Holidays Among Mountain Lakes and Marmots, hiking stories from the Aosta Valley

We continued towards Breuil-Cervinia and stopped first at Lago Blu, a small lake right next to the road. On a clear day, you can see the Matterhorn reflected in the water – or Monte Cervino, as it’s called in Italy. Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy when we arrived, and the mountain we had been hoping to see was hiding behind the clouds.

Nadaljevala sva proti naselju Breuil-Cervinia in se najprej ustavila ob jezeru Lago Blu, ki leži tik ob cesti. Ob lepem vremenu se v njem zrcali Matterhorn oziroma Monte Cervino, kot mu pravijo v Italiji. Ko sva prišla, je bilo precej oblačno in gora, ki sva si jo tako želela videti, se je skrivala za oblaki.

The next day, we set off on a longer hike. From Breuil-Cervinia, we took the cable car up to Plan Maison, which saved us quite a bit of climbing. From there, we continued on foot towards Lago Diga del Goillet. I’m not exactly great with directions, so, of course, I managed to take the wrong trail and ended up climbing towards the top station of the Gran Sommetta cable car, at around 3,000 metres. 

Naslednji dan sva se podala na daljši pohod. Iz Breuil-Cervinie sva se z žičnico odpeljala do Plan Maison in si tako prihranila nekaj vzpona. Od tam sva nadaljevala peš proti jezeru Lago Diga del Goillet. Ker mi orientacija ne gre ravno najbolje, sem izbrala napačno pot in se namesto proti jezeru povzpela do zgornje postaje žičnice Gran Sommetta, na približno 3000 metrov nadmorske višine.

This time we got lucky – the clouds cleared for a few moments and we finally got to see Monte Cervino.

Tokrat se je za nekaj trenutkov zjasnilo in uspelo nama je videti Monte Cervino.

A few minutes later, we reached Colle Cime Bianche, with a beautiful view over Val d’Ayas and its mountain lakes. The climb had taken a bit longer than planned, but I was actually glad I had taken the “wrong” trail. The view was definitely worth the extra effort.

Čez nekaj minut sva dosegla Colle Cime Bianche, od koder se odpre čudovit razgled na dolino Val d’Ayas in gorska jezera. Čeprav je vzpon trajal nekoliko dlje, sem bila na koncu kar vesela, da sem izbrala »napačno« pot. Za tak razgled je bilo vredno narediti kakšen kilometer več.

We then descended past the Laghi Cime Bianche lakes, which, to be honest, didn’t really impress us

Spustila sva se mimo jezer Laghi Cime Bianche, ki naju niso posebej navdušila.

From there, we took a longer route to the glass chapel of Sant’Anna. There’s another great view of the Matterhorn from the chapel, but once again, the mountain decided to hide behind the clouds.

Nato sva naredila še daljši krog do steklene kapele Sant’Anna. Tudi od tam je lep razgled na Matterhorn, vendar se je gora nama tokrat spet skrila za oblake.

For quite a while, the trail to the chapel runs alongside old railway tracks. They were built before the Second World War to support the construction of the Goillet Dam. It was quite interesting to walk along them and imagine how different this place must have looked during the construction works.

Pot do kapelice kar nekaj časa poteka ob železniških tirih. Ti so bili postavljeni pred drugo svetovno vojno za potrebe gradnje jezu Goillet. Zanimivo je hoditi po poti, kjer danes srečuješ predvsem pohodnike, in si predstavljati, kako je tukaj nekoč potekal promet zaradi gradnje jezu.

A view of Cervinia.

Pogled na Cervino.

We spent almost the whole day hiking and gained around 1,000 metres of elevation.We saw plenty of wildlife, including marmots. By the end, we were pretty tired, so we headed back to Cervinia and spent the night in a parking area.

Hodila sva skoraj ves dan in naredila okoli 1000 višinskih metrov. Videla sva veliko živali, tudi svizce, Po dolgem dnevu sva se vrnila v Cervinio, kjer sva prespala na parkirišču.

The hike around Lago di Place Moulin to Rifugio Prarayer was much easier. The trail is mostly flat and follows a wide gravel road along the lake. We had views of the turquoise water for almost the entire hike, which made the walk even more enjoyable. Since the trail is easy and accessible, there were quite a few other people around, but we still managed to find a quiet spot by the lake.

Pohod okoli Lago di Place Moulin do koče Rifugio Prarayer je bil precej bolj umirjen. Pot je lahka in poteka skoraj ves čas po ravnem, po široki makadamski poti ob jezeru. Skoraj celotno pot sva imela pogled na turkizno obarvano jezero, zato tudi počasnejši tempo ni bil nič hudega. Ker je pot lahka in dostopna, je bilo turistov nekoliko več, vendar sva brez težav našla svoj miren kotiček ob jezeru.

After moving on to the next valley, we spent the night by Lake Doues, which was also the starting point for our next hike to Col Champillon. In the evening, we had the whole place to ourselves. It was a little cloudy, but incredibly peaceful.

Po premiku v naslednjo dolino sva prespala ob jezeru Doues, ki je bilo izhodišče za najin naslednji pohod do prelaza Col Champillon. Zvečer sva bila tam čisto sama. Bilo je nekoliko oblačno, a prav zaradi tega je bilo vse skupaj še bolj mirno in posebno.

The next day was cloudy too. We first climbed up to Rifugio Champillon, where we stopped for a short break before continuing across the grassy slopes towards Col Champillon.

Tudi naslednji dan je bil oblačen. Najprej sva se povzpela do Rifugio Champillon, kjer sva si malo odpočila, nato pa nadaljevala po travnatih pobočjih proti prelazu Col Champillon.

We didn’t get much of a view because of the weather, but the autumn scenery was beautiful. The hills were covered in shades of brown and gold, and clouds were drifting around the surrounding peaks. We gained around 600 metres and it took us about two hours to reach the pass.

Zaradi vremena posebnih razgledov sicer nisva imela, sva pa uživala v jesenski pokrajini. Trava je bila obarvana v različne odtenke rjave in zlate, oblaki pa so se ves čas podili okoli okoliških vrhov. Naredila sva okoli 600 višinskih metrov in za vzpon porabila približno dve uri.

Near Cogne, we also visited the Lillaz waterfalls. They cascade down in several stages, and the trail climbs up alongside them, giving you different views as you go.

V bližini kraja Cogne sva si ogledala še slapove Lillaz, ki so sestavljeni iz več stopenj. Pot se od začetka slapov vzpenja navzgor, zato jih lahko opazuješ z različnih mest in zornih kotov.

 

Later that evening, while walking around the village of Lillaz, we came across an art exhibition. The paintings captured little moments in the mountains – the kind of moments that stay with you. You could really feel how much the artist loved this landscape. 

Med večernim ogledom vasi Lillaz sva opazila slikarsko razstavo. Slike so prikazovale trenutke v gorah – tiste lepe, ki se človeku vtisnejo v dušo. Iz njih je bilo čutiti, da avtor resnično ljubi to pokrajino.