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The Bertone hut

“If paradise exists, I’ve cut myself out
a nice little piece of it”

Altitude: 1989 m
Address: Loc. Monte della Saxe, 11013 COURMAYEUR
Opening period: 1 June – 30 September; other periods upon request
Contact: 0165.844612 - 348.0056203
[email protected]
www.rifugiobertone.com

Hut manager: Lorenzino Cosson

“This story begins with a friendship born in the mountains with Giorgio Bertone: with him I went through the ‘school of life’. He taught me and encouraged me, right from our first challenge together: the Grand Capucin in one day. This was in the 60’s and it was then that I understood I had found THE climbing partner. It was he who chose me. We have done more than 40 camping trips and ascents together and, if I think back to it, I still cannot believe that with him I climbed the Nose of El Capitan, in the Yosemite Valley. The first Italian ascent of the South-East face. It was the year 1974 and again I asked him why he had chosen me for that challenge. He told me: “Perhaps I could have found a better climber than you, but I could never have found a better friend”.

In the 80’s I was an alpine guide and a ski instructor. I had one dream: get some mountain lodges in Mont de la Saxe in order to transform them into huts. An ambitious project but, gradually, year after year, I managed it. One step at a time I succeeded, with various aids, in making this spectacular place to be enjoyed even by those who do not stay there.

My advice? Go up to Courmayeur and on to Val Ferret, an easy hike of about an hour and a half. Sleep at the Bertone and wake up in time to enjoy the sunrise. A unique spectacle in front of the Mont Blanc.
If paradise exists, I’ve cut myself out a nice little piece of it. And, if it doesn’t exist, I have enjoyed it here, in this corner of the Aosta Valley.”

The hut
It is just a little before Bertone that Gazzola, during the Tor des Géants 2011 took a wrong turning. Cosson knew and admired this man. His constancy and his humbleness.

Lorenzino Cosson, year ’47, will welcome you with his passion. The Bertone refuge is him, right from when it was just a group of mountain lodges. He is passionate about mountain climbing and skiing, he has been an alpine guide and ski instructor. Who better than he can advise on how to fully enjoy this corner of paradise?

The hut is situated along the Tour du Mont Blanc trail: a hike without any particular difficulty, but unforgettable for its breathtaking panoramas.

If instead you prefer to relax at the hut and enjoy the view from there, you can use the telephoto lens to see the best walks and trails and the hikers walking them. You can borrow this from Lorenzino Cosson. He, at 65 years old, no longer sets out on these excursions, but as he walked them and loved them all his life, he likes to look out over the life which buzzes along the Tour of Mont Blanc. He also uses his passion for photography as a way to relive these emotions. Always with the images and the music of his friend Bertone beside him.

Specialities

The secret is to buy 40 pieces of alpine Fontina cheese in September. Store them in a cellar, take care of them until spring, and then serve them to guests of the hut. That unmistakable flavour, accompanied by polenta cooked on a wood stove, that is what people who come here remember and yearn for.
 

 

Updated: Wed, 08/08/2012 - 12:10