UKC

Anyone done the Gran Paradiso in a Weekend? Any pitfalls I need to be aware of other than the altitude? I'm flying into Turin and making my way to the National Park via public transport. Thinking of late June/early July.

In reply to Gone for good:

No problem is you've already acclimatised, but if you've spent the previous month or two in the UK you might have problems, I know I would

In reply to Gone for good:

No problem at all have done a lot of the 4000's in a wk'end including shock horror Mount Blanc and stuff like the Cassin on the Badile. Class way to enjoy the Alps get a good forecast climb and travel home drinking G&T's with a smug smile

In reply to Gone for good:

Public transport is good but you will need 3 if not 4 days I think. Train to Aosta then bus to Val Savarenche will take most of a day each way. Summer bus times will appear here in due course

http://www.savda.it/it/orari.php

In reply to Doug:

I'll not be acclimatised but I've done a few 4000m peaks a day after arriving. Granted it's not the best way to attempt anything that height but time is precious this year and a week in the summer is out of the question. I plan to go solo as well so will be pushing the boundaries of safety.

In reply to MG:

I think your right.
Day 1.Early flight to Turin and somehow get to Pont Breuil.
Day 2.Walk in to Vittorio Emanuel hut - 3 hours?
Day 3 Up the Paradiso and back to Pont
Day 4 back to Turin and fly home.
Might try end of May and catch the bank holiday weekend.

In reply to Gone for good:
That might work. You would be better staying in Aosta on day 1 and getting the early bus (~8am) up the valley on day 2. This gives plenty of time to get to the hut still but also an evening in very pleasant, Roman Aosta.

There will be a lot of snow in May - still ski-touring season.

In reply to MG:

If you're reasonably fit, it's quite feasible to do the Paradiso in a oner from the valley. The path up from Pont to the VE hut is superbly stone-paved & graded, and gives easy steady walking by moonlight or torchlight. The blockfield between the hut and the glacier is a bit of a struggle, but there's usually a trench up the glacier once you're on it. Starting at midnight, I've done it up & back in under 12 hours (in my 50s), and I seem to remember from earlier UKC threads on the topic that other hardier folk had done it in significantly shorter time. If you time it right, that can also mean that you get to the summit rocks before the hut parties, who otherwise may create so much congestion that you can't reach the final point. Then you can sleep on the bus on your way back to Turin!

But it would certainly help if you're acclimatised beforehand.

In reply to Gone for good:

Late June is early season, trench may not have formed, glacier may still be wet. But Grand Paradiso is a piece of piss and one of the easiest, so good choice.

In reply to Gone for good:
We did it over a weekend a few years ago (2010?) in late June. From memory it was something like...

Depart Nottingham Friday 6pm evening. Drove through the night to Cham. Stocked up and then drove through to Pont Breuil. Set off for the VE hut at about 4pm on Saturday - brilliant and easy path. Left VE hut 5.30am on Sunday (get up earlier! We were way too lazy), summit at about 12pm. Back to the hut at about 2.30pm and carpark at 4.30pm.

A lot of people (us included) were using snowshoes up to about 3400m and then switched to crampons. No-one was roped up that we saw.

Have fun!

David

P.S. - I wrote up some of the trip here - it should give you some idea of our skill/experience level (or lack of!).
http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2925

In reply to Gone for good:

I tried it from cogne side 10 years ago over the tribulation glacier, staying 2 nights in carlo pol bivi hut. Great experience but didn't get to summit (got 50m below it!)due to cornice collapse, fall, massive thunderstom..all in all a bit of an epic!.
Recommend that route if you want something different!....very wild and remote with no one else on that side on the mountain.

In reply to AG:
I think I read your account in the hut book - sounds dramatic!! I have now done it three times from that side by slightly different routes, and you are correct, a superb way of climbing the mountain. Not sure doing it in a weekend from that side would be so easy.

In reply to SuperstarDJ:

A good description of your time on the Cosmique Arete.
Funnily enough I have no recollection of 2 abseils on the route. I can remember the one abseil where you go down a chimney and then traverse round below a ledge. The reason I remember it so vividly is that I was carrying a 60cm walking axe and shoved it down between my rucsac and back prior to the abseil and as I descended it got wedged , the tip of the handle stuck on one side the chimney and the pick on the other. The guide I was with had already abseiled down so I was out of sight, no one above and no one below. I struggled for some time before deciding I was well and truly stuck. I contemplated cutting the rope but then looked down again and realised the drop, if not fatal, would lead to a lot of pain and at least some form of fracture. I then carried out some extremely vigorous shaking before finally freeing myself, the relief somewhat shortlived as major embarrassment took hold. A great route nonetheless !

In reply to MG:

Probably not for a weekend. Good to hear someone read my account in the book.....I think we were quite lucky that day!.
I'd love to return some day.

In reply to AG:

As I read my thoughts went roughly

-That was unlucky
-That was *really* unlucky
-Bloody hell!!
- NO!! this can't be happening to the guy!!!