2018 Gran Paradiso

The Gran Paradiso has been an area I’d earmarked for many years as a great place to go hiking.  Located in the Graian Alps and sandwiched between the French and Swiss Alps in the north west corner of Italy,it is one of the world’s oldest parks. 

In the early 19th century, due to hunting, the Alpine ibex survived only in the Gran Paradiso and Vanoise area. Intensively hunted, partly for sport, but also because their body parts were thought to have therapeutic properties, only 60 individual ibex survived.  Due to the alarming decrease in the ibex population, Victor Emmanuel, soon to be King of Italy, declared the Royal Hunting Reserve of the Gran Paradiso in 1856. and a protective guard was created for the ibex. Paths laid out for hunting the ibex are still used today as part of 724 kilometres (450 mi) of marked trails and mule tracks.  It's debatable whether the true intentions of Victor Emmanuel were for his own benefit as a hunter or for the good of humanity in preserving the park.In 1920 Victor Emmanuel II's grandson King Victor Emmanuel 111, donated the park's original 21 square kilometres (5,189 acres) to form a National Park which was established in 1922. It was Italy's first national park.

The park has no ski resorts apart from a few in Cogne, because the inner valley sides are too steep!! So few cable cars or exit strategies are possible once the hike starts.