Satisfaction

Western Lyskamm 4482 m/14705 ft    July 9, 2012

I have come down from 5 days of heavy and exhilarating mountain climbing in the Alps: Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso. I am thrilled about my accomplishment. Eleven months after surgery on a broken achilles tendon (August 4, 2011), I was able to successfully scale three peaks at over 4000 meters high in just a few days over the course of last week.

July 9th

Western Lyskamm 4482 m /14705 ft 

July 10th

Castore 4421 m /13848 ft

July 13th

Gran Paradiso 4061 m/ 13323 ft

It's such sweet success because I have been diligently recovering and rebuilding my leg since surgery. It's absolutely devastating what happens after not being able to weight-bear on a leg for three months, which was doctor's orders in my case. All the muscle tissue disappears and doesn't want to grow back once you are supposedly "healthy". The muscles are actually stubborn once you try to restimulate the area again. Then there are issues of balance. Therapists explained to me that the brain-nerve message system was damaged from lack of use. I had to work on that too. Then the other secondary tendons and various fibers and ligaments in my foot, ankle and leg needed help. The problems were many. But after faithfully doing my exercises and slowly going back to the gym for "baby" workouts, such as just 2 minutes of running at a time 9 months after surgery that eventually became 3 minutes and so on, I began to get results.

My calf is still only about three-quarters of what it should be but it was enough to get me on top of Monte Rosa!

On top of a mountain on a spectacular day is like nothing else.

For link to post about frustrations after surgery and physical therapy, 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)

Glorious Fatigue

The high mountains demand respect for their immense presence, potential for danger and fantastic panoramic gifts. My husband and I finished our 6-day experience among the crests of Monte Rosa.
Life goes into a different dimension at 12000 ft. As true alpinists, we had wake-up calls at 4 a.m. everyday and were treading the snow at or before dawn to guarantee the best conditions for the long journey to and from the peaks. By 11 a.m., the snow that was crispy at dawn had turned into mush under your crampons and made walking almost hazardous from mounting snowballs that formed under your feet in descent.

At that altitude, you are literally living above the clouds. Most days, the valleys were hidden under a blanket of vapors while our skin toasted away despite protective factor 50+ sunblock, thanks to a very formidable sun.

Processing oxygen becomes a more cumbersome on top of Monte Rosa, according to scientists. We were lucky because we only suffered from a couple of headaches and I had a slight loss of appetite. Blood runs thicker through the veins as it tries to nourish the body on overdrive, plodding along the trails to Punta Parrot (mt 4435/ ft 12422), Punta Gnifetti (mt 4554/ft 12756) and Piramide Vincent (mt 4215/ft 11806), in our case. Fatigue is a constant but through sheer willpower, you burn on. One step at a time gets you to the top of the summits and back to the lodge for some much-awaited rest and the single hot meal of the day.

The landscape dazzled our eyes in its symphony of white, ice, snaking human trails of skiers and alpinists. We could constantly admire a handsome suite of summits. It was even possible to see the Matterhorn peek out from behind Lyskamm, the peak featured in my last blog entry.

Everything is hushed. You only hear the crunch of snow under your crampons for hours, except for the occasional comment or exclamation from your alpine companions. Being on the top of the world is surely a kind of escape from it. No TV. No distractions. Barely any mobile phone use. You. Nature. Sun. Wind. Snow. Clouds. Ice. Rocks.

I discovered that I can handle serious alpine conditions. My body and mind allowed me to succeed in reaching a series of incredible summits on Monte Rosa, the second tallest mountain in Europe. Unfortunately I cannot say so much for the other woman in our entourage. Her constant complaints were a drag on spirits and the group's progression on more than one occasion.

This expererience only makes me further revere those who scale the Himalayas, shooting twice as high into the atmosphere. (Of course, our alpine guide, Andrea, came with pictures of his journey there and up the Mountain G2.)

General Evaluation:
Sweet personal satisfaction on an adventure accomplished.

A Week on Monte Rosa

I am leaving at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow for Monte Rosa, a mountain range on the border between Italy and Switzerland in the Aosta region. I just finished packing some very heavy backpacks, filled with gear, clothes, emergency medecine and food stuffs.

Over the next week, I will be sleeping at 3498 meters and participating in a glacier techniques course with my husband, another couple and led by our Alpine Guide, Andrea. The above picture could be one of the views that await us on the high peaks of this large and famous mountain group. It is part of the Mantova lodge's official website, which introduces some interesting ascents.

Once back in Padua and in the plains, which offer easy Internet connection, I will resume my blog. Happy vacation to all those going somewhere high, low, foreign or just plain nearby home this summer.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!
And wish me luck!