Jean Antoine Carrel Path

A nature trail dedicated to Jean Antoine Carrel, the first to reach the top of the Matterhorn from the Italian side on 17 July 1865, just three days after the Englishman Whymper, from the Swiss peak. It was inaugurated in 2015 to mark the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the conquest of the Matterhorn. On the occasion of the celebrations to commemorate their fellow citizen, the residents of Valtournenche, “Votornen”, named an itinerary after him which departs and arrives in Perrères (a few kilometres from Breuil-Cervinia and from Valtournenche at 1850 m). Along its route, the trail passes by the Orionde shelter (2808 m), below the Matterhorn, reaches Plan Maison and from here (2500 m) continues to the Goillet dam and then towards the valley in the direction of Cervinia Valtournenche, as far as the votive chapel Sant’ Anna Notre Dame de la Garde, where the Holy Father “John Paul II” stopped to pray in 2000. Having reached the chapel, the trail dedicated to Carrel leads hikers to Alpeggio Manda Inferiore to terminate the “descent” between a thick larch wood in Perrères. Thirty kilometres of a variegated trail, which does not necessarily have to be walked in full (if so, it takes 10 hours), but which in consideration of the “different” descents to the valley guarantees that it can be walked in stages.