Mont Colmet through Colle della Croce

Up to now, only minor corrections have been made to the original text by Gangolf Haub, submitter of this route and its previous maintainer.

Approach

At Morgex, some thirty kilometers west of Aosta, you turn into a side road that climbs upwards through larch forests to the Colle San Carlo and eventually leads to La Thuile (and thus in the end to the Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo). There (in front of the Hotel Genzianella at Colle San Carlo) you can leave your car and start the ascent.

Route Description

Altitude gain: 1.200m Duration: 5h'00 Trailhead: Colle San Carlo From the trailhead at Colle San Carlo head in the general direction of Lac d'Arpy (2.060m). After half a Kilometer you leave that trail (this is another route to the mountain) and climb upwards to Colle della Croce. At this point for the first time you see magnificient views of Mont Blanc which unfortunately soon are hidden behind a ridge. At Colle della Croce you encounter a fort left over from the Napoleonic Wars. The rest of the ascent then uses an old war trail. At places it is secured by cables. Be careful however: the cables are rusty and lose and in some places the trail simply vanishes. The only way to go is up so that you can't go wrong and in the end you encounter - close to the summit - the ruin of a small military outpost. A couple of meters higher and you are at the summit with its closeup view of Rutor and all the 4.000m - Giants around.

 

Views from the Summit

Essential Gear

Hiking gear is sufficient in most of the passages. Since the old war trail is rather neglected it might be a good idea to bring some ropes, especially if you plan to descend via the other route to Lago di Pietra Rossa.