Holidays Among Mountain Lakes and Marmots, hiking stories from Gran Paradiso National Park

Gran Paradiso National Park has endless options for mountain hikes. We drove up the Valsavarenche valley all the way to Pont, a tiny hamlet at the very end of the valley. Pont was our base for the next two days of hiking.

Narodni park Gran Paradiso ponuja ogromno možnosti za gorske pohode. Midva sva se zapeljala v dolino Valsavarenche, vse do zaselka Pont na njenem koncu. Pont je bil tudi najino izhodišče za pohode v naslednjih dveh dneh.

Our first hike took us to Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II, named after the Italian king. We were a little surprised by the beautifully maintained, stone-paved paths leading out of Pont. They looked nothing like the usual mountain trails. These paths were actually built in the 19th century as royal hunting routes for King Victor Emmanuel II. Large sections are paved with stones, with stone retaining walls along the slopes, making the climb surprisingly smooth despite the steep and rugged terrain.

Najprej sva se odpravila do koče Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II, ki nosi ime po italijanskem kralju. Malo so naju presenetile lepo urejene in tlakovane poti iz vasi Pont, ki so bile precej drugačne od običajnih gorskih stez. Poti so bile zgrajene v 19. stoletju kot kraljeve lovske poti za kralja Viktorja Emanuela II. Velik del poti je tlakovan s kamni, ob njej pa so zgrajeni tudi podporni zidovi, kar omogoča precej enakomeren vzpon kljub zahtevnemu gorskemu terenu.

Since it was still early, we decided to make the hike a bit longer and crossed the grassy slopes towards Rifugio Federico Chabod. It took us longer than expected, mostly because we kept stopping to watch animals along the way. By the time we made our way back down to the valley and followed the road to Pont, it was already dark. We had been hiking all day, and this time our legs were definitely feeling it.

Ker je bilo še zgodaj, sva se odločila pohod nekoliko podaljšati in čez travnata pobočja nadaljevala proti koči Rifugio Federico Chabod. Pot se je nekoliko zavlekla, predvsem zaradi številnih postankov ob opazovanju živali. Nazaj v dolino in po cesti do Ponta sva se vrnila šele, ko se je že znočilo. Hodila sva ves dan in tokrat so naju noge že kar konkretno bolele.

The next day, we headed towards Colle del Nivolet. You can actually drive to the pass from the Piedmont side, but we decided to hike there from Pont instead. The trail climbs quite steeply through the forest at first, but eventually opens up onto a grassy plateau. From there, the trail stays almost completely flat for several kilometres all the way to the pass. There were little streams, abandoned shepherds’ huts and the two Nivolet lakes just below the pass. It was the kind of scenery that makes you want to stop every few minutes.

Naslednji dan sva se iz Ponta odpravila proti prelazu Colle del Nivolet. Do prelaza se sicer lahko iz pokrajine Piemont pripeljemo tudi z avtom, midva pa sva se odločila, da se do njega odpraviva peš. Pot se najprej precej strmo vzpenja skozi gozd, nato pa se odpre na travnato planoto. Od tam naprej se nekaj kilometrov do prelaza nadaljuje skoraj po ravnini. Potočki, zapuščene pastirske hišice in jezeri Nivolet tik pod prelazom – vse skupaj je bilo prav idilično. Zaradi čudovite pokrajine sva se kar naprej ustavljala.

From the pass, we had a great view of Lago Serrù and Lago Agnel. The two lakes are almost right next to each other, but their colours are completely different. The only thing that took away from the mountain idyll was the road coming up from Piedmont. The pass was full of motorcyclists, buses and traffic, so it was definitely not as peaceful as we had imagined.

S prelaza se je odprl lep razgled na jezeri Lago Serrù in Lago Agnel. Ležita skoraj eno ob drugem, vendar sta njuni barvi popolnoma različni. Edino, kar je nekoliko pokvarilo gorsko idilo, je bila cesta s piemontske strani. Prelaz je bil poln motoristov, avtobusov in prometa, zato je bilo precej bolj hrupno, kot sva pričakovala.

We decided to keep going along the trail for another hour or two, stopping every now and then to watch marmots. Eventually, we reached the high-altitude lakes Lago Rosset and Lago Leita. Here, it was finally quiet again, and we could just sit and enjoy the scenery. The wind was barely moving the surface of the water, and there was hardly anyone around. Another full day of hiking.

Midva sva nadaljevala po stezici še kakšno uro ali dve, z vmesnimi postanki zaradi opazovanja svizcev. Prišla sva do visokogorskih jezer Lago Rosset in Lago Leita. Tu je bilo spet mirno in lahko sva v miru uživala v naravi. Veter je komaj opazno premikal gladino jezer, okoli naju pa skoraj ni bilo nikogar. Še en cel dan hoje.

After moving on in our van, we drove to Colle San Carlo, parked there and continued on foot towards Lago d'Arpy. It was an easy hike along a wide forest trail, and once we reached the lake, we took our time and relaxed by the water.

Po premiku s kombijem sva se odpravila do Colle San Carlo, kjer sva parkirala in peš nadaljevala proti Lago d'Arpy. Pohod je bil lahek in pot je vodila po široki gozdni poti. Ko sva prišla do jezera, sva si vzela čas za počitek ob vodi.

We spent the night at the Little St Bernard Pass, right next to the chairlift. The next day, we did two shorter hikes, with enough time in between to cook ourselves some lunch. First, we descended to Lago Verney and then climbed up to Lago Verney Superiore. It was only about 200 metres of elevation gain, but somehow it took us almost two hours.

Prespala sva na prelazu Mali sv. Bernard, tik ob sedežnici. Naslednji dan sva naredila dva krajša pohoda, vmes pa sva si skuhala kosilo. Najprej sva se spustila do Lago Verney, nato pa povzpela še do Lago Verney Superiore. Za približno 200 metrov vzpona sva potrebovala skoraj dve uri.

In the afternoon, we hiked from the hospice up to Lac Sans Fond. We extended the route a little further, mainly because we wanted to get closer to the snow.
Popoldne sva se od hospica povzpela do Lac Sans Fond. Pot sva nato še nekoliko podaljšala, predvsem zato, ker sva se želela približati snegu.

We spent another night at the pass. The view from our bedroom was just too good to leave.

Spet sva spala na prelazu. Razgled iz najine spalnice je bil preprosto prelep, da bi ga lahko zapustila.