Last month when I arrived at my AirBnb accommodation in La Salle, just down the Val d’Aosta from the famous resort town of Courmayeur, I didn’t know what to expect for the next four weeks.   I vaguely remembered Courmayeur from three years ago when I completed the somewhat grueling Ultimate Tour du Mont Blanc, hiking ten straight days while averaging 4300 ft of ascent (and descent!) each day.  (See the Slideshow page for some photos from that trek). At the time I thought a major shortcoming of the organized trek was the lack of a rest day on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Alas, that was not in the itinerary and so I vowed to return when I had more time to explore the “sunny side” of the Alps.  This I have now done.

The first thing I discovered is that there are more than enough hikes for a lifetime in the numerous valleys and ridges radiating off the Val d’Aosta. The valleys, such as Val Ferret and Val Veny, near Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco as they say in Italy) are more popular with tourists, including copious Tour du Mont Blanc trekkers. Further away the valleys and surrounding mountains are no less impressive but generally quieter.  The Parco Nationale Gran Paradiso (PNGP for short) consists of several valleys and ridges covering more than 170,000 acres and was the focus of several of the hikes I took. Italy’s first national park, PNGP started as the king’s private hunting reserve and was thus protected for the most part from the depredations of hunters (other than royal ones anyway) and has since provided endangered ibex for reintroduction in many other areas of the Alps. Two Cicerone guides, Mont Blanc Walks and Walking and Trekking in the Gran Paradiso, purchased for my Kindle, were invaluable.  I augmented these descriptions with two 1:25000 IGC maps, #102 and #107. These Italian maps, while very helpful with the major geographic features, were sometimes lacking in accuracy with regard to the trails.

The second thing I discovered is that this time of year is ideal for observing the flora of the region. Adapted to the harsh alpine environment and very short growing seasons, many of the flowers have been at their peak this past month.  Fully two thirds of the following photos feature the botany of the region.  With much help from the Cicerone guide Alpine Flowers and a website on Alpine flowers I managed to identify almost seventy species that I saw on my hikes (and failed to identify several more).  A link to a downloadable pdf is included at the end of this post for those who find the blog photos simply insufficient. (The power point show may also be found in the Slideshow tab above).

I hope these photos give you an idea of the beauty and diversity of the Val d’Aosta!

Here is the downloadable pdf I made of the alpine flora.

My Calendar has been updated through mid January 2019.

On Friday I leave for a one week trip to the High Peaks of the Balkans, which includes summitting the high points of three countries.  Returning to Italy, this will immediately be followed by one week climbing Via Ferratas in the Western (Brenta) Dolomites before settling down to three further weeks in the central Dolomites.  Sometime in there I hope to complete another couple blog posts on those experiences. . .

In the mean time, keep hiking – I will!

The Vagabond Hiker

While Italy’s Amalfi Coast was not originally intended as a place to heal from climbing Peak Lenin, it has proven an idyllic location for just that. The amazingly fresh seafood, wonderful (and cheap) local wine, fantastic and varied walking, swimming in the clear and (relatively warm) sea, and spectacular views from nearly everywhere – including my terrace – have certainly had a rejuvenating effect on me.

I rented an apartment on AirBNB in Conca dei Marini, about midway between the tourist centers of Amalfi and Positano.  About 100 meters above the sea (mslm in Italian), the terrace has nearly 180˚ views overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Several of the photos below were taken from my terrace.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting the Costiera Amalfitana, it consists of the southern portion of the Sorrento Peninsula, which delineates the southern side of the Bay of Naples.  While only 30 km as the crow flies from that teeming metropolis, in every other regard it is worlds away.  The rugged coastline has resisted invaders (though not always successfully) over the millennia, and until the Amalfi Coast road was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century, the only way for the locals to travel between villages was by path, either on foot or donkey.

Distances in this vertical landscape are best measured in how many steps one must ascend or descend.  Fortunately for the active visitor these paths were generally very well constructed from the local limestone and for the most part remain intact.  Their network provides a plenitude of walking and hiking options, ranging from short jaunts between nearby villages to longer rambles through the rural terraced farm landscapes to more serious hikes and scrambles at higher elevations in the Lattari Mountains, the spine of the Sorrento Peninsula, where one encounters goats and sheep far more often than tourists.  The photos that follow try to capture some of this amazing landscape that I have enjoyed these past 5½ weeks.

Later this month I travel to Kathmandu for 3 ½ weeks of trekking and climbing.  Our group will walk from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Mustang, through the stunning Damodar Himal to the only recently accessible valleys of Naar and Phu. Two days of this trek will consist of climbing Saribung Peak.  At 6,328 meters it is a straightforward glacier climb with rewarding 360˚ views.  My hands have recovered nicely, and with my new pair of mittens and wool thermal liner gloves and a better appreciation of frostbite prevention, I anticipate no recurrence.  Next month’s blog post should have some interesting photos from that adventure.  Then a head to the antipodes for 10 weeks exploring New Zealand.  See my updated calendar for more…

Buon camminare,

The Vagabond Hiker