A Day In The Mountains

Since I was 12 I've been privileged enough to have a house in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado near a small town called Pagosa Springs. For as long as I can remember, I have spent a week in the winter skiing many of the well known resorts of Colorado, but once we purchased the mountain house, we'd mostly go to the nearby Wolf Creek mountain. As I got older, i started to not enjoy skiing as much and preferred to go to the house in the summer to hike and white water raft. Last summer I finally spent a whole summer in the mountains and was able to hike often. That first breathe of mountain air enlivens me and has a unique way of relieving stress. Earlier, a few days before arriving in Grado, I was able to tour around the gorgeous alpine lakes and mountains of Slovenia, something I would recommend every person to do as referenced in one of my earlier blogs.

Since that trip I've been anticipating our weekend in the Dolomites, a truly pristine section of the Italian Alps. They did not disappoint. I have an odd fear of falling, where steep gradients cause me to panic, but thanks to the craziness that is Francesca's son, Nicolas, I was pushed to face those fears and climb up steep rock skeets as well as scale a few minor cliffs every hike we did. By the last day, I couldn't wait to climb more off the trails and experience the thrill of reaching beautiful views on cliffs near the three peaks. Though, the day before was the most fascinating. After taking a couple gondolas up a ski mountain in the late afternoon, Nicolas, Kyle and I adventured up the mountain on our own. The clouds were quite low and after ascending a fair amount we were literally inside clouds where all around you could only see 20 or so feet in front of you. The sensation of being up in the clouds in that way is powerful. You feel a minor sense of fear but also as if you're on top of the world. As we stood on top of a little ridge we summited, the clouds began to disappear and the incredible scenery opened up around us. The surrounding mountains of the valley in which Cortina is located are beyond description. I envied the guy who operated the gondola going down who was actually from Chicago and had lived in the valley for 17 years now after spending a vacation there and deciding that's where he wanted to live. It's inspired me to hopefully live out in the mountains at some stage of my life.

There's something enlivening about the fresh mountain air.