Ski Gran Paradiso 🇮🇹 April 2023

An action packed 3 day course designed for ski mountaineers who want to sample a taste of Italy, climb its highest mountain on skis, and for some of the team, prepare for skiing Mont Blanc after this course.  The ski touring in the famous Italian Val d’Aosta is as good as the coffee and we aim to give you an excellent introduction to the area after a fine initial warm up day and then with 3 varied days skiing and two nights in Italian Mountain Refuges.  An Italian spring ski touring treat!

Course Aims

• Enjoy 3 good days ski mountaineering in the Italian Valle d’Aosta & Gran Paradiso National Park with the ski ascent of the Gran Paradiso (4061m)
• Complete some ski & mountain training during the first day whilst touring & acclimatising in the process
• Spend two nights in Italian Mountain Refuges and enjoy the associated pasta, vino and coffee!
• Meet up with like other like minded ski mountaineers for a sociable 3 day ski journey in the mountains
• Warm up – acclimatise and prepare for the optional 3 day extension to Ski Mont Blanc 

Fitness, Ski and Mountaineering Experience Pre-Requirements

A good general level of fitness is required to complete all three days and particularly the long summit day (an ability to comfortably maintain an ascent rate of 300+m/hr on skins for up to 5 hours). Very effective off-piste skiing ability is also required. This means being able to make linked short radius turns in a variety of steep off-piste snow conditions up to the off-piste equivalent of black runs or even steeper (35-40 degrees).  Some solid ski touring experience is also required, experience using ski crampons, traversing steep slopes and making solid and reliable kick turns.   So if you don’t have these skills, please check out our introduction to ski touring course. Mountaineering experience with crampons would be useful but is not essential.