Gran Paradiso
So following three days on the Piz Badile Clare and I wanted a rest. We decided to do so behind the wheel of the van heading to either Zermatt or Saas depending on how we felt. Once we had dragged ourselves from the shores of Lake Como and up past Lake Maggio we finally got to Brigg ...where we double checked he forecast. Bugger.
So having added the Simplon Pass to the tally of alpine passes we headed for the St Bernard Pass & Aosta. Back in the land of good pizza we did what any self respecting traveller in need of calories does: ate our weight in pizza, bread, local cheeses and meats.
Our plan? Simple: bag Gran Paradiso and take advantage of it having the only good weather in the Alps. So, the following day we walked in following a lazy start and maybe bivvied (huts stated they were full) - it turns out you can only do so if the hut is full or you're on a camp site with in the national park. Go figure. Anyhow ours was apperntly appropriate.
Summit day! Who really likes 3:30AM starts? Not me - especially not into conditions rather akin to a Scottish winter (except there was snow about). We were on the Chabod route and managing okay up the glacier. Guides were clearly not loving their jobs that day. It was freezing (literally - my beard froze up), windy and the visibility was crap. So a couple of hundred meters from the top we called it a day. It turns out we prefer drinking coffee in huts over freezing our arses of in bad weather at 4000m. Maybe next year... if I can be bothered.
