Tête des Goilles

Introduction

Beautiful hike that takes in the woods and icy lonely valleys of Urtier and Bardoney and leads to a panoramic peak that dominates the latter and allows the eye to sweep from the nearby Grivola to Mont Blanc and the chain from Monte Creya to Torre Ponton. The few difficulties are concentrated in tackling the final slopes that from the diversions before Bardoney lead to the summit and more specifically to the central part where there is a rather steep passage.

Description

Take the road to the left of the car park and walk for a few dozen metres until you come to the signposts located near a house. Climb the steps next to the house, then go up into the woods following the track on the path and pass a couple of forks marked by posts (1708 and 1727 m); pass near a farm road and, still following the path, walk alongside a water conduit, quickly gaining height. Past the water conduit, the mountainside is skirted on the right and a small chapel (1829 m) is passed. Continue along a long traverse along the hillside that, with a few ups and downs, remains above the stream, passing through a sparse wood. Temporarily coming out of the wood, you arrive at a wide plateau where, on the left a little higher up the track, you will find the alpine pasture of Goilles dessus and continuing along the hillside you will soon arrive at the huts of Goilles desot (1845 m). Beyond them, walk towards the narrowest part of the valley approaching a wooden bridge and cross the stream, gaining the opposite bank; after passing a small plateau where you turn left, enter the woods and begin the ascent, at first with slight inclines and then overcome a steeper section with a few narrow hairpin bends. Continuing into the wood, climb up a narrow, steep gully, then up a few more narrow hairpin bends protected by a fence and, where the slope decreases, cut across the slope, arriving in sight of a crossroads well signposted by a post that is reached by descending a little towards a small plateau (2136 m). From the crossroads, walk along the right, skirting the upper slopes at first without gaining altitude and then, with a few hairpin bends, rise up passing through open, panoramic spaces to reach where the long, solitary Bardoney valley opens out. Having reached an altitude of around 2225 m, and in any case just before a marker post, we turn sharply to the right, climbing the slopes whose gradient gradually increases until we come to an evident rocky band that can be crossed by passing through a short but steep gully. Continue for a short stretch that is not very steep and, after a few hairpin bends, climb steeply again for a short distance, arriving at the large stone cairn on the summit.

General information

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