It won’t be the feat with which he will win the Piolet d’Or (but I’m sure that sooner or later he will succeed), but we must still talk about feat for the long weekend of François Cazzanelli on the Gran Paradiso.
Yes, because on Friday he traveled the Gran Paradiso tour, starting from the Cogne valley, with the stratospheric time of 9 hours 40 minutes and 51 seconds, the best known time, and on Sunday he took part in the revived Tour du Grand Paradis ski mountaineering race, finishing third! From his Facebook page we publish his story.
“I’ve wanted to travel the legendary « Haute Route » of the Gran Paradiso for a long time and given the splendid conditions of these days I couldn’t resist! Yesterday alone and in total autonomy (I only used the Rifugio Sella and the Vittorio Emanuele II for 2 small 10′ pit stops for a coke and a cake) I covered the entire tour of 53.64 km 5,204 meters d+ in 9 hours 40 minutes and 51 seconds! In the first part I struggled a lot, on the Grand Serz (3552m) and the Grand Neyron glacier I had to trace them all in 20/30 cm of fresh snow, then when I reached the path that goes up to the Gran Paradiso from the Chabod refuge things were change. From then on I found the trace almost everywhere that saved me some energy. On a sporting level I am satisfied, certainly in the future stronger athletes will arrive who will do much better than me. In any case, on a tour like this it is very difficult to find the ideal conditions and do it independently and it is just certainly different than doing it in race mode, with scheduled assistance.
It was a unique experience, I skied alone for a lot of hours among some of the most beautiful and wild valleys of the Alps, in one of the most spectacular massifs that touch our Aosta Valley. I recommend this splendid tour to everyone which is normally completed in 5 days leaning on the splendid refuges of the massif. I would like to thank Jean from the Vittorio Sella Refuge and Paolo Pellissier from the Vittorio Emanuele II Refuge for having refreshed me and kept me updated on the conditions. I sincerely thank Marco Camandona for waiting for me with his drone at the top of the Gran Paradiso to take some photos, he never abandons me whatever strange idea crosses my mind he is always there thank you.
Thanks are due to the Gran Paradiso National Park who, thanks to the help of the Aosta Valley Alpine Guides, gave us the authorization to use the drone within our splendid national park.”
This information is for illustrative purposes only, not educational purposes: if you are not an expert in the mountains and related disciplines, contact a mountaineering, ski mountaineering, climbing school, any section of the CAI or a professional mountain guide.
