Gran Paradiso - A Guidebook for Walkers and Trekkers

Guidebook to walking in Italy's Gran Paradiso national park, includes the Alta Via 2 Trek and a range of 28 walks from gentle strolls to full scale traverses of the region. The Gran Paradiso is a protected national park, just to the south of the Mont Blanc massif accessible from France and northern Italy. A range of deep valleys and passes give excellent walking. Refuge and valley accommodation is plentiful.

The Gran Paradiso National Park

‘Intending visitors to the district should be warned that when the King of Italy is hunting around Cogne (the present King has not been there since 1885) they may find their movements impeded by fear of disturbing the game. This will seem however but a small hindrance when set against the great facilities which the royal hunting paths (passable for horses) afford to travellers on the less interesting portions of many of the ascents in this group.’

This introduction appeared a little over one hundred years ago in The Mountains of Cogne, one of the first guides to be published on the area. It was the work of alpine pioneers George Yeld and Reverend WAB Coolidge. In 1856 King Vittorio Emanuele II had unified several hunting grounds and declared a Royal Game Reserve. The move followed rulings in 1821 that prohibited hunting – except by royal entourages – in order to protect the ibex and chamois populations, which had fallen to worryingly low levels.

Ibex in particular had been hunted intensely since medieval times. They were considered to be ‘walking pharmacies’ as their blood, horns, bones and even their droppings were used in remedies for everything from poisoning to rheumatism. A special talisman was even made of the tiny cross-shaped bone found in its heart, believed to guard the wearer against violent death.

Not only did the ban on hunting encourage growth in both the ibex and chamois populations, it also guaranteed their survival as these were the only such populations in Alps. After the First World War, in 1922, Vittorio Emanuele III, grandson of the ‘Hunter King’, renounced his hunting rights and had the area declared Italy’s 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.

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.

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.