Today on the trail around the Mont Blanc Mastiff (fancy word for mountain range) was supposed to be the hardest day of the trek, but I am still alive, walking and in my bed in a new country, Switzerland! Today was a hard day, the first half was uphill. Mater of fact, when we started this morning, it started uphill immediately when we left Argenteire. After about an hour of fairly rapid elevation gain, you would have thought it would level out for awhile. But no, we walked into an area that was a ski area, La Tour. We turned the corner from the trail and there was a parking lot, followed by an entrance to gondola that was running. We walked right past the working gondola and started up the mountain with gondola working above us. Next we finally got to the gondola drop off point and stopped for few minutes at the snack bar, thinking we had accomplished a lot, but looking behind the shop we saw a ski chair lift running, yes up higher. So off we took, right past a perfectly good working chair lift and this time didn’t stop at the top of the chair lift but proceeded all the way to the pass at the top. Oh well, I came to hike.
The top saw us cross from France to Switzerland! It is always amazing to cross into another country. I know it is psychological, but to me, the terrain looked a little different. We hiked down, from over 7,000′ to about 4,100′ for tonight’s stay in Trient. I have always known, but this trip has proved that the European mountains, while lower are just a beautiful, just as cold and just as blustery as any US mountains. Plus, they carry an unparalleled beauty.
Once we arrived at our hostel in Trient, we saw a setup outside the bar of our hostel with several hikers already there and more coming in. One of those intrepid trekkers was Sir Richard Branson. When he walked in, he was tired, wind blown and normal, just like us. He stayed in the same hostel and ate the same dinner and breakfast as all of us. He was nice and gracious, just another intrepid trekker.
His son and daughter work with his foundation and are raising money to promote an educational program to include arts and sciences in leadership programs. The participants were members of his foundation and other supporting foundations and charities. It sounds like a great program. You just never know who is around the next corner.
Today was hard, tiring, cold but also rewarding and a visual delight. It makes you appreciate this world God created and the powers to conquer life that he gives each of us.
Galatians 3:28