ITALY · GRAIAN ALPS · 45.52°N 7.27°E · SUMMER · JUL–SEP
Gran Paradiso Circuit
A week around Italy's oldest national park, where the ibex were saved and now own the place: royal mule tracks, granite cirques, and an optional non-technical summit morning at 3,299m for the acclimatised.
THE ROUTE, CHARTED
The elevation profile
GPS-logged. Camps and key points marked; the shape of the route is the honest version of the brochure.
THE SHAPE OF THE TRIP · 7 DAYS
The itinerary
Cogne and the Sella cirque
From Cogne's meadows — Europe's largest hay lawn, mowed like a cathedral floor — up the royal track to Rifugio Sella, where ibex hold evening court on the moraines. Day two crosses the Col Lauson, 3,296m, the circuit's roof, into Valsavarenche.
The Paradiso's west side
Larch and moraine walking beneath the massif's glaciated crown, a night at the Vittorio Emanuele hut among boulders the glacier left behind, then over the Col del Nivolet's lake plateau, where the road famously stops and the silence starts.
High lakes and the long return
The optional Punta Rossa summit at dawn for the keen, then two days looping back by the Piani del Nivolet's hundred pools and the Col de la Rosset, descending finally to Cogne past shrines, dairies and one legendary polenta kitchen.
WHY THIS ROUTE
The expedition
Gran Paradiso exists because a king wanted ibex to shoot and his gamekeepers built mule tracks to every corner of the massif; the republic kept the tracks and the ibex kept the mountains. The result is the best-engineered wild walking in Italy — stone-laid paths climbing at a gentleman's gradient into cirques where three-thousanders stand in rings. Our circuit runs valley to valley over five cols, with nights in rifugios and one grand old royal hunting lodge. For the acclimatised and willing, day six offers the Punta Rossa, 3,299m, a non-technical summit with the whole western Alps for a horizon. Honest note: 'non-technical' still means scree, early starts and thin air; the option is real but so is the choice to enjoy a slow morning instead.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Ibex at conversational distance, daily
- The king's mule tracks — walking's finest engineering
- Rifugio Vittorio Sella's cirque
- Optional 3,299m summit morning
- Valsavarenche's rye-bread villages
- Quieter than the Vanoise next door
STRAIGHT ANSWER
Is this for you?
You should be able to say yes — honestly — to all of these:
- You can walk six-to-seven-hour days on rough ground, back to back, and enjoy most of them.
- You accept that altitude sets the schedule — this route reaches 3,299m and the guide's altitude call is final.
- You would rather be told the truth about a hard day than sold an easy one.
Grade 3 means grade 3. If you're not sure, ring us — we'd rather lose a booking than carry a struggle.
THE LEDGER
What £1,310 covers
INCLUDED
- Wildtrace guide (Elin Vaughan) at a max ratio of 1:8
- All hut, refuge or lodge nights as described, with evening meals
- Daily oximeter checks and an acclimatisation schedule that is not negotiable
- Group safety kit: inReach satellite comms and expedition first aid
- Pre-trip video call, training plan and the real kit list
NOT INCLUDED
- International travel to the start point
- Personal travel insurance covering trekking to 3,299m — required, checked before departure
- Visas and permits payable on entry, where applicable
- Tips for local crew (we publish a guideline per trip)
- Sleeping bag — bring your own or hire ours (£30/trip)
- Lunches and drinks on travel days
PACK THIS, NOT EVERYTHING
Kit, previewed
The items that matter most on this route. The full list — with honest notes on what not to buy — lives in the kit room and is sent on booking.
Broken-in boots matched to the terrain. Broken-in is the load-bearing phrase.
Waterproof jacket and trousers you actually trust.
A day pack that fits — 30–35L covers almost every trip.
Headtorch plus spare batteries. Early starts are a feature.
Sheet sleeping-bag liner and earplugs. Dormitory diplomacy in two items.
SPF50, lip block and category 3–4 glasses. High-altitude sun does not negotiate.
2L capacity plus purification where the trip notes say so.
A proper insulated jacket. Evenings are where trips are enjoyed or endured.
WHO'S TAKING YOU
Your guide
Elin Vaughan
IML · HIMALAYA LOGISTICSRuns our Asian operations — permits, mule teams, oxygen, all of it — across nine Himalayan seasons. Speaks enough Ladakhi to argue about yak butter prices, and win.
HOW WE RUN IT
Max 8 walkers. inReach satellite comms carried and checked daily. Escape routes planned before we sell a single place. And the weather rule that built this company: we turn back. That's the deal. Full detail on our safety page.
NO PAYMENT AT THIS STAGE
Ask about this trip
Send this and a guide rings you back — Tuesday or Thursday evening, usually. Fifteen minutes, honest questions both ways, no hard sell.
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