Before this winter trekking in Monte Avic we waited a lot for the snow. I was a bit indecise whether to join the hike or not with my friends of World Path but at the end I decide to join and it was a nice idea as usual. I had a very stressing Christmas, for personal reasons and having an hike in the snow and with sun and pretty mild temperature was perfect for me.
We decided to go to Monte Avic Natural Reserve, a magnificent place in Aosta Valley. There are several routes and shelter you can do there and we opted fot reaching the Barbustel Hut or Lac Blanc(White Lake). The pecularity of the Monte Avic reserve is probably thr humid region. There are tons of lakes and peatlands (basically dried lakes)that makes the environment very interesting and the flora pretty unique.
We did an easy day hike that can be done basically all year round. The Balbustel shelter looks pretty beautiful in the middle of many lakes and with an amazing view of the Mattherorn and Monte Rosa.
The hike started in the Champorcher valley, the first one you find at your left entering the Aosta valley from Piedmont. The valley is going east to west and is very close to Cogne Valley and Gran Paradiso National Park. It is sufficient to cross the pass called Finestra di Champorcher which means window of Champorcher, that ends in the Urtier Valley where to Sogno shelter is located. It is also possible to do a 4 days Monte Avic Hike, a medium trekking which uses the Barbustel and Dondena shelters and the Borroz unguarded hut.
