Walking in Italy's Gran Paradiso (Walking Overseas)

A little over 100 years after Alpine pioneers George Yeld and Rev. W. A. B. Coolidge compiled their celebrated guide "The Mountains of Cogne", this detailed book retraces some of their itineraries. It opens up a wonderful world of rugged mountains and desolate valleys that are densely populated with an extraordinary variety of wildlife. First and foremost of these is the magnificent ibex, saved from extinction strangely enough by the establishment of a Royal Game Reserve last century. The Gran Paradiso National Park inherited some 450km of tracks from that period. The walks described here range from simple half-day strolls to full-scale traverses and plenty of rewarding panoramic peaks. The excellent network of refuges allows visitors to rest overnight at high altitudes, as well as feast on local gastronomic specialities. The majority of the walks are traverses or circular itineraries, and alternative accesses or exits are given where feasible. Timing for the reverse direction is also given in brackets at the end of each stage. Furthermore smaller chunks can easily be bitten off at will.