planaval |
| Day 3: | Planaval – Surier – Rifugio M. Bezzi |
| Day 4: | Rifugio M. Bezzi – Col le Bassac Derè – Rifugio Benevolo |
