Tour du Rutor — Stage 1: La Thuile → Rifugio Albert Deffeyes

From La Thuile ascend the Rutor valley past the three spectacular glacier-fed waterfalls to Rifugio Albert Deffeyes (2,494 m), overlooking the snout of the Rutor glacier and its meltwater lakes.

From La Thuile you ascend the valley on the historic mule track that once served the coal mines, soon entering conifer forest. The three Rutor waterfalls punctuate the climb: the first is admired from the bridge, the second deserves the short detour to the viewpoint, the third plunges right below the hut’s glacial step. The Deffeyes appears suddenly on the rim of the basin: behind it, the snout of the Rutor glacier — the Aosta Valley’s third largest — and its milk-coloured meltwater lakes. A short but intense stage: 1,100 metres almost without respite, water at the falls.