High Route 2 — Stage 9: Rifugio Vittorio Sella → Cogne

Warnings

Check weather and residual snow early season
Book huts in peak season

EHikerSummer

1 / 2

Map & route

Official GPX track — Aosta Valley Region / lovevda.it

Description

Fitness level

~680 kcal estimated

Shortest AV2 stage: descend through woods and Paradisia garden to Valnontey and Cogne.

A gentle, glorious descent: from the Sella hut follow the royal mule track down the Lauson valley, among waterfalls and pastures, to Valnontey, with the Tribolazione glacier and the Gran Paradiso north face sealing the valley. The Paradisia alpine botanical garden at Valnontey deserves your last hour; then the Sant’Orso meadow leads into Cogne, capital of the Park.

Earth sciences

Geology & landscape

Glacial valley with moraines and fluvioglacial deposits; gneiss and calcschist outcrops. Paradisia botanic garden documents alpine flora on varied substrates.

History & culture

Cogne was a mining town for a century: Colonna magnetite, extracted until 1979 at 2,400 metres, descended by an underground railway now open to cyclists.

Water sources

Many fountains in Cogne and Valnontey; managed huts at altitude.

Getting there

VITA buses and connections from Aosta; check seasonal timetables at vita.it.

Aosta Valley bus site Timetables (PDF up/down)

Parking

Parcheggi comunali nei paesi di valle; verificare limitazioni in alta stagione.

Open parking in maps

Nearby peaks

Becca di Moncorvé

3384 m

6 km (as crow flies)