Mar 16
seen from Australia
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Ukraine
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Kyrgyzstan
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from Israel
seen from China
seen from United States
Monte Lussari
// <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.0"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]> Having felt the effects of winter on the beach at Lido, and having the confidence of hiking from the trails in Cinque Terre... a mountain seemed like the next appropriate challenge.
Driving through the countryside and peering out the window was for me, surreal. We were partially surrounded by a range of mountains that looked like sleeping giants from another time, standing with eyes partial closed. From afar the tops of them glistened, looking as if we were heading for a large cake with vanilla ice cream drizzled over top and melting down the sides. From the base, the mountains seemed to peer down at us as if sizing us up, to see if we were worthy of the beauty they held. As if they were deciding before we had even begun if they would yield and allow us to pass, or if they would rebuff our attempt to scale the snow covered slopes. From the bottom the snow on top looked like a hand from above had cast a light frosting of icing sugar over the top so that it mimicked the pastries from the bakeries we had eaten with delight earlier in our trip.
We were warned that this was a real mountain, a height of 1780 meters and were advised to take walking sticks to aid in the trek. I imagined the hiking aids would be more of a novelty than true assistance - but without them I would have had to turn back before we reached half way.
The track was clear and easy to follow, but the warm weather combined with the cross country skiers that had trudged up the day before had caused the track surface to become compacted. In places the surface was steep and slippery, my rubber soled shoes having little effect on the icy surface.
The hike up was harder than I expected, but not that hard that I would not recommend it to others. Our pace was steady but by about 1500 meters I could feel my lungs working harder than normal to cope with the cool crisp air and the higher altitude.
We were told there was a church at the top and we knew there was a ski lift that we planned to take back to the bottom. We didn’t know or expect that there would be a village at the top.
Monte Lussari is in Italy, but very near the border of Austria... She’s not the largest mountain in the area, but the view from the top was better than any brochure I have ever seen.
It could really have been that the mountains were contemplating our fate. Perhaps it was really up to ancient spirits whether or not we had success or failure.
Yes, it was a trail hiked by many – but I feel humbler, thankful for having been granted passage to an Alpine peak (even if it’s one with a town, a ski lift and a restaurant on the top).
Donate Here
© Peter Nicholson 2014 Terms & Conditions