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Aosta Valley Touring guidebooks/route recommendations

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 chris_B 15 Mar 2014
I'm currently thinking of a spring ski touring holiday based in the Aosta valley.

- Can anyone recommend a decent guidebook for ski tours in the area?

- Or otherwise any particular routes to do? Having some options like a 3/4 night trip staying in huts (Gran Paradiso etc is obvious for that) and a couple of day tours would be good.

And has anyone been to the area recently? If so how much snow is there compared to a normal year? I'm thinking of going late April (Easter week).
 funalps 15 Mar 2014
In reply to chris_B:

Orizzonte Bianchi by Pellissier and Mezzavilla pub. Martini Multimedia 2004.

You will also get some ideas on www.funalps.com and www.camptocamp.org.

OP chris_B 16 Mar 2014
In reply to cagm:

Thanks, yes I've already been looking at camptocamp. Please could you send me a link to a website with that book? A google search hasn't got me very far.
 jon 16 Mar 2014
In reply to chris_B:
You can put together lots of ski tours in that area from one day trips to a week long traverse of the Graian alps. The map of the area showing ski routes - even though Italian maps aren't great - is really all you need. French IGN maps overlap in a couple of places.

Given the topography of the area - a series of valleys running N-S into the main valley - one of the problems with a traverse is transport at the end to get back to your vehicle, but if you can sort that then a traverse from Vittorio Sella > Chabod > Vittorio Emanuele > Benevolo > Mario Bezzi > Deffeyes is classic.

A couple of shorter suggestions:

The first part of the above traverse with a couple of days at the V Sella as acclimatisation followed by the traverse over to Chabod via the Gran Serra and then the Gran Paradiso to finish off.

A round-trip from the Val di Rhêmes. A couple of nights at Benevolo, maybe doing the Becca de la Traversière, then over to Val d'Isère via Roc del Fond or the Punta Calabre, staying at Prariond, then back over to Benevolo via La Galise and finally skiing back out to Rhêmes via the Gran Vaudala or the colle della Gran Vaudala. The map for this area is IGC 102 Valsavareche, Val di Rhêmes, Valgrisenche 1:25000.
Edit: Be aware that the Roc del Fond and the Punta Calabre are reversed on the French map! Which is right? No idea!
Post edited at 10:58
 funalps 16 Mar 2014
In reply to chris_B:
Sorry for the delay, (superb weather here at the moment in Chamonix.)
Link to the publishers: http://www.inalto.com
Available in the bookshops in Chamonix and Courmayeur. It is in Italian, but has lots of maps and photos.
 MG 16 Mar 2014
In reply to chris_B:
Note the Excursionista series maps are far better than IGN and similar, which were drawn by imaginative five year olds with felt tip pens.
Post edited at 20:01
 MG 16 Mar 2014
In reply to chris_B:

One other tip. The VS hut tends to be busy early in the week but quiet Thursday and Friday. I was the only guest one Friday in April last year. Weather and snow were good -and I had a personal mountain! !

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