Punta Ouillette, from Vens

Introduction

The trip to Aouillette is easy and very scenic; already on the way up after the crossroads beyond Saint-Nicolas, it is interesting to stop on the left, before a small bridge, in a widening marked by a sign, to admire the gullies below, an interesting erosion phenomenon. At Joux there is a beautiful chapel where Pope Wojtila had stopped during one of his Aosta Valley holidays. On the summit we find a glass shrine with the Black Madonna of Oropa inside. Devotion to this 'Biellese' Madonna is widespread in both the Aosta Valley and nearby Savoy. This peak, which is easy to reach, offers a beautiful panorama of the nearby Mont Blanc group and many other Aosta Valley mountains.

Description

Leaving the car in the small car park in front of the lake (1894m), there is an arrow on the right indicating the ascent path; the route is elementary, steep, at first among larch trees, then outside, in the midst of clearings, while the panorama around it widens as it climbs, until the Mont Blanc group appears in all its beauty; you climb for certain stretches into small valleys, and then also on the ridges that descend from the summit. At a certain point on the route, a diversion to the right, which should be omitted, leads to Lake Leysser. Continue up the fairly steep slope and gain the summit, marked by a shrine with the little black Madonna di Oropa (2616m, 2h00'). Around the Red of Vertosan the Fallère, the Leysser, the Vetan basin, the Vertosan comba with the Dzioule lakes, the entire Mont Blanc range and all the peaks of the valleys overlooking the Ferret and Veny valleys. Descent, by the same route as the ascent, in an hour and a quarter. On the way back, an interesting short stop to visit Vens, with its beautiful houses full of flowers.