Tête des Fra, from the Morges car park

Access

Follow the road past Aosta and exit at the Morgex toll. Turn back to the right a little until you reach La Salle where, at a bend, you turn left to enter the village. Here continue following the signs for Challancin, Morgex, which you reach after a few kilometres and, before the last bend that leads into the Planaval valley, you will find a convenient car park on the right where you can leave your car.

Introduction

A long but very satisfying excursion that takes place in environments, in its highest part are open and very scenic. Easy up to the start of the ascent to the col at an altitude of 2595m while further on it requires a little safety when walking up the somewhat steep traverses and above all a correct evaluation, and not only in the event of the absence of tracks, of the best route to follow on the final ridge which, depending on the presence of fresh, hard and icy or windy snow, presents situations of different progression. Personally, I think that crampons may possibly be useful in the last section in the case of hard, icy snow.

Description

From the car park, climb briefly up the slope in front of you until you cross the track of a farm track that climbs to the right. Follow it through the wood for a few hairpin bends, which are not too steep, passing near some well-restored huts, and, as you climb, leave to the right three tracks of three small roads until you reach the last obvious crossroads at an altitude of about 2020m, where you stay to the left, leaving to the right the tracks that head towards the col de Bard.

We continue walking eastwards through the wood, which is becoming increasingly sparse and, when it ends, we arrive near the obvious huts of Ors damon (2093m); from this point, the basin opens up before us, culminating on the left at the destination of our hike.

The landscape now becomes completely open and we can clearly see the col Fetita in front of us, and further to the left we begin to glimpse the roofs of the Tramail des Ors. We ascend, staying a little to the orographic left of the valley, and aim not at the col Fetita, which in its final part could be subject to some discharge from the point of the same name above, but at the obvious little point to its left. Walk slightly uphill through gentle ups and downs to reach the base of the peak and begin to climb with a few zig-zags on snow that becomes steeper and steeper, and just before reaching the summit, take a slightly exposed traverse to the left to reach the evident col (2595m) to the left of the peak. Now you begin to follow the ridge faithfully, at first wide and comfortable but then with a few traverses, even these a little exposed near the outcrops to keep away from the possible ledges, you continue taking as a reference the now nearby "becca" of the summit.

As you approach it, the slope increases considerably and here, depending on the condition of the snowpack, you need to decide whether it is more convenient to pass close to the edge of the ridge or just below it: in this case, another traverse must be planned, which is a little uncomfortable and exposed.

At a small rocky outcrop, pass it on the right, go over a small crevice (watch out for the cornice) and you will reach the summit. Here, on a clear day, adjectives to describe the panorama are surely wasted: for 360° you can see practically all the most important near and distant peaks of the Valle d'Aosta in an endless carpet of peaks and gullies descending from them.

For the descent, it is certainly worth passing by the Tramail des Ors and so you return to the col at the bottom of the ridge and from here you can descend directly down, cutting across to the right and heading towards the alpine pasture; from here you then head for the huts of Ors damon and then retrace your outward route.