I could not hope for a better place where to spend my birthday this year. Gran Paradiso is where my passion for the mountain and for Alps trekking started and I was really glad to be there in this special day enjoiying my Birthday in Gran Paradiso. Moreover the gruop with whom I spend this hiking tour was extremely pleasent. A very nice gruop of girls in exchange program studying in Venice University and a couple of firends working in Germany. They were so nice to buy for me a special gift that made me feel very young indeed in the mountain hut.
The hike on the first day was pretty easy and we did not have difficulty to reach the hut in the Alps. The sky was cloudy and it was pretty snowy, so we did use our snowshoes very soon. We spot many chamoises as usual in this valley and next to the hut we also have the chance to see a nice fox (or maybe a wolf? 🙂 ).
After a very hilarious and filling dinner we went to sleep and in the morning we had a very nice weather waiting for us. Totally sunny and bright day was waiting for us. We did choose to move towards the Gran Piano di Noasca and we basically reach it after a looooong way up the snow that was soft and wet making our trek pretty hard. The landscape of Orco valley was amazing and we could also see the rare Gypetus Barbatus, a vulture reintroduced in the Italian Alps in the 90s. Gran Paradiso is a sanctuary of wildlife and in summer as in winter you can really live the mountain hiking at its best.
The determination of the hiking gruop was very impressive and everyone did their best to reach the highest possible spot. Even if they were not experienced trekkers I must congratulate with all of them as we had a pretty strenous hike considering the snow conditions but nevertheless we could reach the Gran Piano at 2300 meters. From Gran Piano di Noasca there was a breathtaking view over the Italian Alps: We could spot the Ciamarella, the Levanne and the Ciarfron, all peaks above 3500 meters.
They way back also was not easy as the snow became even more soft and we were “sinking” at every step. The path was not particulary easy to find and we came back around 6PM meaning an hiking day of around 8 hours. Despite the strenous day the energy of the gruop was always very positive and I really enjoyed the company and the very nice two days hike with all partecipants. A birthday trekking in Gran Paradiso it is an experience that I would definitely reccomend to everyone once in life!
