The Gervasutti bivouac stands on a rocky spur at an altitude of 2,835 metres, beneath the spectacular faces of the Grandes and Petites Jorasses and the Aiguille des Leschaux, and is the starting point for splendid climbing routes: from the route on the East face of the Grand Jorasses, opened by Giusto Gervasutti and Giuseppe Gagliardone in 1942 and repeated solo in winter by Renato Casarotto in 1985, to the East face of the Petites Jorasses, first climbed in 1962 by Walter Bonatti and Pierre Mazeaud and also known as the Friendship Route, in memory of the friends who had died a year earlier during the attempt on the Central Pillar of Frêney.
Bonatti, Mazeaud and Casarotto are just a few of the many mountaineers who have left their signature in the book of the bivouac built in 1948 by the SUCAI Subsection to replace the Freboudze bivouac located 600 metres lower down (dismantled in the 1980s and now kept in the Courmayeur mountain guides’ museum).
Built entirely of wood, before being carried up the mountain thanks to the help and labour of SUCAI members and the Alpini, it was put on display for a month in Turin, in Piazza CLN. It was decided to name it after Giusto Gervasutti, the “mighty” mountaineer from Turin, precisely in memory of his first ascent of the East face of the Grandes Jorasses.
Following some damage, the Hut was completely rebuilt in 1961, again in wood and again by the SUCAI Subsection. Thanks to a helicopter made available by the American army, most of the materials could be flown up, avoiding having to carry them on people’s backs along the path that climbs from the valley floor over a vertical gain of about 1,200 metres.
Today, fifty years after the last rebuild, the School, the SUCAI Subsection and CAI Torino have decided to build a new structure to replace the existing one.
Today, a concentrate of technology that respects the environment
The first latest-generation alpine bivouac, the ultimate synthesis of comfort, safety and respect for the environment, has been installed in recent days at an altitude of 2,835 m on the Freboudze glacier, opposite the spectacular East face of the Grandes Jorasses on Mont Blanc.
The innovative structure, commissioned by CAI Torino and strongly championed by the School and the SUCAI Subsection – designed by architects Luca Gentilcore and Stefano Testa – is an innovative bivouac made of composite material (a fibreglass and high-density PVC sandwich) with a modular shell of thirty square metres. The bivouac of the future, powered by photovoltaic panels, has a reduced environmental impact and is already a pilot model for other high-tech, eco-sustainable sites. The fruit of sophisticated nautical and aeronautical know-how, it is built to better withstand high-altitude conditions.
Inside, there is a dedicated system for self-diagnosis and for recording indoor and outdoor environmental data, as well as an emergency call point. An internet connection system will allow the Bivouac to be constantly connected with the world in order to provide real-time information on weather conditions, manage the organisation of occupancy and set up a community of visitors able to exchange news on the virtual “hut book”. All this without giving up the pleasure of jotting down one’s impressions in the paper logbook kept in the bivouac.
A mix of technology and respect for the environment; nevertheless, there has been no shortage of criticism, focused above all on its appearance. The charge is that the new hut is alien to its surroundings and out of place, and that its look does not reflect the traditional image of the mountains.
What do you think?
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