, photo = Gran_Paradiso.jpg , photo_caption = The Gran Paradiso , elevation_m = 4061 , elevation_ref =Geoportale IGM o
www.pcn.minambiente.it
/ref> , prominence_m = 1879 , prominence_ref = , range = Graian Alps , parent_peak = , listing =

Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley P ...

, location =

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

(

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin ( it, Città metropolitana di Torino, Piedmontese: ''Sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the Province of Turin and ...

) and

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, map = Italy , relief=1 , translation = Great Paradise , language =

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Italian , map_caption = Italy , map_size = 250 , coordinates = , coordinates_ref = , topo = , first_ascent = September 4, 1860 by Cowell, Dundas, Payot and Tairraz , easiest_route = rock/ice climb The Gran Paradiso () or Grand Paradis () is a mountain in the Graian Alps in

, located between the

and

regions.

Geography

The peak is the 7th highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

in the Graian Alps, with an elevation of 4,061 m. In the

SOIUSA Alps by SOIUSA. SOIUSA (an acronym for - English: ''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps-ISMSA'') is a proposal for a new classification system of the Alps from the geographic and toponomastic point of view. It was desig ...

(''International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps'') the mountain belongs to an alpine subsection called ''"North-Eastern Graian Alps"'' ( It:''Alpi del Gran Paradiso''; Fr:''Alpes du Grand-Paradis'') and also gives its name to the ''gruppo del Gran Paradiso''. While the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indep ...

straddles the border between France and Italy, the Gran Paradiso is the only mountain whose summit reaches over 4,000 metres that is entirely within Italian territory.

Routes

Climbs normally start from either the Refuge Frédéric Chabod or the Refuge Victor-Emmanuel II. The latter is named after

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession1 ...

who created the Gran Paradiso royal reserve in 1856, presently the site of the

Gran Paradiso National Park Gran Paradiso National Park (Italian: ''Parco nazionale del Gran Paradiso''; ), is an Italian national park in the Graian Alps, between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions. The park is named after Gran Paradiso mountain, which is located in the ...

. It is widely accepted that Gran Paradiso is one of the easiest four-thousanders to summit. This is not fully true, however, because while almost the entire route to the ridge is graded at F+, the last several dozen metres to the Virgin Mary (or Madonna) summit ( it, Cima della Madonna, french: Pointe de la Madone ou french: Pointe de la Vierge - 4058 m) comprises rock climbing with considerable exposure, with difficulties of grade I UIAA, while access to the proper main summit (4061 m) requires 15 minutes of climbing up to grade II UIAA. Gran Paradiso is popular with novice alpinists and many of these only climb to the Madonna summit. In addition to the main summit routes, Gran Paradiso possesses a steep snow/ice North West Face, which can be climbed at AD+ from the Refuge Frédéric Chabod.

Nature conservation

Gran Paradiso is located in the

, an Italian

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

named after the mountain. On the French side of the border, the park is continued by the Vanoise National Park.

References

Maps

* Italian official cartography (''

Istituto Geografico Militare The ''Istituto Geografico Militare'' (IGM), or Military Geographic Institute, is an Italian public organization, dependent on the Italian Army general staff (''Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito''). It is the national mapping agency for Italy. Over ...

'' - IGM); on-line version
www.pcn.minambiente.it
* I.G.C. (''Istituto Geografico Centrale'') - Carta dei sentieri e dei rifugi 1:50.000 scale n.3 ''Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso'' and 1:25.000 n.101 ''Gran Paradiso, La Grivola, Cogne''

External links