These days I am in Turin, my hometown and therefore I am enjoying some outings on the beautiful mountains of the Alps which are located a few kilometers from the city. Today I decided to climb and activate a “serious” mountain in Val D’Aosta, a region with many beautiful mountains, and then go and visit a friend (Ix1ckn) who is in Aosta. The mountain is Punta della Valletta I/VA-066 3090 meters high and was first activated by @M0YCJ in July this summer.
From Turin it is about an hour and a half by car to reach Aosta where with two cable cars you can reach the base of the path to go up to Punta della Valletta. It is about 2 and a half hours of walking, very pleasant starting from the beautiful lake of Chamolè. The final part of the climb is very demanding, full of stones that overlook the wall, but in the end I reached the top. I mounted my fish rod which supported a longwire antenna and turned on my Elecraft Kx3. In the end I made 42 qso in 20/30/40 cw and ssb, and one in Vhf with Ix1Ckn from Aosta. Thanks to @IU0KTT, @IK2LEY, @DK8OA, @DL1CR@IX1IHR and @S57S for the S2S.
After about an hour of Sota activity I decided it was time to go down to the valley. The return was about an hour and a half and going down I was able to admire the splendid glaciers of Mont Blanc and Gran Paradiso. Overall a beautiful activation, my first over 3000 meters above sea level. Thanks to all the chasers for the QSOs and see you next time!
Sure I’m interested. But consider my age and think to a summit with little ascent (less than 600m) like Fourchon HB/VS-194, Chetif I/VA-115 and similar. Not many in Aosta Valley (see my vademecum). Ciao
Claudio IX1IHR
Congratulations, fantastic report Andrea. Well done on the activation. It was good to see the photos of the summit and we set up very close to the site of your shack in July. With the rock outcrops I recall I did not need to use a support pole for my inverted-V dipole.
The approach we took was different up the SW ridge. Like you we caught the Chamolé chairlift used by the downhill mountain bikers, but instead we walked SSW past the farm Plan Dell Eyvie and followed the path up to the Col Tsa Setze which goes over to Cogne. We had tried to ski up there a few years earlier!
The SW ridge of Punta della Valletta is a steep walk but then forms a very nice and well equipped via ferrata that takes you up to the summit cross. Like you we had excellent weather and it was a t-shirt activation at 3090 meters.
We descended on your approach route down the north ridge but then went directly to the Rifugio Arbolle for the night. A very comfortable mountain hut. Next day we activated I/VA-056, Becca di Nona / Pic de Nona, 3142m and just a steep walk on a good path. We also activated I/VA-013, Monte Emilius / Mont Émilius, 3559m. This was another quite long Via Ferrata but was again very well equipped with mainly stainless steel gear (photo of my wife just before the final summit tower, don’t worry we were both clipped into the safety cable!)
As with all self respecting Via Ferrata there was also the obligatory wire bridge. Not sure why I look so unhappy, but the photo was taken just before I crossed the bridge!!!
It proved to be a long second day and we got caught by a short late afternoon thunder storm on the way down from the Passo del Tre Cappuccini, so had a second night in the hut. An excellent round of three summits, but you do need to be able to use the two Via Ferratas (Ferratae?)
Thanks John for the photo and the report, for reach Punta della Valletta i chose the way from the Chamolè Lake, than on the top of “Test Nera” and than from here on the crest to the top of Punta della Velletta. No ferrata on this way… only easy rocks. Many compliments for the Monte Emilius, this will be my next activation, i hope at the begin of September. Tomorrow i will move to Croatia for a week, very easy summit there
