In which we have a tough hike (but not as tough as it was the last time I did it), we evade bad omens, and we finish up the second section of the H3H!
Dinner last night was... necessary. I don't think that I have eaten dinner thus far on the H3H with such focus :-). I didn't think that I was super hungry, but obviously my body knew better. Still, didn't eat that much... as has mostly been the case during the last month... so I'll be interested to see how much weight I've lost.
We set off at around 8:15 this morning, and immediately started going uphill. The climb got steeper and steeper until we had done about 1000m... at which point we still had 450m to go to the pass. It was a tough hike... one of the most difficult on what has been a very difficult section of the H3H. But the weather was fine (sun and clouds and cool... good for hiking... although I still managed to get my cap brim dripping by 1460m :-) and we were all fit (Russ's chafe having healed enough to allow him to hike too). We finally got to the pass about 12:45... perhaps 4.25 hours of hard hiking after we left Prato-Sornico.
The downhill to Sonogno, although steep and fairly long (1250m), was much easier than it was when Lidia and Ioana and I came up several years ago, in particular because the snow-filled ravine that caused us such Angst was free of snow (something I wasn't sure of when we were climbing up since there were big snow-drifts on the other side at, I kid you not, 1350m... on August 22nd, no less!).
As to the bad omens... well, there was my perhaps ill-advised observation in the previous post as to how nobody on the long hikes I've done in the last 10 years has gotten injured, then a black cat crossed the road in front of us as we were leaving Prato-Sornico, and I have still not forgotten the old man sharpening his scythe and laughing ominously several years ago as we left Sonogno and told him we were heading over the pass to Prato-Sornico.... Good thing I'm not superstitious! And, anyway, the cat had white socks :-).
So, we are done. 21 days of hiking, a vast amount of ascent and descent, and a large number of kilometers and hours of hiking since we started in Courmayeur almost a month ago. The weather has been overall very good, if a little chilly (but, as said, that's good for hiking). I haven't been back over my blog posts to check, but I'd guess that we had rain on about a quarter of the days... but only for short periods -- there was not a single day when it rained on us during the whole hike. So, lucky again.
Lucky also with my fellow-hikers who were, without exception, up to the rigors and challenges of a very tough series of hikes through some of the wildest and ruggedest parts of the Alps. Many thanks to all of you... and most especially to Russ (who amazed us all with his resilience while carrying 20 kilos more muscle, bone, etc. than me, and 30-40 kilos more than the non-Bradleys up and down the mountains!)... for your good humour and company: I couldn't, and I mean it, have done it without you.
This section was very tough -- much more so than the first section 2 years ago (the first week of amazing heat in Provence excepted!). I must confess that I'm very ready to head back home, put my feet up, and do nothing for a few days. I'll post some more photos over the next couple of days, but other than that, thanks for reading and over and out!
Sent from my iPad
