~ Thursday 27th September 2012
Back to Italy again for the Gran Paradiso, this time from the Chabod side. Weather all over the Alps has been terrible with snow, cloud and very strong winds making poor conditions high up, but there was just a slight chance of a window on Tuesday morning. In the end we didn't quite make the summit - as we reached the shoulder at 3800m we had a fine view of the next wave of bad weather approaching from the west, and decided to retreat before it arrived.
The Gran Paradiso is famous for it's Ibex, and on the way down we came across a group of 8. They're surprisingly tame - although this pair were having a good fight - and you can get quite close!
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