Our itinerary starts from Saint Jacques, a small village in Val d’Ayas just after Champoluc, much more touristic for sure.
Saint Jacques is the last village in the valley from which many excursions depart including the one that we will retrace today towards the Blue Lake. It is easy to confuse this lake with the one before Cervinia in the next valley, but it is purely a homonymy.
In the center of little Saint Jacques it is easy to find parking, otherwise a little further on the road that leads to the trails you can find some space.
This is the center of the village as soon as you arrive with the car from Champoluc you will find it in front of you.
At the end of the parking lot, if you go straight on you will have the possibility to choose which path to take, if the real mountain path or going up the carriage road at Chemin de Verra (here you will find almost always the names of the paths in French), which takes its name from the Piani di Verra that you will find up above.
We will give you both tracks, going up from the path and coming down from the carriage road.
On the trail you will soon find yourself immersed in steep meadows and woods in the first part, before arriving at Rifugio Fiery.
The first part is the one that climbs the most along with the last piece but the slopes will never be impossible. In addition, as you can see, you will immediately have a full view of Monte Rosa in the distance, do not get too distracted and keep an eye on the path!
After the first wooded part you will arrive at the lower Piani di Verra, a vast expanse of meadows where your children can play whatever they want, from chasing each other to playing with kites; we have seen all kinds of things here!
From here the view opens on Monte Rosa and its glaciers and at the bottom on the left, at the height of the scree, there is our goal of today, the Blue Lake.
The last stretch will be on a mountain path more challenging, but believe us that then the view will pay off.
Leaving behind the Piani di Verra you will find on your right the massif of Colle Bettaforma, which can also be reached from the bordering valley of Gressoney and the Palon di Resy, with its lakes. For these it will take another hike.
When you get near the lake, what you will find in front of you is a clear water that goes from a deep aqua green color to a sky blue mirror; all this depending on the climate and the exposure of the sunlight you will find.
From the Blue Lake there are several excursions to go higher towards the massif of Rosa, in particular you can reach the Refuge Mezzalama (3036 m) and the Refuge Guide della Val d’Ayas (3420 m) from which you can enjoy a magical view over the entire valley.
Leaving the lake and climbing slightly on the ridge on the scree, in the direction of Mezzalama the landscape will look like in the picture below.
How about it? Is there enough color and emotion to go around?
In the next episode who knows… maybe we’ll take you even higher….. until you touch the sky.
Trail Type: dirt road, mountain trail
Water: in Saint Jacques at the start and only at the streams flowing downstream
