Mont Mary, from Blavy

Introduction

Interesting outing to a very scenic peak above Aosta. This excursion can also be completed with an ascent to the adjacent Mont Mary and the closure of the ring-route around the Becca di Viou itself.

Description

Leaving the car in the convenient car park near the characteristic chapel of Blavy (1471m), we climb up a small tarmac road for a few hundred metres until we come to a signpost that tells us to turn right. We take a path that crosses a group of houses and, after encountering another fountain, reaches an agricultural road after a few minutes: we turn right and begin to climb it. As you follow the road, you first come across a round irrigation pool and then, on the left, the start of the path proper (ignore the road descending on the right towards Parléaz). Go up the path through the fir forest and after about ten minutes, you will first cross the farm road leading to the Alpe di Viou and, after passing a building used as an aqueduct, continue along the road on your left, ignoring a gravel road on the right. After a couple of intersections with the farm road, take the path again on the left that enters the forest. We ascend the mule track, which at first steeply takes us up a section of the ridge and then tends to the right at a lower gradient, passing below a scree slope. After a few hairpin bends and a last diagonal stretch, after 1h00' we reach the farm road again: we follow it for about fifty metres and then rejoin the path that crosses the pastures and in 0h10' reaches the Viou alpine pasture (2078m, 1h25'): from up here we can already enjoy a splendid panorama of Aosta and the Grivola. Leaving the alpine pasture, on the left of the longest building you will see the yellow arrows, go up the pastures above going to the right until you reach a small ridge; follow it for a few tens of metres and then turn left towards the Tsa de Viou (2202m, 1h45'): note a very characteristic fountain. We now head in the direction of the Becca, which is now clearly visible above us, following the path that, without an excessive incline, crosses the pastures amidst patches of rhododendron (Rhododendron ferrugineum) and bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) until we reach the pass. From here, the trail decisively changes slope, crosses a debris drainage and climbs up the south-west ridge of the Becca while slowly opening up splendid views of the distant Mont Blanc. After a series of hairpin bends, the trail climbs steeply to the right until it reaches a gully, which we cross comfortably; from here, the path climbs steeply again to the right and then declines near the rounded summit of the Col de Viou (2,698m, 2h55'). 

From the col, we follow a track up the ridge between the scree until we reach the summit of Mont Mary (2,814m, 3h00'). From up here, the panorama is incomparable: due to its central position, practically all the mountains of the central-western Aosta Valley can be seen. The return is along the same route as the outward journey.