Thursday 30th August: Weather 8°C to 17°C at Grand Clollet: sunny all day
Rifugio Savoia to Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele DAY 11: 13k: 7h 30m: 8am to 3.30pm: Ascent 1100m Descent 800m
Accommodation: Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele 11 at Altitude of 2735m
8°C leaving Rifugio Savoia
Down through Piano del Nivolet
Chamois on the ridge
Ibex 4th dot from the right
Lush meadows of Piano del Nivolet
Morning tea Grand Collet 2832m
Camera shy ibex at Gran Collet
Ibex on the trot
THE Gran Paradiso
Young ibex Looking for grass shoots
Gran Paradiso & Rifugio below
Phone reception at 2500 metres
Shiny Rifugio below Gran Paradiso
Descending 800 metres from Collet
Glaciers at end of every valley
Lunch before final 700 metre ascent
Paved mule track Vittorio Emanuele
Desolate Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele
Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele 2735m
That way to climb the mountain
Another stunning day after yesterday's brief snow/hail storm. Highlights today were reaching the Grand Collet at 2832 metres, a climb of just 400 metres, to see camera shy ibex wandering around. And on the way down, yet another young ibex wandering less than 100 metres from us. After descending 800 metres into the valley, we were surprised to find the ascent of 700 metres on a mule track to Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele one of the easiest we have done in 11 days. We’re now half way through our 21 day hike.
Awake at 6.30am and breakfast is at 7am. Stale bread and jam, but the tea/coffee is piping hot. It’s a cold 8°C when we leave early at 7.30am expecting a long hard day. The track meanders slowly down through the Piano del Nivolet, a fertile glacial valley renowned for it’s sheep but we don’t see any. There’s white ranunculus growing near the waterways. After an hour, there’s a sign to the Grand Collet or alternatively to Pont over the smaller Col Croix d’Arolley. We choose to climb the 400 metres to the Grand Collet as there's supposed to be ibex up there. The five Englishmen we have been playing tag with for a few days are just ahead. They are going over the Grand Collet to Pont where they have left their hire car before the drive back to Turin and flight back to London.
Soon there’s two chamois appear on the horizon, way up on the high ridge and in a few minutes, an ibex appears on the col - both too far away for any portrait photo. After an hours climb we reach the Grand Collet at 2832 metres and the ibex we had seen from half way up has a friend. There’s two. They’re a bit camera shy and wander off with their backs to us, but they’re close enough that Ian can get a few good photo shots. Time for morning tea in the sun. Another glorious blue sky day with little wind and stunning views across to the Gran Paradiso. A short walk 20 metres along the ridge reveals the shiny tin roof of the Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele nestled in the moonscape below the Gran Paradiso. We’re almost level with it on this side of the valley: problem is we need to descend 800 metres down into the valley then ascend 700 metres up the other side to get to it.
It’s tempting to sit, stop and stare at the views all around us but we think the ascent to Vittorio Emanuele might be as difficult as the Col Fenetre 3 days ago where the gradient averaged 30%. The descent from Collet is a bit slippery on the shale, but soon we’re rewarded with the sight of another ibex - a small young one fossicking among the rocks for favoured grass shoots. Soon we reach a plateau and discover we have phone reception. It’s 11am and time to stop and phone the kids: Will and Cass in Brisbane, Tom and Kez in Sydney and Bonnie and Kane in Bali.
It’s a slow descent to the valley below and we’re behind time when we arrive at 1pm at the bottom to have a quick cup of tea with butter, biscuits and jam, not a real lunch - we’ll have something else at the top. Then the climb starts. We’re amazed that the track is a two metre wide stone path and is so well graded it’s one of the easiest ascents we’ve had this trip. Apparently it was another of the King’s paths for his hunting party. On the way up there's hoards of day hikers who have been up to Vittorio Emanuele for lunch and are now on the way down. There’s also many of the gungho mountain climbers descending laden with their ropes, crampons, ice picks and helmets. They’s been up at 3am to make the 1300 metre ascent to the top of the Gran Paradiso and back to Vittorio Emanuele, their base, before the final descent to Pont in the valley. We’re surprised that we arrive at Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele at 3.30pm, expecting to arrive much later.
The Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele at an altitude of 2735 metres, is a strange curved iron structure set among the moraines, stone mounds caused by glacier flows pushing all and sundry in their path. It’s still busy with day hikers, mountain climbers and a few like us who are just through hikers visiting the Rifugio for the hell of it. When we check in at reception we’re asked what time we would like breakfast - 3am or 3.30am. I say 7am please and I’m informed that breakfast closes at 7.30am. That’s OK we’ll be quick.
Our room is a very small 4 person room but we’re the only two in it. There’s only about 40cm between the double decker bunk beds. Barely room to turn around. We have to queue for the shower which costs 3 euro each, and there’s only 2 showers for the 150 person capacity at the refuge. Luckily it’s only half full so we only have to wait 30 minutes for a super hot shower - well worth the wait.
A bit of washing and then time for a warm beer straight out of the box off the floor, with some chips and peanuts - the lunch we didn’t have in the valley. We’re probably the oldest here by 20 years but it’s just a fascinating place to visit with all the genuine and wanna be climbers sitting around waiting for their adventure to begin at 3am in the morning.
Dinner is at 7pm. I have vegetable soup, eating the veggies and leaving the rest. Ian has pasta. Main is half a chicken - a baby chicken, more like a pigeon and it could have been a pigeon, and dessert is tinned fruit. We’re sitting with a couple from Zurich except they are not a couple - he is a mountain guide and she is a doctor who has employed him to guide her up the Gran Paradiso at 3am in the morning.
At least there is a newly built sitting area outside the dining area where we can sit chat and blog while dinner goes down. Another exciting day comes to an end.