In which ibex are seen, a mistake is made, and an unexpectedly beautiful corner of the world is discovered. Oh, and it doesn't rain... again :-)
Dinner last night, because I always start with dinner, was OK... which was OK, because I wasn't that hungry. My appetite has been decreasing as the days go by... which I take to be a good thing, since my effort is certainly not! And the resultant weight loss might explain why my long pants no longer stay up without my shirt being tucked in :-).
We all slept well -- being in a hotel we had proper beds and sheets -- and awoke to... rain. The forecast was for showers and showers it seemed was what we would have. We had breakfast and considered what to do... and while we were doing that, the rain stopped. So we left.
The initial climb was nothing special... up what in winter would be ski slopes, and through low clouds so without much of a view. But shortly after we crossed the high pass (2880m), things started to get interesting. We saw an ibex -- a large mountain goat with huge horns and essentially no fear of humans (which is how it almost became extinct) -- ahead of us next to the path. We got closer and closer until I was about 5 meters away before it deigned to acknowledge my presence and walked off. We also saw a second one a little further away, and Russell got photos of two young ones playing around up-slope behind us. Impressive animals.
Then the sun came out as we descended what would have been a beautiful and wild valley if it had not been for the ski-lift infrastructure... OK, it was still pretty wild and beautiful. We took a slightly less direct trail that climbed towards a ridge to our right, and that is when the mistake was made.
We came to a small ravine with a snow drift, and, rather than scramble down 10 or 15 meters to go around the lower end, I decided to try to cross it. Gabi and Russ followed and just before I got to the other side I heard a deep crack behind me... the snow had given way underneath Russell. Fortunately it and he did not slide down the mountain, but he bent a pole and got some abrasions on his legs. There is a saying that you live and learn, of which the corollary, I suppose, is that when you stop learning you die... today we lived and learned. Next time we come to something similar, we will do everything we can to go around rather than cross it.
We hiked on in ever warmer and sunnier weather, descending into a deep valley with huge cliffs. After lunch we walked around a corner and found ourselves in a Walser hamlet that could not have been prettier if it had been a film set. Beautiful old houses with unusual half-enclosed balconies set into the hillside with access to the upper floor via stone steps set into manicured turf, flower bedecked, and with donkeys as the primary way to move goods around. Lidia would say that it reminds her of Romania... and indeed it reminded me of Romania... complete with a painted church. Just idyllic.
Around mid-afternoon we came down into the large village of Alagna, which is apparently a fairly renowned ski resort for free-riding (which if I was more clued into the skiing scene I could explain). However, what was clear to me is that it must be popular, because Alagna looks very prosperous. We walked through it and found our hotel... which is in a large old Walser-style building. As we arrived a couple of raindrops fell upon us... the first of the day. Our legs were quite tired... we had descended over 1700m since crossing the pass... but it had been an excellent hike.
Sent from my iPad
