South of the Mont Blanc Massif, and forming the souther border of Italy's Aosta Valley, is the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso. The geography of the northwestern corner of the Park can be likened to a giant three-pronged fork with the tines being the long and deep valleys of the Valgrisenche, the Val di Rhemes, and the Valsavarenche, all flowing north into the Aosta Valley. The park gets its name from the highest peak in the area, the 4061 meter Gran Paradiso. This is the highest peak wholly within Italy, and as such is often considered the highest in Italy. This tour follows a horseshoe-shaped itinerary, starting in the western most Valgrisenche, then crossing high passes between the remaining two valleys before heading up to climb the Gran Paradiso itself. The summit day, the last in our itinerary, is a big day, but given good weather, generally not too difficult, with moderate skinning up to a high ski cache about 60 meters below the rocky summit. From here a short section of easy, but occasionally quite exposed climbing in boot crampons leads to the airy summit. Most of the touring on this route is straightforward, with easy skinning and rolling gentle terrain. But on each of the descents into the valleys and on to the next hut, there are unavoidable short steep sections. Some of these may require descent on foot, but even when skiable (as they usually are) we'll need to be cautious and avoid times of high avalanche hazard. This tour is of medium difficulty, harder, in general then the Silvretta, but similar to the difficulties of the Berner Oberland tour, or the Ortler. We visit four alpine huts during our six days of skiing. The Italian huts offer a great sense of hospitality, though they are rustic. The hut keepers take pride in the quality of food and drink they offer. We always enjoy visiting the Italian huts as they usually have a happy, light-hearted ambiance, with cheap wine and great coffee.