very first national park ‘for the purpose of protecting the fauna and flora, and preserving the special geological formations, as well as the beauty of the scenery’.
The Gran Paradiso sits in the Valle d'Aosta, in northwestern Italy, a marvellous region of magical mountains and rugged desolate valleys, verging on pristine wilderness. It is a mere alpine chough's flight from the Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa and Matterhorn ranges, landmark giants that can be seen from the many scenic passes and lookouts visited during this guide. Despite its attractions, the park is relatively undiscovered. Walkers can often enjoy unforgettable days on excellent trails through spectacular valleys that they have all to themselves, even at the height of the summer season.
Ibex at rest below the Gran Paradiso
The curious and romantic name Gran Paradiso goes back much further than the kings. While most experts say that the name Gran Paradiso, referring to the 4061m peak itself, is a contortion of ‘granta parei’ or ‘great wall’, some say that it comes from the presence of so many saints at the head of Valnontey – the peaks of San Pietro, San Andrea and Sant'Orso – and despite the nearby Punta dell'Inferno (Hell Point) and Testa della Tribolazione (Tribulation Peak).
Walks and treks
In the mid-1800s around 350km of wide tracks were constructed at the king's expense, along with five hunting lodges and mountain huts, manned by a veritable army of gamekeepers (converted poachers), beaters and porters. A total of 470km signed paths are now on offer – a good few summers' walking! Altitudes range from a thousand metres above sea level to over 3000 metres in permanent snow. In between are strolls across flowered meadows and conifer woods, steep heart-testing climbs over rough unstable terrain (inevitably followed by knee-knocking descents) and even cool snowfield traverses.
There is plenty of variety and there are options for any legs or lungs. Do remember that the further you venture away from ‘civilisation’ and the valley floors, the wilder and more exciting the scenery becomes and the fewer two-legged visitors you are likely to meet. Rewarding holidays can be had by basing yourself at a comfortable village hotel or campsite and taking day walks out in different directions. On the other hand, long-distance walkers with an adventurous bent can embark on the superb 12-day Alta Via 2 described at the beginning of the walk section. This traverses the southern side of the Valle d'Aosta over a sequence of forbidding crests and dizzy cols, connecting little-known Chardonney with the world-famous resort of Courmayeur, the gateway to Mont Blanc.
Otherwise, if you want to access higher altitudes and rugged landscapes, you can combine many of the 28 individual walks described in this book to make a longer trek. An excellent network of manned huts (rifugi) welcome walkers and provide tasty hot meals and sleeping quarters.
Geography and geology
Geographically the area is part of the Graian Alps, the northern part of the western Alps. It was possibly named after the mythical Greek hero Ercole Graio (Hercules), who is believed to have passed through Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo while he was completing his famous 12 labours.
Geologically speaking the Gran Paradiso group started out over 230 million years ago as volcanic material, with a fraction of marine sediments. Tectonic activity led, in fits and starts, to the formation of the Alps during the Tertiary period (about 54 to 57 million years ago), the accompanying heat and pressure responsible for the transformation into metamorphic rock. The Gran Paradiso summit, for instance, is made up of a huge dome of augen-gneiss girdled by calcareous rock, mica-schists and greenstone, to mention a few.
View of Valgrisenche mountains during ascent to Col de la Crosatie (AV2 stage 9)
Of great economic significance to man since pre-Roman times have been the immense mineral deposits, first and foremost the magnetite extracted at Cogne up until 1979 and processed at the Aosta steelworks. The original name of the Valle dell'Orco, the main southern valley, was ‘Eva d'or’ (water of gold) because of the precious minerals in its sands.
A brief historical overview
The area covered in this guide, the Gran Paradiso National Park and its surroundings, straddles two administrative and political regions of Italy -the Valle d'Aosta in the north and Piemonte in the south (often referred to as Piedmont in English).
Historical highlights include the Roman era when the city of Augusta Praetoria, present-day Aosta, was founded in 25BC as an important alpine junction on the Via delle Gallie. The valley was controlled by the Savoys, almost without interruption, from the 11th century up until 1861, when Italy was unified.
Although French was the main language for most of this period and it is still taught and used, Italian is more widely spoken these days. Many local people, however, speak an unusual patois of French-Provençal origin. This includes a wealth of specialised vocabulary for aspects of the natural alpine surroundings connected with the pastoral activities, as persists in place names.
Demographically, the mid-1800s saw a significant growth in population which put a strain on natura resources. This led to seasonal emigration of itinerant tinkers, seed-sellers, chimney sweeps and glaziers from the southern valleys in particular. Later, however, large-scale emigration became permanent and ex-pat communities such as the one in Paris have actually helped preserve the Valle Soana dialect. Contact with home villages is kept up and French number-plates are commonplace in village car parks during the holiday period.
A 1981 census put the permanent population of the Gran Paradiso at 8359, in sharp contrast to the 1881 peak of 20,616. A large number of villages have been abandoned over this period and walkers will find themselves wandering along age-old paths punctuated with votive shrines and passing through long-empty hamlets decorated with intriguing religious frescoes. Higher up, the functional shepherds' huts give a clear picture of now-historic lifestyles.
Today, the Gran Paradiso National Park has a nucleus of 51 rangers (four of whom are women) who spend their time on patrols, carrying out essential wildlife censuses and discouraging poaching. The Park does not have an easy life. Illegal hunting continues, storms frequently require urgent bridge and path maintenance work and, whatever government is in power, funds are cut drastically so that there are never enough staff or facilities.
Some statistics
From its beginning with the royal donation of 2200 hectares, the park today has a total area of 70,000 hectares (700km2). Of this, 10 per cent is wooded, 16.5 per cent used for pasture and agriculture, 24 per cent uncultivated and 40 per cent classified sterile. A total of 57 glaciers of varying dimensions occupy 9.5 per cent. Visitors can observe a wide range of ice-related phenomena: vast rock slabs polished smooth by the passage of some ancient glacier; groups of ‘roches moutonnées’, so called due to their similarity to recumbent sheep; U-shaped valleys crafted by the long-gone ice mass and erratics or huge boulders carried far from their starting place by the glacier into different geological contexts.
Vallon di Bardoney (Walk 2)
The characteristic moraines, usually chaotic ridges of debris transported by the ice and deposited at its sides or front, are useful in determining the history of the area: bare moraine probably dates back to the last mini-ice age, a mere 300 years ago. On average, 5000 years must pass before such a ridge can be colonised by vegetation such as the pioneer mountain avens, after preparatory work by lichens. And trees such as larch or dwarf mountain pine need even longer (15,000 years in all) before the soil is suitable for
