Gran Paradiso 4061m - Best first 4000m mountain to climb in the Alps?

With just a few months until I can go up in the mountains again I was reminiscing on this trip from last year and wanted to share it with you all.
This is a trip I made with my fiancee and it ended up being the highlight of our year.
Gran Paradiso and it's surrounding areas are amazing. The mountain is also a great place to start for beginner mountaineers wanting to climb their first 4000-meter mountain, with the Vittorio Emanuele hut being a safer approach to the summit due to it being less exposed to the glacier.
If you have experience crossing glaciers there's also the option of going up via the Chabod hut and descending via the Vittorio Emanuele hut, since these two routes intersect close to the summit.

[@wstravels]

Looks like a very fun mountain to climb! Looking forward to ticking this one off on a future visit to the Alps. I did my first 4000m peak this summer when I was guided up Allalihorn. It was incredibly straight forward with only around 600m of ascent over the glacier from the lift system at Saas-Fee. There are about 12 x 4000ers that you can tick off from that lift! Best wishes, Will

[@blueshadow3794]

Damn, this was so well done, the views music, everything. I was surprised that Viv has such good stamina :D Awesome!

[@TraintoSummit]

She's one tough cookie 🏋🏻‍♀️

[@abelsietecuatro9249]

Mountains are beautiful. In Bolivia there is a football field at 4983 meters above sea level

[@sportulparebun]

Nice, did same thing a few days ago. One note: this is Madonna peak (4058.). Gran Paradiso peak if further on the ridge and a bit more difficult :)

[@TraintoSummit]

One for another time😎 Thanks for watching!

[@Thundercross93]

Fantastic!

[@nicolamada3639]

Nice!

[@JesusCZ12]

I see that you rented some gear, can you recomend a rental shop in Aosta or the one you used? Great video btw!!

[@TraintoSummit]

Thanks for watching. We rented the gear from here (Gal Gal Sport Di Roberto & C. Sas)

[@maximgecko3889]

Hei, I see you have used some ropes in the final section? In case of a solo is it doable without roping?

[@TraintoSummit]

Hey mate. It's definitely not the type of mountain to be soloed. The end section is exposed but the actual challenge is the glacier, it's SUPER crevassed, I definitely don't recommend doing Gran Paradiso solo from any side. That being said, if you want to solo 4k's in the Alps then Lagginhorn via the West ridge and Weissmies via the South West ridge are both doable. I made a video on both while I soloed it last year, they're on my channel. Take care!

[@maximgecko3889]

@@TraintoSummit Thanks for the advice. I watched your vid about lagging on the Laggingorn and now consider this summit.

[@TraintoSummit]

@@maximgecko3889 Smash it mate!!

[@darylmacvicar6313]

Awesome video , I’ve read your advice on the Glaciers but if you still decided to go it solo is the top scramble doable without being roped up ?

[@TraintoSummit]

@@darylmacvicar6313 Yeah it's possible. Once you're at the summit where the statue is there are 2 options of descent, the one on the left which you see in the video, which is a sheer drop off the mountain, but there's one on the right that's far less exposed (on the side of the mountain you came up from), this is the one you should go for. You would also have the option to descend where you came from but it's a bit of a bottleneck due to the people. Good luck man, let me know how it went!

[@tristonshanahan7069]

Hi, what type of training do you need for this? I don't know really where to start

[@TraintoSummit]

Hi there. I'm actually a Strength & Conditioning coach that works with fellow mountaineers. If you scroll down my channel you'll find 7 videos (training guides) I made on how to train for this. I also write tailored programs for clients and do online coaching - if you're interested just drop me an email. Good luck!

[@JohanneXeniaWestberg]

where did you rent the equipment?

[@TraintoSummit]

Just outside of Aosta, put this on Google maps 👇🏻 Gal Gal Sport Di Roberto & C. Sas It's a small place that has pretty old equipment, we went during COVID so there was literally nothing else renting equipment that was open aside from these guys. Good luck 😊

[@TeoLightyear3]

My next 4000!

[@hanzlahnisar1373]

Did you need a guide?

[@wadahomer2155]

Hannibal Barca went through this 2k years ago?

[@TraintoSummit]

Hahahahahah, did you just watch Oversimplified's new video? I was actually searching a few days ago to see exactly where he crossed. Thanks for watching!

[@wadahomer2155]

@@TraintoSummit Yeah i did😂😂i was curious and decided to search up exactly how climbing the alps would look like. Crazy to think he did that thousands of years ago and people are still talking about it today. Great video

[@jamesaddison81]

What month did you climb this?

[@TraintoSummit]

July👍🏼

[@jamesaddison81]

@@TraintoSummit ah cool cheers. I was just curious as there seems to be a good amount of snow up there. I’m tempted to do this in September. Great video!

[@TraintoSummit]

@@jamesaddison81 Definitely still doable until mid September. You might even get better conditions than I did-it was way too hot and the glacier was a nightmare to cross on the way back. Just have your glacier kit and a buddy and it should be fine ;)

[@alessandrosella9631]

@@TraintoSummit The way we do it is leave at around 3-3:30, summit by 5-5:30 to catch the sunrise and then descend when there is very little melt and be down by 7-8 depending on how good the sunrise is and the number of people on the descent to pass. Thats from Chabod like you did it. Would definitely recommend that.

[@loekpaques]

Very annoying music. Does not fit with the pictures.