Italy Mountaineering Trip Report 2024: Gran Paradiso and Zumsteinspitze
Over the past six years, I’ve had some fantastic outdoor adventures, including five big mountaineering trips. I recently decided to…
Over the past six years, I’ve had some fantastic outdoor adventures, including five big mountaineering trips. I recently decided to begin writing “recap” posts about my mountaineering trips and other adventures, including marathons and backpacking excursions, in the hopes that sharing my experiences (including the nutrition “pearls” I’ve gleaned along the way since I am a clinical nutritionist!) will help my readers.
In this post, I’m recapping my most recent mountaineering trips in Italy, where I climbed the Gran Paradiso and Zumsteinspitze. If you want to read about my other trips, I have written posts about my Mt. Rainier mountaineering trip, Mt. Bear/Alaska mountaineering trip, and Mt. Baker trip on my blog.
My mountaineering trip to Italy was intended to be a trip to France, where I planned to climb Mont Blanc with my husband and a group of other climbers in June 2024. However, the Mont Blanc portion of the trip did not go as planned.
Long story short, the guide company with which I signed up for the Mont Blanc trip failed to get us reservations for the huts on Mont Blanc; without hut reservations, you cannot climb the mountain. In addition, the guide company only informed us two weeks before the start of our trip (!) that we didn’t have hut reservations. They assured us that we would likely still get reservations, so we flew to France for the trip. However, on the morning of the first day of the trip, one of the guides informed us that we only had a 50/50 chance of getting reservations! Talk about catching us off guard…
This astonishing lack of planning and clarity was due to a newer staff member dropping the ball. This person was supposed to have let us know much further in advance that we didn’t have reservations and failed to do so. My husband and I had been planning the Mont Blanc trip for 10 months; if I had known that we wouldn’t even get onto the mountain, I’m unsure I would have gone to France.
Fortunately, the guide company recognized their significant oversight and provided us with a partial refund after the trip. However, we still found ourselves in Chamonix with the group of climbers and our guides. We ended up climbing the Gran Paradiso and Zumsteinspitze in Italy instead of Mont Blanc. Both of these mountains are beautiful in their own right, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to experience their grandeur.
For this mountaineering trip, my husband and I flew to Geneva, Switzerland, from Denver, where we reside. From Geneva, we took a shuttle to Chamonix, the beautiful mountain town renowned for being a mecca for outdoor adventurers. We stayed at the Pointe Isabelle Hotel, where the rest of our group was also lodging.
On the first morning of the trip, we met with our group for breakfast. In addition to my husband and me, there were four other climbers and two guides. At this breakfast, the lead guide told us we had a 50/50 chance of getting hut reservations on Mont Blanc. Well, that was a surprise! However, they also made it sound like there were alternative routes up Mont Blanc in case the hut reservations fell through. I remained hopeful that we would get on the mountain.
Despite this disconcerting news, we proceeded with our first-day agenda: to practice our rope team and crampon skills on the Aiguilles Rouges. The Aiguilles Rouges is a massif, a compact group of mountains. It was a cloudy day with bouts of rain, but we made the most of it and enjoyed exploring the terrain while practicing our skills.
On the second day, we headed to Italy to begin our climb of Gran Paradiso. This trip (the ascent of Gran Paradiso) was part of the original plan, intended to be a practice mountain before climbing Mont Blanc. Our hut reservations for Mont Blanc were still in the air, so we headed to Italy with our hopes still high.
To get to Italy from Chamonix, we drove through a 7.3-mile tunnel, the Mont Blanc tunnel, that runs through Mont Blanc. Once through the tunnel, we drove for about 90 minutes to the trailhead for Gran Paradiso. On the way to the Gran Paradiso trailhead, we passed through rustic, scenic mountain villages with beautiful stone homes topped with slate roof tiles and green pastures where cows were grazing.
Gran Paradiso is a 13,323-foot mountain in northern Italy, located inside Gran Paradiso National Park. When we arrived, we hiked up to Refuge Chabod, where we would stay the night before our summit attempt the following day. The weather was a mix of clear skies interspersed with clouds and rain. Regardless, it was a lovely hike up to Refuge Chabod.
The following morning, we woke early (but not alpine start early!) to begin our summit attempt at Gran Paradiso. I’m happy to say that we summited Gran Paradiso! It was an exhilarating summit; the top of the peak has sharp dropoffs on each side, and the descent involves scaling the mountain for a few minutes before transitioning back onto snow and ice. The Madonna at the top of Gran Paradiso is an icon, so we had to get a picture with her!
After a few minutes on the summit, we descended back down the mountain to Refuge Chabod. In total, we were moving for about 6.5 hours. Admittedly, my legs were pretty wobbly by the end of the day!
On the evening of summit day, we had a lovely dinner at Refuge Chabod. Most of us took naps in our bunk room in the hut.
Our guides confirmed that we had no hut reservations for Mont Blanc the following morning. I felt devastated after coming down from the high of the Gran Paradiso summit the day before. As mentioned earlier, I had been training for Mont Blanc and looking forward to climbing it with my husband for months. The guides said we would climb a different mountain instead; they had yet to determine which one we would attempt. After receiving this news, we climbed down to the trailhead and drove back to Chamonix, anxiously awaiting a decision about our next step.
Ultimately, our guides decided we would climb Zumsteinspitze, a 14,970-foot mountain in Italy in the Pennine Alps (the western portion of the Alps). We drove back through the Mont Blanc tunnel and the northern Italian countryside for several hours until we reached the Monterosa ski area in Italy. We took two gondolas up the mountain from the base of the ski area, then began a relatively short climb (about an hour) to the Gnifetti hut.
The following morning, we woke around 4:00 am to eat breakfast before beginning our summit attempt on Zumsteinspitze. I’m happy to say that we successfully summited Zumsteinspitze; the day involved about 6.5 hours of climbing from start to finish.
The following morning, we descended Zumsteinspitze and drove back to Chamonix.
Here are a few of my nutrition takeaways from my Italy mountaineering trip:
While my France/Italy mountaineering trip didn’t go as planned, I still had great experiences climbing Gran Paradiso and Zumsteinspitze. The mountains were gorgeous, the climbs difficult enough to satisfy my need for challenge 🙂, and the huts were amazing, with great views, good food, and an interesting cultural experience.
Mont Blanc, I will definitely be back one day to climb you!
If you’re planning a mountaineering trip and need help creating a nutrition plan, I’m here to guide you. Schedule a complimentary discovery call to learn how I can support you nutritionally with your mountaineering objectives. Remember, professional nutrition advice can make a significant difference in your performance and enjoyment during mountaineering adventures!
The content provided on this nutrition blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.
The information and recommendations presented here are based on general nutrition principles and may not be suitable for everyone. Individual dietary needs and health concerns vary, and what works for one person may not be appropriate for another.
I make every effort to provide accurate and up-to-date information, but the field of nutrition is constantly evolving, and new research may impact dietary recommendations. Therefore, I cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information presented on this blog.
If you have specific dietary or health concerns, please consult a qualified nutritionist or another healthcare professional for personalized guidance.
I empower others through nutrition to conquer their mountain adventures, drawing from my own experiences.
With a background in Biomedical Science and an M.S. in Human Nutrition, I’m a Certified Nutrition Specialist and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist. My journey in functional medicine has equipped me to work alongside athletes and tackle complex health cases. As a passionate trail runner, backcountry skier, and backpacker, I strive to support others on their paths to peak performance and well-being.
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