High Route 2 — Stage 1: Courmayeur → Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini

Start in Courmayeur, cross Dolonne and climb to Rifugio Maison Vieille before reaching Lac Combal plateau and Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini. Classic stage with Grandes Jorasses views.

From Courmayeur you enter Val Veny beneath the moraines of the Miage glacier, Italy’s largest debris-covered glacier: its black mantle tells two centuries of glacial retreat. Past Lake Combal the valley opens into the Lex Blanche amphitheatre, dominated by the Pyramides Calcaires, up to Rifugio Elisabetta. Water at Visaille and at the hut; the summer Courmayeur–Visaille shuttle usefully shortens the day.