CHAPTER
1
LEAPS
INTO
MADNESS
(excerpt
from Over the Top & Back Again: Hiking X the Alps,
© Brandon Wilson 2010, all rights reserved)
STRANGE
THINGS FLY THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN
YOU’RE
DANGLING by a thin blue rope in
the pelting rain, hanging on in a white-knuckled grip as a freezing
wind pushes you back and forth like a pendulum over a 1000-meter
chasm.
Take my word for it. Unlike a Hollywood movie, my life didn’t flash
before me. Oddly enough, only one thing came to mind: Ötzi. Who?
Ötzi the Iceman, the Alpine hunter who disappeared high in the Alps
some 5300 years ago. Only recently did some hapless hikers discover
his mummified body, freeze-dried with a grimace on his face.
Though it’s nice to be ageless, I sure didn’t want to end up like
him.
Did he know that fateful day of marmot hunting would be his last?
Of course not.
Likewise, we had no clear-cut idea what we were getting ourselves
into. We took a leap of faith. It’s like a leap into the abyss;
only with one the outcome’s more certain. And just like the thin
blue rope that now kept us connected to life, an equally fine line
separates “adventure” from sheer madness.
This time, something told me we’d stepped over the line.
Let me explain.
As with past adventures, once again, it all started innocently
enough. My ever-trusting wife, Cheryl, and I had heard about new
hiking paths named the Via Alpina, which cross eight countries and
cover 200,000 square kilometers. Its five trails run some 5000
kilometers or 3100 miles across the backbone of the Alps connecting
existing long distance trails, many dating back to the days of the
Romans and early traders.
I hoped some improvements had been made since then.
Exciting, right? But trekking it was not a challenge to take lightly.
Even so, it was especially appealing, masochist that I am, since it was still fairly unknown to hard-core North American thru-hikers who’re busy trekking the popular Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine or the Pacific Crest Trail from British Columbia to Mexico. It’s one of the newer faces in the trekking world. It was just 2002 when partners from Alpine countries founded the Via Alpina to promote sustainable green development.
This Via Alpina is different, I kept telling myself, a road truly less traveled. If we accept the challenge to hike its length, we won’t be the first, but we could be among the first handful to complete it.
And, Ötzi aside, who knows what we’ll discover up there?
Okay, I’ll admit I’ve long been fascinated by the Alps. Each snowcapped mountain has a tale to tell and personality all its own. The region still holds an inexplicable magic that’s been lost or forgotten in our lives today.
It’s a place of legends, of monsters, both real and imagined. It’s a traditional abode to kings in castles, to dark forests with gnomes.
The range is also home to wild creatures like the steinbok, golden eagle and mouflon, hundreds of plants like the edelweiss and alpenrose, and marmots, the Alpine version of North American groundhogs.
It’s an area full of history and culture, as each passing civilization left their mark over millennia. It’s also the bastion of a fiercely independent lifestyle that’s as threatened as the melting glaciers on its highest peaks.
Finally, and how could I forget, it’s home to blonde, pigtailed, rosy-cheeked Heidi, my first boyhood crush. For a young kid in those days before Lara Croft, she was as sexy as it got.
I just knew there had to be something special in the alpine cheese.
However, the region’s more than stereotypes, more than cheese and gnomes. We wanted to discover the real Alps, to share it with others who’ve never ventured far off the beaten path, or who view Europe with a jaundiced “been there, done that” eye. Wild paths lead you far beyond the staid museums and cathedrals, bridges and bars found on the city-a-day tour circuit.
Then again, exploring the Alps is much more than simply “bagging peaks.” It’s the unique people, culture and unforgettable day-to-day experiences along the way.
And most likely, it also means confronting your own personal fears and limitations on a daily basis.
Coming to your favorite bookstore in October
2010.
(photo:
Brandon Wilson, illustration: Ken Plumb)