Alpine Logistics

I’ve been wanting to climb this mountain for a while. I have stood at its flanks many times and often seen it from the top of other mountains but until now haven’t had the opportunity to plan an ascent.

There are various ways of summiting Gran Paradiso but without doubt the most elegant line is via the North West face. It first took my imagination last year during a walk in Gran Paradiso National Park, during which I was able to admire it from the other side of the valley.

The time had come but this is a busy time for us so everything had to come together perfectly. We got together our packs on Friday afternoon and left Biella at 17.30. We arrived in Valsavarenche at 19.30 and began the approach to Rifugio Chabod.

We had apocalyptic rucksacks thanks to our decision not to use the refuge but bivy near-by. This was not so much to be hard but because it seemed stupid to pay to sleep for four hours.

The path gained height with infinite zigzags but the fantastic landscape, chamois grazing undisturbed and the sight of Gran Paradiso’s North face coming into view made the time and elevation-gain pass.

Two hours later we were at the refuge. Through illuminated windows we could see people sitting around tables; it was tempting to go in and have a hot dinner…but we continued walking for another 15minutes and found a place to lay down our bed for the night.

It was cold so we quickly ate and got into our sacks, ready to sleep at 22.30 and with the alarm set for 2.30 the next morning. The stars, moon and Gran Paradiso kept us company as we fell asleep in the warmth of our down sleeping bags.

In the middle of the night I woke up. I was hot and I opened my bivy sack slightly. My movements woke Julia who after a couple of seconds said “Pupi…we didn’t hear the alarm�.

We ate then left at 3.30. In the distance we could see the lights from the torches of another party heading for our same objective. In the light of our head lamps we followed a winding path up moraine to the base of the glacier.

Here we followed the faint tracks left by our predecessors on the hard icy snow and found a flat spot to put on crampons, harnesses and to rope together. We saw the group of people who had been ahead of us and caught up with them before the beginning of the climb.

We simul-climbed all the way. The first 300m was easy with snow steps; the final 300m was slightly steeper (around 50 degrees) and icy, so we placed a few ice screws for protection. It grew very cold and a freezing, bone-chilling wind blew stronger the higher we went. When Julia finished the ice-screws we swapped leads: standing still at the belay even just for a minute was agony because of the cold. Close to the top we were both almost frozen but the sight of the sun illuminating the summit ridge spurred us on.

At nine o’clock I hopped over the small summit cornice and stood on the top, closely followed by Julia. Finally we could absorb some of the sun’s warmth. However the wind was as cold and strong as ever so, after taking in the 360° view of the Alps and a few photos, we started down the normal route.

Here there were a lot of people were walking up and down so the way was well trodden and we quickly got back down to the moraine we had walked up that morning. The wind lower down was but a breeze so we took off a few layers and enjoyed our success before finishing the long descent back to the car.

The heavy packs took their toll on our legs and knees but tiredness gave way to the joy of having experienced one of those moments that only alpinism can give. I knew that once our memories of the cold and tiredness passed our minds would soon get swept away, dreaming of another route or mountain to climb.