Starting up Arp Veille out of Valgrisenche. Italian Alps, Aosta region.
It seems Italians, or at least the guys I’m with, really don’t like French food all that much. So getting Paolo and the guys from LEAP to hang out in Chamonix is of limited success. Paolo suggested we head back to Italian environs and enjoy the Aosta Valley region (encompasses an area of Alps still at the feet of Mt. Blanc, but more Italiano.)
I was game, so Paolo and the Sucai Torino (who hosted my presentation) came up with accommodations at the Pensione Perret in the valley Valgrisenche, village of Bonne. They heli ski here, which has the potential of continuing the Chamonix area mob madness, but the area is used for quite a few excellent ski tours as well, and both mechanized and human powered are said to coexist however tenuously (Wasatch, anyone?). Check it out.
View from the Pensione Perret up Valgrisenche.
Up. Arp Veille is your basic 'lower Alps' moderate ski touring peak. About 1,200 meters vertical gain from parking, excellent terrain for backcountry skiing.
Paolo snapped this photo of me and three of the LEAP architects, Luca, Stefano and Massimo. Super active backcountry skiers, Luca and Stefano are instructors with the backcountry ski school section of the Italian Alpine Club.
Looking what I think is southeast, Gran Paradiso is the peak in the distance, a 4061 meter alp well known to Italians out of Torino and elsewhere. The immediate terrain is used by the helicopters but also yields ski tours. Off to the right a couple of huts are always available if you don't want to leave.
Massimo sports a bundle of Italian performance athletic gel. It works if you've got the DNA for it.
Paolo cranks out one of many turns. It was boot top, variable, then some semi-corn down in the warmlands. I even hit a bit of ye olde euro muck in the bushes, wouldn't want to miss that!
Saluting the mountain.
Stefano skis fast, sometimes he does a double ejecto and ends up as much needed plaster on the Roman stone work.
Europeans are of course way ahead of us Americans on green energy, this solar powered shrine proves it. Seen on descent.
Trailhead scenes are the same everywhere. Here, we're looking up the Valgrisenche.
As for the Aosta region food, I still heard a lot of talk from the Italians about how “different” it was. Hard to please these guys, but that’s okay because back home they have nearly supernatural eats, which I’ve been heartily enjoying during this trip.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
