LaceyTRAVELS: Climbing the Alps

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Climbing the Alps

So much has happened since the last time I posted! To update, I've really settled in and gotten to know Chambery, I visited Lyon, I booked a trip to Paris, I visited my first French Discotheque and I climbed to the very top of a mountain in the Alps.

Lets just deal with the mountain for today.

We got up around seven and barely caught the bus to the mountain at 7:45. When we finally started hiking, it was practically a vertical climb for what seemed like miles! After hiking for about an hour and a half, I was thinking: "you know, this really isn't so bad. I'm sure we'll be there in a couple of minutes!" Little did I know that we were only about halfway up the mountain on our journey to the cross.

As I got more tired and the air got thinner, I was quite oddly positive about the whole thing. About 45 people were on the trip, but as we got nearer to the top, everyone started to get separated and I found myself alone on this mountain. This turned out to be quite a good thing as I was barely able to walk, let alone climb up rocks, so I ended up sacrificing most of my dignity by crawling up the rocks on my hands and knees.

So little oxygen was reaching my brain, that at the time, this really didn't bother me.

It ended up taking us about 3 hours to reach the top, but when got there, everything was so amazing. The cross (Croix du Nivolet), which seems like a pin prick when I try to see it from my bedroom window, was as tall as the Statue of Liberty. I was so tired, I don't know whether I was more struck by the breathtaking views or the fact that I could finally stop walking!

Joking, of course! We stopped for a two hour lunch and I munched on a baguette at the top of a mountain. Next weekend, I'm considering the hike up Mont Blanc. It might be a bit tougher, but it would grant some pretty impressive bragging rights, so we'll see.