The Meaning of Mountains – Part 2

When I heard of human traffic jams on Everest, the juxtaposition of mundaneness and magnificence struck me, not least because of the lurking presence of death.

I experienced a moderated version of this in the Sexten Dolomites.

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The Meaning of Mountains – Part I

At the Sella Pass in Val Gherdëina, South Tyrol, Italy, The BB and I are pushed into the telephone box cable cars by the attendants. Two passengers to a booth – standing room only. The agility of those scrambling aboard determines how far towards the precipitous drop the attendants must run in order to stuff them in and snap the door handle shut. There is much hilarity amongst those in the queue.

Hardware at Height

We missed the signs on the walk up. It was only when we got to the big red one lying on the rockface after the first short section of La Resgia via ferrata that we realised we would have to abandon. Birds and nature are not to be tampered with and the sign made it clear that we would be doing so if we proceeded. We were not to be there until the 1st July – two days hence – on account of nesting birds. (Perhaps they were on some sort of timed evacuation.) We departed sadly.

On the way down we met two Swiss folk who told us the fine was 300 CHF. They kept going regardless. Perhaps their Swissness was protection enough.

Fortunately, as you know by now, there was plenty to keep us occupied in the intervening time and we returned on the allotted day.

It is a great via ferrata for three reasons:

Your Swiss Mission

Spot the difference.

Yes, this is the original (perhaps we will say in years to come, ‘and still the best’) The World Is My Cuttlefish cairn. It is at the top of Piz Trovat, introduced in my last post.

In this steadfast and jaunty box:

It May Happen On A Mountain

Normally I climb and hike to the accompaniment of cow bells. Their multi-pitched donging, resonating around mountain valleys, evokes a cellular rather than cerebral response and is at once calming and uplifting. Like an odour, it reaches something primitive in me.

The BB and I had taken the cable car up Piz Trovat, Switzerland.

Porridge Reaches New Heights

Poised on a precipice at the Joch Pass, Switzerland, Abbot Porridge is as unphased as ever.

Feel the Ferrata Fear

Overcoming fear. There’s a lot written about that. My bookshelf sports “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”. The trouble with feeling the fear on a via ferrata or rock climb or bungee jump is that it can simply immobilise you if you allow yourself to really experience it.