Holidays Among Mountain Lakes and Marmots, Hiking to Fellaria Glacier

We set off on this year’s holiday after the summer season had already come to an end. We spent our days hiking in the mountains around Aosta, as well as exploring Gran Paradiso National Park and Vanoise National Park. Despite it being September, we were lucky with the weather. The temperatures were much more comfortable for hiking than in the summer, and there were very few people around.

The dry summer had left the mountain slopes looking rather brown and there weren’t many flowers left. But in return, we kept coming across adorable marmots, already nice and chubby as they prepared for winter. They became a part of almost every day of our trip. They are such incredibly cute animals that I woul love to have one at home.

On our way from Slovenia to Aosta, we also made a detour to the Fellaria Glacier. We thought, “Since we’re already in this part of the Alps, why not make a little detour into this valley as well?” We had really wanted to do this hike, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Na letošnji dopust sva se odpravila, ko se je poletna sezona že zaključila. Potepala sva se po hribih okoli Aoste, v narodnem parku Gran Paradiso in narodnem parku Vanoise. Kljub septembru sva imela lepo vreme, temperature pa so bile za hojo veliko prijetnejše kot poleti. Tudi obiskovalcev v gorah je bilo zelo malo.

Posledica letošnjega sušnega poletja so bila rjava travnata pobočja in rožic res ni bilo veliko. Zato pa sva srečevala prikupne svizce, ki so bili v pričakovanju zime že precej debelušni. Popestrili so nama skoraj vsak dan. Tako prikupne živali so, da bi enega imela kar doma.

Na poti iz Slovenije proti Aosti sva se ustavila tudi pri ledeniku Fellaria. »Če že greva v tiste konce, pa zavijeva še v to dolino,« sva razmišljala, saj sva si res želela na ta pohod.

The starting point for the hike to the glacier is Campo Moro, which unfortunately cannot currently be reached by car. A few years ago, a landslide buried the road leading to Campo Moro, and it has remained closed ever since. We drove as far as the small village of Tornardi. From there, you first have to walk for about half an hour through the forest, and then a shuttle van takes hikers the rest of the way to Campo Moro. That was the plan we had for the following morning.

Unfortunately, during the night, there was an accident on the extremely narrow and steep temporary road through the forest, so by morning the route had been closed to hikers as well. Luckily, a friendly young firefighter showed us an alternative route that allowed us to avoid the site of the accident.

So, our hike finally began in Campo Moro. We walked past the Lago di Gera dam and followed the trail towards Rifugio Bignami. There, we took a short break on a bench overlooking our destination – the Fellaria Glacier.

Izhodišče za pot do ledenika je Campo Moro, ki pa trenutno z avtomobilom žal ni dosegljivo. Pred nekaj leti je namreč cesto, ki vodi do Campo Moro, zasul plaz, zato je zaprta. Z avtom sva se pripeljala do zaselka Tornardi. Od tam je do izhodišča najprej približno pol ure hoje po gozdu, nato pa pohodnike do Campo Moro prepeljejo s kombijem. Tako sva si zamislila tudi najin načrt za naslednji dan.

Žal se je ponoči na izredno ozki in strmi nadomestni cesti v gozdu zgodila nesreča, zato so zjutraj zaprli pot tudi za pohodnike. Na srečo nama je prijazen mladi gasilec pokazal nadomestno pot, po kateri sva se lahko izognila mestu nesreče.

Začetek pohoda je bil torej v Campo Moro. Nadaljevala sva mimo jezu Lago di Gera in sledila oznakam do koče Rifugio Bignami. Tam sva si privoščila kratek počitek na klopci s pogledom na najin cilj – ledenik Fellaria.

From there, the trail split several times, so we had to pay close attention to the signs. To reach the small lake below the glacier, we had to follow trail marker C. The landscape already felt completely autumnal – brown grass, rocky slopes and, here and there, a marmot popping out to greet us.

Pri nadaljevanju poti je sledilo več odcepov. Za jezerce pod ledenikom je treba slediti oznaki C. Pokrajina je bila že čisto jesenska – rjava trava, tu in tam pa se je pokazal kakšen svizec, ki naju je že prvi dan veselo pozdravil.

Eventually, we sat by the lake all by ourselves. Chunks of ice were floating in the water, while we were perfectly comfortable in our short sleeves. We watched the glacier and talked about how much it has been shrinking. It was hard to believe that we had all this incredible scenery completely to ourselves.

It was one of those moments when you simply sit, take it all in and feel incredibly lucky to be there.

Potem sva čisto sama sedela ob jezeru, v katerem so plavali kosi ledu, nama pa je bilo kljub temu prijetno in sva lahko uživala kar v kratkih rokavih. Opazovala sva ledenik in se pogovarjala o tem, kako se zmanjšuje. Kar nisva mogla verjeti, da sva vso to lepoto imela čisto zase.