Messner, Mountains, Mystery

The Dolomites just above 2000 Meters

Friday + We drove from the Hotel Post East to the Dolomites. The Dolomites are a Unesco Heritage Site of stunning beauty. A range of sedimentary rock where mountain climbing began in some ways. On the way we stopped at the Messner Mountain Museum in Bolzano. Reinhold Messner is considered one of the greatest mountaineers of all time. Now in his old age, his project is the five museums he has created in Tirol. The one we visited was a former castle overlooking the city.  On the way in, there he was.  Bushy dark hair even at 70! I introduced myself (of course he didn't care and was in a hurry) and then shook his hand and said "thank you."  It was the second time I had met him, the first being in Salt Lake City two years ago at the outdoor retailer show. The museum explored the role that mountains and mountain climbing play and have played in human history, especially the role of risk, self-reliance and beauty. Missing from the museum was any mention of "thank you" to his family, his parents, his partners, those who had gone before him.

Of course this is Europe and Tirol so our journey to the Dolomites wasn't hurried. We stopped and ate a very good and expensive lunch on the way into the peaks. The weather was "gemischt", i.e. clouds and sun, but mostly clouds. But heh, this is the middle of November in the Alps.

We arrived at the base of the western side of the Dolomites, at the start of a trail. We were alone. So into the late afternoon light we hiked toward the limestone spires of the range.  Just Gustav and I. No wind. No rain. Maybe 5 degrees Centigrade. Silence and then snow above us.

I write this blog on Saturday morning.  More clouds. A light mist. We will drive to another part of the range this day, the Drei Zinnen, the three spires. The mountains remind me a little of Maroon Bells. Steep, crumbly and beautiful.

J