1 Year Later

Sorapìs, Dolomites

The joy rises along with the hiking distance as I celebrate 1 year after surgery on my achilles tendon. I know I am repeating myself slightly after my last post, but bear with me.

 It was August 4, 2011 that I rolled into surgery on a hospital bed. Yesterday I trekked up the Sorapìs in Cadore, Dolomites, as a reminder of how far I have come. I walked up about 1400 meters and my tendon rallied with me. This was my longest single rise this year, even longer than the day-journey in the high Alps recently.

Just fantastic.

Ottimo!

Europe's Partial Solar Eclipse

An eery light hovered over the mountains as F and I were snowshoeing under Monte Pelmo. Not only were we in the mountain's great shadow, but also under the moon's ombra in front of the sun this morning. Unfortunately a thin viel of clouds over our portion of Dolomites blocked a direct view of the spectacle of this partial solar eclipse, but we still sensed the world wth a strange vibrancy for a short while.

Here is a graphic of today's eclipse situation. For more information about how to better read the image and find out more, click here.

Dates for more eclipses to be seen around the world in 2011:

1 June - partial solar
15 June - total lunar
1 July - partial solar
25 November - partial solar
10 December - total lunar

Nativities Galore

Along the most historic street in Cencenighe Agordino, Via Coi, there seems to be a nativity outside of virtually every house. It's interesting that the magi have already arrived. They came early to the baby Jesus, here in the Dolomites.

Trying to Celebrate Halloween

It's not always so easy here. This year I resorted to making mini-Jack o' Lanterns from Melinda-brand golden delicious apples instead of sculpting a nice orange American pumpkin. I was in the Dolomites for Halloween this year and it is not as easy to get American-style things there. Then I was further disappointed last night because my lanterns were outside during the rainiest eve of the last 5 years, in my opinion. There wasn't a soul outside to even enjoy them during the deluge that hit this area this weekend.

Next year will be better I'm sure. Then again, I'm not in the US so I shouldn't expect much. Yet in recent years Italy has put more and more effort into promoting this American tradition. What started as an excuse for extra sales in shops like the cartoleria selling masks and witch hats and theme-nights for pubs and bars, has become an authentically borrowed festivity.

The kids in my building hanged pumpkin streamers in the stairwell 10 days ago. The elementary school teachers are doing units about the Halloween traditions. The Italians can now go trick-or-treating in the malls like many US childen do. At least this is what happens in the city.

However this year in the Dolomites, Halloween did not seem to have any impact. Rather, the people were more concerned about their own holidays: Ognissanti (All Saints' Day) today and La Festa dei Morti (The Holiday of the Dead) tomorrow. In their tradition, church was in order today to honor the saints and tomorrow they will be visiting the cemetaries and their deceased relatives to pay respects.

Just Sign at the Top

Well, I have moved to mountains for 3 weeks in August to escape the heat, enjoy some fresh air and get my heart rate up while hiking and climbing. This is the famous Ferragosto in Italy--lots and lots of vacation time.

Shifting to mountain topics, today I'll talk about a dear tradition surrounding the libro di vetta (Book of the Peak). Many mountains feature a book where you can sign and comment on your feelings and experience. It is especially satisfying to fill in when your hike was long and challenging. A record remains for posterity that you were there. You typically include a comment, the date, your name and can mention where you are from. By reading others' entries, you can see just how far some people came to climb that mountain and make that comment.

Here is a picture from Monte Fertazza, which is not a difficult walk but you get the idea. The peaks in the Dolomites always have a metal cross to indicate the tallest point. It is a wonderful sight to see, especially after 6-9 hours of a steep climb. You know you are almost there!

This cross has a compartment that houses the libro.
Once you write your entry, you can tuck it back into its nook on the cross, which usually also includes a pen.



These are the entries from July 31. Italians can be so poetic and emotional about nature.


Trascribed entries:

1. Oggi una bella giornata di sole che brilla come le stelle. Qui il nome Fertazza molto bello da visione comunque bello.

2. Ho veramente toccato il cielo con le dita.

3. Questo posto è un paradiso terrestre, gli angeli dominano tutto, è una bella giornata

Translations:

1. Today is a beautiful day where the sun shines like the stars. Here the very nice name Fertazza gives way to a lovely sight.

2. I really touched the sky with my fingers.

3. This place is heaven on earth, the angels preside over everything, it's a wonderful day

There can also be a very pratical aspect to this tradition. A record remains of your presence. In fact, this was important in reconstructing the series of events involved in the death of a noted priest in the area this past winter, Claudio Sacco. This man of God was also an avid alpine skier and had opened some new routes in the Dolomites over the years. He was killed during an avalanche on Monte Pore in December during a solo night ascent. The rescuers were able to establish that he was killed on the way down, and not while going up, because he had signed the libro di vetta at 11: 30 p.m.

Don Sacco, may you rest in peace.

For article from the Corriere del Veneto in italiano, click here.

Finding my Hidden Pulse for Mountaineering

As a little girl growing up in Baltimore, USA, I would have never told you that I was interested in becoming a mountaineer. Yet here I am at 34, scaling mountains in heat, ice and snow in the Alps.
This hobby exemplifies the surprising twists a life can take, especially by changing countries. Even though I could have moved to a place like Colorado from my own country, in Italy, the mountains became accessible by accident. I moved to the Veneto for cultural and personal reasons and I found not only cities of great historic interest like Venice and Padua, but also a nearby seaside on the Adriatic and mountain area, the Dolomites and Italian Alps.
In the USA, I would have needed to choose a completely mountain life in the move to a place like the Rockies.
My Italian husband first introduced me to hiking in the Dolomites. Those initial hikes were surprisingly steep and difficult yet I saw even elderly Italians easily walking up the rock trails so I made sure that I could do the same. After all, I was in my mid-twenties at the time! Once at the top, the views were spectacular and made the fatigue worthwhile. I enjoyed the direct contact with the magficient towers of nature which turned rosy at sunset. I found my mind would be cleared of everyday stress from jobs and city life while hiking. My husband and I started to walk higher and higher. Soon I leared how to climb ferratas, with the assistance of steel wire and ladders bolted into the mountainside. We began to hit the BIG peaks of Monte Civetta and the Marmolada, which includes a glacier. That was the first time I put on crampons.

Photo: Pisciadù ferrata outside of Cortina (2006)

Photo: The peak of Marmolada, 3445 meters (2006) with husband and another couple, S and R

To round off the experience, rock climbing was included in the new bag of techniques to learn and utilize in the Alps. Through a course we took last year, we discovered nearby rock faces and natural outdoor gyms such as Rocca Pendice in the Euganean Hills and started scaling them, too.

Photo: Piccolo Torre Falzarego (2009)

Unbelievably, despite having broken both bones in my left forearm twice in my twenties, I can actually rock climb. Who would have known?

Our rock climbing teacher and alpine guide, Andrea, mentioned a course that he was teaching on Monte Rosa that summer. We decided to join another couple and do the experience, practicing our mountaineering abilities on a higher and even more famous mountain and learning new techniques for snow and ice. Among other things, I learned 8 knots, understood how the materials work such as ice axes and ice nails and pretended to fall and save people in a glacier crevace. I found myself hiking and rock climbing on the second tallest mountain in Europe just this past summer.

Photo: left: faking having fallen into a glacier crevace while my husband practices saving me; right: learning pirolet traction with my husband as my sicura (Monte Rosa, July 2009)

That's what I get for moving to the Veneto: I'm now a alpinist.

Funny how things work out.

Photo: Ferrata Merlone (2006)

Top post photo: Along the hike to Mulaz (2005)

A White and Black Christmas

So it was a very white Christmas in the Dolomites this year for me. I went snowshoeing in the San Pellegrino and Valles areas pictured above. The views were spectacular. The new shoes worked wonderfully.

Down in the valley, it rained for 27 hours straight from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day. The rain was obviously snow up at these higher altitudes and lay over a few other meters of recent snow. Usually, this kind of combination makes for lots of lovely powder but can be dangerous. The new layers only lightly adhere to the lower layers. Snow generally needs a few days to settle and become more solid, and especially safely join with the older snow.

So why am I talking about this? Because the Arpav bulletin warned a level 4 (on a scale of 5) for avalanche risks after Christmas. Yet 2 alpine enthusiasts launched out on snowshoes to check the conditions of an iced-over waterfall. They ventured into a particularly dangerous area at Sass Pordoi and went missing. The Protezione Civile sent 4 volunteers to look for the missing people, Fabio Baron e Diego Andreatta. Drammatically and sadly all 6 were killed from the avalanche danger in the area. Ervin Riz, Luca Prinoth, Diego Perathoner and Alex Dentone were the alpine emergency volunteers who lost their lives trying to help others.

Obviously this loss has angered many who blame the stupidity of the alpinists who first went missing with the Arpav published warnings. Some say that the volunteers should not go out to help when there is a level 4 danger. The volunteers do not want to make that kind of judgement call when their job is to help people in need. It is a painful situation, especially for the community of Val di Fassa and Canazei, where the volunteers lived and worked.

The mountains I chose to visit were on a high plain and had hills, not mountain walls, that flanked the snowshoe path. The avalanche risk is not high in that situation.

The mountains have claimed many lives and particularly those of emergency service people. There was a helicopter crash earlier this year that I wrote about here.

The beautiful snow white, turned black with grief just after Christmas.

We all need to be responsible as we go out in the snow.

Dolomites, the Shadow of War

Upon experiencing Italy's Dolomites, you quickly realize that you are not only beholding fabulous nature, glorious and challenging peaks and rich woods. You are also treading on the remains of a battlefield.

Much of WWI was fought in trenches along the stretch of mountains that divide today's Italy and Austria. Those two nations had thousands of soldiers living inside the mountain for years, defending their territory. They built networks of tunnels and trenches through the rock. To see part of the Italian side, take the Sentiero degli Alpini on the peak, Lagazuoi, which opens onto the Cengia Martini, a continuation of the national frontline. For an Austrain view, there is Sentiero dei Kaiserjaeger in the same area. This trail offers unusual panoramic views of the landscape and a piece where hikers traverse a suspended bridge to finish along the Vonbank trenches. Both hikes can be reached starting from the Passo Falzarego road leading to Cortina.

Today, along the open trails, you can still find barbed wire laying in heaps from a century ago. Some hikes now take you through the old tunnels where soldiers had to live, eat and sleep in a desperately cold climate. Imagine, the Italian government did not have enough money to buy socks for its soldiers so most of them stuffed their boots with grass or hay to keep their feet buffered and warm.

Passo del Valparola, an open air museum of restored trenches and buildings brings visitors back to a time of war. Now everything looks pristine. You have to remember that hundreds of men were sharing this confined space with their shared dirt, sweat, grime, terror and hunger.





The Austrains camouflaged their buildings by keeping them low to the ground, almost completely submerged, and covering the roofs with gravel so the enemy could not easily distinguish the man-made areas from the natural ones.









Also in this part of the Dolomites, Col di Lana was blown apart with massive amounts of explosives in an Italian offensive to finally disrupted the Austrian stonghold in the area. The mountain stands as an open wound, still today.



Further away, the Adamello glacier in Trentino periodically turns up entire dead bodies from WWI as the ice shifts, delivering pieces of history to the surface. Can you picture being the hiker who happens to find a dead soldier's refrigerated body along his path on a beautiful July day?

It's so hard for Americans to understand the depths of war fought on our own soil within living memory. We had Pearl Harbor and more recently September 11th, 2001 and its attack of the Twin Towers but in the end, only a few thousand people died from those militant actions. We have no real idea what it is like to lose everything: buildings, land, entire male populations of certain villages. The Dolomites are a reminder of a darker part of history even when they are at their most glorious.


A museum area which is also worth a visit to see life-size models of soldiers in context:
Il Museo all'aperto della Grande Guerra sul Piccolo Lagazuoi
Open Air Museum of the Great War on the Small Lagazuoi

A "living room" for soldiers carved inside the mountain

Image from Associazione Nazionale Alpini (National Alpini Association)

Mare e Monti e Mercato

Sea and Mountains and Market

Yesterday I said goodbye to my father who is returning to USA. In his ten days in the country, we were able to explore the mountains, countryside and swim in the sea.

My husband, F, and I challenged his stamina and legs by climbing the Tofana di Rozes (3225 m/9033 ft) in the Dolomites under a glorious autumn sky.


We sent him golfing on an ambitious course at the foot of the Eugaean Hills, west of Padua, where the the woods and water seemed to "eat" his golf balls. Deeper into the hills, we had him feast on galletto , a small delicious chicken, for dinner that night.

We drove him to the Adriatic Sea to sit under a rainbow umbrella in Sottomarina near Chioggia to enjoy one of the last days of summer on the beach in total September relaxation.



In the middle of these trips dotting the Veneto map, we left him on his own in the center of town to discover what the city of Padua could offer him for this, his fourth trip. Watching the market close up shop at midday was reported to be the highlight while there were also impressive paintings by Tiepolo, Titian and other great artists that awaited him in the Eremitani museum that afternoon.

I believe it is important to sometimes leave my guests on their own in Italy so they can discover something with their own eyes. When I am at their side, some people may only focus on what I explain to them but importance is subjective so it is good to have the person decide on his own focus for at least a while. For my father, the market provides the local/foreign intrigue that he is looking for.

Readers, thank you for your patience and gift of time that you let me spend with my father.

Ciao, Dad. Alla prossima!
(See you next time!)

Pictures: climbing the last leg of the Tofana di Rozes; the view of Lagazuoi and Marmolada from the summit; Golf Club Montecchia from their website; online announcement from Bagni Arcobaleno in Sottomarina.

A Reflective UNESCO Ceremony

Yesterday the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, visited Auronzo di Cadore as part of a ceremony inaugurating the Dolomites into UNESCO's natural heritage fund. What should have been a festive day turned out to be very subdued because on August 22, 4 emergency workers were killed in a helicopter mission on Monte Faloria, in the heart of the Dolomites.

The accident has rocked the community and country. A Suem helicopter (Servizio urgenze ed emergenze mediche del 118) from Pieve was flying toward the scene of a mud slide, triggered from intense rains, to check for potential victims. On the way there, the helicopter hit electric lines which caused the death of the 4 people inside, including a distinguished alpine climber from the area.

In this case, those who come in the aid of the fallen were victim to that same end. A helicopter which usually saves lives, took them suddenly and unexpectedly.

The funerals were also held yesterday. A moment of silence was observed at the UNESCO ceremony in their honor.

May they rest in peace.


Images from http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it

Dolomites: UNESCO World Heritage Site

On Saturday, these fabulous and revered mountains were distinguished as a World Heritage area by UNESCO. It took the commission less than an hour to weigh the decision.

These rose-colored mountains cross five provinces including Trento, Bolzano, Belluno, Udine e Pordenone. Now various cities are jockeying to host the UNESCO offices for this disinction, which will guarantee more tourism for their area, most likely. Will Cortina in the province of Belluno win, home to the 1956 Winter Olympics Games?

Some spokesmen, such as Reinhold Messner, are worried that the new flurry of activity will bring tourists who are just interested in the "post card" aspect of this natural treasure. These potential tourists/intruders may contribute to hurting the ecosystem and rock formations. I would like to hope that the new status brings extra respect and funding for all aspects of its safe-keeping.

Pictured here is one of the most famous sights nestled in the mountain chain: Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

The Dolomites are the second park area to receive UNESCO's title in Italy, after the Eolie islands of Sicily and their naming officially places Italy in first place for the number of World Heritage treasures in one country. Naturally, the others are all cultural treasures, as in Venice and the city center of Florence.