Fall In the Alps
Spent 10 days in the Alps. Camped at a campground near Chamonix when the weather was good. Spent time in Airbnb apartments when the weather was bad.
Had a good time doing day hikes and climbing via ferrattas. I climbed four short via ferrattas — all took something like 1-2 hours each but they were intense and super fun.
Just before going home I hiked ‘Le Tour des Fiz’ in 2 days. This involved camping out in the mountains in rainy weather (which turned to snow at higher elevation) and hiking a pretty technical trail (with ladders and ropes) with a heavy backpack.
Gear
- Lots of stuff. I had gear for lots of different things: trail running, hiking, climbing, camping, etc. I had a rented car so I didn’t have to worry about carrying all my gear.
Notes
Adventure vs taking it easy
I had a great time. But one of the challenges I faced was a conflict between taking it easy and going hard in the mountains. I had not planned anything from home and just took it day by day. But this also meant I had to figure out what I wanted to do. On one hand I wanted to take it easy and just read, think, and hike a bit. But on the other I also wanted to take advantage of the mountains.
This caused some internal conflicts. I think I managed alright and looking back I ended up doing a fair amount of both. But it is something I want to think about for future trips. I’ve been in this same situation before and I seem to come back to it over and over again. Maybe it is just something I can’t solve. Just an constant internal conflict between the need for adventure and the need for sitting still with a book.
One obvious way to try fixing the conflict is to take it before I go on any trip. If I had just decided to take it easy and only do day hikes, that would have been it. If I did not bring my camping and climbing gear I wouldn’t have so many options. But then again, I think I’d still see the mountains and feel their pull. And then I’d feel sad I did not bring my gear.