Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Tetons Irene's Arete
Monday, August 5, 2013
Driving to Milan
Saturday, I went over the local crag, set up a rope, did a
few climbs, packed the Peugeot, and decided to take the slow road back to
Milan. I stopped at every village, got out walked around for an hour, read
my book, then drove for a little longer.
It took all afternoon and was very interesting. But, when I got to the airport, since
my flight was not until the next morning, I could not check in, so was forced
to take my large bags to the adjoining Sheraton, ate a pizza, and prepared for
the wonderful 9 hour and 5 hour flight back to Utah.
olive tree, outside the church
Ivrea graffiti 
Malpensa airport art installation
and the mostly vacant airport (left) and JFK (right), so happy, everyone spoke English
And down
I made it to my tent around 12:30, cooked a freeze dried
lunch I had left there, and packed up the big pack. It was huge.
I knew I had to carry it all the way down. I was trying to fortify my mind. I went over to the “hut”
ristorante, to look at the poster of the climb, when I ran into the man who
drove me up the mountain! He
remembered me, I guess there are not that many solo climbers carrying 80lb
packs from the USA. I asked him, if he would drive the pack down, and for how
much. He said, through the
waitress interpreter, "I brought you up, I will bring you and the pack down for
nothing." A miracle! I sat down next to the young Czech
climbers I met the first day in the village, they were on their way down, and
spoke some pretty good English. I
left to put my pack in the jeep, and came back to find out they had paid for
the hot chocolate! I was so happy I decided to walk
down to the village, and without a pack a could almost fly. It was Friday.
I went back to camp Glair walked around the village town
eating pizza and gelato.
mountain flowers
Carrel Hut
I made it down to the hut, doing some simu-down climbing
with a group of nice Germans, and watched the beautiful sunset over the
Alps. I had already reserved a
bunk next to the wall, prime space, bedding down next to a stranger. The
bathroom was outside, around the corner.
They provided nice wool blankets, but unfortunately no food. I had underestimated how much food to
bring. The hut provided gas to cook,
but no food. I was soaking wet,
from the rappels through the snowy traverse that I was able to avoid on my way
up. My rope was also wet. So I went to bed, cold, wet, and
hungry, with only half a granola bar left. I listened to the symphony of snorers through the night, and
people getting up at 3:30 or 4:00 to start the ascent. Even the guide who was stocking the hut
said, wait until it is light before you climb. But everyone was setting off before dawn. And it was cold and very windy, the
verglass had returned. I could not
see how I could climb the mountain again with no food, and I was not that keen
on climbing in boots and crampons by myself, in the cold wind. So I made my way down to the
Abruzzi. I could tell I was tired
from the day before, and from the long night with little sleep. It was a good choice. I had enjoyed a beautiful 14 hour day
of climbing the Matterhorn. And I had really climbed it.
Sunset from the Carrel Hut
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