Towards the end of the 17th century, the Valdostan nobleman Philibert Amédée Arnod explored the mountains in his valley, initially for military purposes, and noted a considerable advance of the glaciers. His reports, kept in the State Archives in Turin, are the basis, together with other documents from that time, of this documentary reconstruction which illustrates, at the end, an attempt to reach Col Major, the present day Colle del Gigante, in 1689.