UKC

thinking of going to Gran Paradiso in september, what will the weather be like, is this a realistic time of year to go to the Alps?

In reply to Iandavid:

Yes. The only issue will be whether the huts will be open.

In reply to jon:

But that is not much of an issue, as you can reasonably easily (as in doable for a 13 year old girl) climb the normal route via the VE hut in one day from the parking lot / campground in Pont.

No need to start earlier from the valley than you would for the normal routes of bigger 4k peaks (e.g. Dom, Weisshorn, Dent Blanche) from the respective huts.

CB

In reply to cb294:



Or indeed this super hero on the Aig Noire last week:
http://www.camptocamp.org/outings/791878/fr/aiguille-noire-de-peuterey-aret...
Depart parking du Peuterey 5h00
Foot of South Ridge 6h15
Summit Aiguille Noire 12h00
Descent via East Ridge 2h00
Arrive parking 2h45 (45mins running)

Total 9h45.

But hey, we're not all super heros...

In reply to jon:

This is insane and I would have no chance to do this (especially as it is a quite technical summit), but I did GP with my children three times already. Once we started from the parking lot in Pont when the hut was fully booked but there was only one day with a good weather forecast. From hut to summit it is just a bit above 2000 m elevation gain, roughly half of it below hut level and thus not that hard, and on a good path, and no counter gradients.

Compare that with Dom, where you have to gain something like 1600m from the hut, most of it above 3k, and have a significant drop (300m?) down from Festijoch if you don´t go via the ridge. Overall I found that much harder. Funnily enough, the last time on Dom we got passed by a soloist who had started in Randa around midnight...

Anyway, if possible I would of course do GP staying at one of the huts, as it is much nicer (it is not an adventure destination anyway), just that I would not be put off from climbing it if you are in Valsavaranche on a beautiful late summer day just because the huts are closed!

CB

In reply to Iandavid:

Hi
I am doing it on the 3rd/4th Sept via one of the huts but we booked the hut ages ago.
What I've found after a lot of research is that
Temperature wise there's not much difference than say June but Autumn can come early and get cold but I am doing it 4 days after August so there shouldn't be much change but if u do it at h end of Sept it could be a lot colder

In reply to Iandavid:
If you don't fancy doing 2,100m up and down in one day, Vittorio Emanuele is open till 18/09, Chabod till 22/09.
Both have winter rooms that are open when the refuge is closed. You just have to bring your own food and cooking equipment.
Weather-wise, it could be balmy late summer weather, or surprisingly wintry. It's more a question of what the snow conditions will be like. The risk late season is getting fresh snow concealing crevasses that are gaping open from the summer.

In reply to testagrigia:

Alternatively, you can camp just above Vittorio Emanuele

In reply to Iandavid:
As long as the weather is ok you'll be fine. I summited in September last year and stayed at Vittorio Emanuel the night prior after a steady hike up from the car park arriving at the hut early PM. That way we got a nice, relaxed afternoon on the balcony and some of that vital acclimatisation. We then left at 4.30am for the summit. Once the sun rose we had blue skies and little wind so ideal conditions. I'm not sure I'd want to be up on the summit ridge in high winds or poor visisibility but go for it !. Take your time, acclimatise properly and you'll love it.

In reply to Iandavid:

Sure, September can be nice. Bit more chance of a dump of snow, so maybe have a back-up plan, but go all the same. Don't know about GP, but elsewhere Italians huts are very quite on September weekdays, but still mobbed in the weekends, so plan around that (i.e. DO have a reservation for a weekend, if needed, probably just turn up on a weekday...). Enjoy!