It was the first time in weeks that I can remember where I slept so completely through a night that I did not move once. So when I woke up in the exact position as I lay down, I momentarily questioned not only what is the time, but where are we? The absolute pitch-black room made it difficult to find my watch or phone and I accidentally knocked my glasses off the night stand in the process. My fingers found my watch and it lit up 830AM.

Even though I know we went to bed fairly early (for us), I still feel exhausted, and it wasn’t until I opened the door just a crack did I wince as the bright sun streamed in. I got up and Jake followed suit (having heard my glasses tumble on the ground). Last night it was decided that if we wake up before our friends, we would go in town and get food for the day.

Both of us were in dire need of coffee, but there was nothing stocked in the kitchen. So we pulled on some clothes and tip-toed out the door with a backpack in hand. There was a briskness to the air, fresh but chilly and I shivered as we walked along the cobblestone drive to the small market that we saw last night.

The problem with us doing the food shopping is that Jake and I have a bit of PTSD from New Zealand and cruising, in that we have felt the onset of starvation enough times that we now tend to go overboard when it comes to food. As soon as we stepped in an Italian woman greeted us and we were assailed with the fresh smells of baking bread…my stomach was rumbling as we threw anything we saw that caught our fancy in the cart; gelato, gnocchi, ricotta, sliced cheese, ham, pork chops, bread, chips, oil, coffee, tomatoes, peppers, bottles of water, fresh pastry and croissants filled with cream. We also had to get wine and chocolate, since our French friends need these things to survive (it is like air to them, and we are at a really high elevation, so the more oxygen the better) 😉

We hustled out of the shop and back to our flat, quietly making our way to the kitchen to prepare snacks and sandwiches for today’s adventures. Jake put on a fresh brew of coffee and pulled out the patisserie that we simply couldn’t wait to eat. It was like puff clouds of heaven swimming in the most delectable sweet creamy custard imaginable. I was sad when I finished the first one and had to eat a second. Thankfully we bought plenty and I think we made enough noise to wake our friends.

Somehow we managed to get out the door by 10AM, considering all things, this is really good for us. Anthony informed us of what we should bring (besides the gear that he rented), so Jake and I packed a bag with all the food/snacks for the day, water, headlamps, cameras, first aid kit, and whatever warm gear we had, which wasn’t very much. I didn’t pack much for warmth for this trip, since its still late summer and my warmest “pants” are 3/4-length stretchy yoga tights and a long sleeved sunshirt. Jake had similar clothing and a light pullover but nothing more, no jackets or anything…but Anthony and Hélène did have a few warmer layers packed away, just in case.

We learned that we are doing a climb called Ferrata Lipella, which is rated C/D, meaning a difficult route that requires mountaineering experience and good fitness. That’s about all the information we have, and that Anthony has done it before and it was one of the most beautiful places he has ever been. Jake and I felt confident in ourselves with our 20+ years of rock climbing experience. Hélène was the only one tentative about the day. Sounds about perfect for our first one out the gate, don’t you think? Go big or go home.

Via ferratas can vary in length and difficulty, just like rock climbs. Some are very short and others are demanding, alpine routes covering significant distance and altitude, taking 8-12+ hours to complete. You can even link certain ferratas together and spend the night in mountain refuges. They are generally only done in ascent and their origins are quite interesting, dating back to the 19th century. They are often associated with World War 1, built to aid the movement of troops through the Dolomite region of Italy through the steep limestone mountain ranges.

It was so beautiful making the drive back up the winding mountain roads. Yesterday we so passed much of this in the dark but in the daylight it was exquisite. Villages sprouted up on steep hillsides, though I have absolutely no idea how they got them up there, huge mountains and rolling alpine valleys. There is a very old ruins on top of a tall hill, but the forest was too dense and we were on a mission…

We turned off at a narrow, rocky and unpaved road which ascended slowly, making switchbacks every so often and causing a lot of jostling around. I felt like I was on safari and my stomach began to twinge a bit. Thankfully it didn’t last too long and I was grateful when we pulled the car over and hopped out.

The view is absolutely gorgeous here. Its like Yosemite valley (but stretching out much further) and our mountain lay ahead, so tall I had to strain my neck to get a good view of it.

Jake and I took the time to put on our gear at the car, so that we don’t have to carry it in the bag. My harness was very large, not as comfortable as the one I have at home, and the carabiner leash was a lot heavier than I imagined. I clipped it to the gear loop on my hip. I also clipped my camera in and put on the helmet, slightly larger than my head, so I really had to cinch it down. Though it looks silly, its all for safety! Properly sun-screened, we were ready to go!

I was a jumble of excitement and nerves. Its been years since we have done any sort of large, intense rock climbs. I was completely swept away by the beauty as we marched up the well-worn trail. The low-laying flora and fauna were richly scented with something like lavender mixed with alpine trees. I couldn’t stop taking pictures so I ended up at the back of our escort: Anthony led, followed by Hélène, then Jake and I took the rear. Its like we are our own little Fellowship (because I can never resist a good LOTR reference!)

My camera was in my face for the early part of the hike, because with each ascending step there was a new beauty unearthed and I simply couldn’t help myself. I also found a good sized walking staff that made my life a lot easier as the trail grew more steep and craggy. I also noticed how very quickly the sun, which was pleasant and warm, was quickly turning super hot. The bottom portion of my legs were the only skin exposed and they felt like they were on fire. The more we hiked, the hotter it got.

We took a short water break about 45 minutes into the hike and all of us realized that sun burn would set in if we don’t rearrange our clothes. Jake had long pants but also tall socks, so he traded his socks with mine (both of which were quite stinky), so that at least I could cover my skin. We also put on our face masks, gloves and hats to try to hide from the burning rays. Hélène was the only one of us who was removing her clothe as the rest of us were covering up.

By the time we reached the start of the climb it was around noon. There were another pair of individuals who came from below, I believe they had German accents but it was hard to tell. We were already mostly ready, but we told them that we would probably be slow. They were nice and told us that they are fine waiting.

The rules with ferrata are fairly simple, you can use whatever you need to make your ascension. The most important thing is to always be clipped into the metal cables with at least one of the two leashes attached to your harness. That way if you fall, you won’t plummet to your death. Its hard to imagine troops making this ascent during times of war, and now we are out here on holiday experiencing something so similar and yet so different.

The very first portion of the climb was very unique. We begin at a craggy intersection of boulders and vertical rock. It appears like this was where there used to be a large metal ladder and hoist, now its mostly rickety old pieces of metal gear sticking out of the rocks. Right next door is a long thin cable which is obviously where we’re meant to clip into.

Anthony began the climb with Hélène following close. She was scared out of her mind and each step was agonizingly slow. We weren’t really in a hurry, so they were moving very slow up to the first landing, maybe 40-50 feet up. Once we started climbing, Jake and I were in our element. The only awkward part was the constant clipping from cable to cable. When we rock climb, we only clip into gear once in awhile, and generally only touch the rock with our bare hands. In this case we’re using every single thing at our disposal; the old rickety metal pieces, the cables, themselves, anything and everything is fair game.

On the first landing we found ourselves standing inside a deep cavern rent out of the rock. It was cool and damp and very dark so we donned our headlamps and carried on walking up a sloping cave. I felt like one of the dwarfs in LOTR as we could hear our footsteps echoing against the stalactites and stalagmites. The only light was from our headlamps and it was pretty easy to make upward progress.

The two climbers who were behind us caught up quickly and we told them to pass us, since I imagine we will be holding them up and they moved along. We could start to see light at the end of the tunnel (literally) and at the top stood Anthony and Hélène. From here we were facing the opposite side (west) of the mountain range and it was like a whole new world looming ahead. It is a limestone world of swirling colors: greens and gold, brown and umber, burnt orange, silver, gray and white. Nature’s finest work of art laid out before us.

On this side we’ve already reached a decent height and yet there was still so much rock all around, that I felt a bit of vertigo as I climbed out of the cave and back out onto the rock wall. From here our journey is actually fairly easy, a semi-flat walk around to the other side of the climb, however we took a bit of a detour, crossing a long rock gully over to a small hole in an adjacent rock feature. We hiked an extra hour to reach the little cave, but the view was absolutely stunning and well worth the extra bit of time.

At this point we realized that we probably should pick up the pace, because there is still much to do and we’ve barely begun. With Anthony and Hélène in front, our pace was much slower than Jake or I would have gone. There was also a growing concern with the weather and the possibility of storms. I’m always a bit anxious about weather, but we know that we can always turn back at different points if it should turn sour.

The path continued on until we finally reached the next vertical face of climbing. If I would rate this portion as a free climb, it might be in the 5.4—5.5 range. With the addition of the iron cables and other bits of metal it was easy to move up the wall. My shoes were not the most comfortable, as they are quite old and have no more traction on the soles. I’m so used to having sticky rock shoes when we are on these sorts of walls, so there were times I found myself unable to move as quickly as I might have been able to otherwise. But the longer we climbed, the smoother it went.

When we reached the first slightly overhanging portion, Hélène had a bit of a panic. She, like me, is afraid of heights, though my fear comes more during the descent or repelling portion of the program. She was afraid of going up, and when she began to cry and freak out, Anthony was right there to help. I could commiserate with her, having dealt with those fears for so many years. But she never gave up and managed to get through those sore spots and keep moving.

I was having an absolute blast, and the higher up that we went, the more fun and freeing it felt. I almost never take a camera when we go climb, so this was even more fun, to actually take photos of all of us looking like badasses! It was slightly annoying when we got to a steep section and my camera would bash against my leg with every vertical step, but its a small price to pay.

Time passed and it felt like we were still moving pretty slowly, though looking up we have a lot more ahead of us. And with our late start and detour, we felt like we needed to pick up the pace. So Jake and I took the lead for the next bit of climbing. Its impossible to say how much further we have to go, since none of us has a map or could decipher the distance from this point of view. The rock is a sharp limestone, which can take some time to build up the calluses on hands and feet, which none of us has. My hands were sore even with gloves on.

The further we climb, the more I imagine us coming back here with our proper climbing gear, ropes and shoes, and doing this as a free climb. If I had known we’d be doing this activity, I would have brought along some rock shoes even just to do portions of the climb. I kept struggling with my crappy tennis shoes and would slip off large ledges that would be absolutely bomber with climbing shoes.

We moved across so many different rock features and shapes, even had to climb through small waterfalls, which is a little bit scary since wet rock is the most difficult thing to climb. The more we went, the more it felt like a never-ending rock vortex.

We only stopped once in those next few hours, for a quick water break and a few photos of us altogether and then as couples. For the most part we actually did keep a decent pace, though Jake was always at my heels. He is a much faster climber than I am, and at some point he took over in the lead to keep pushing us forward as the afternoon wore on. Anthony and Hélène began falling further and further behind, so we had to make it a point to stop every so often to let them catch up. I think all of us were feeling ready for a longer break, and so we kept going until we reached an elbow bend with a very large ledge, where we could enjoy our lunch break. It was perfectly positioned out of the wind and elements, and the first time in hours that we actually let ourselves sit down.

Lunch was fairly basic: ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, granola bars, chocolate. I was not feeling very hungry, and that little knot of anxiety in my belly had grown slightly larger, though I really didn’t notice it until we actually stopped. So I only managed to get down one sandwich and a bit of water. I don’t know if my fear was irrational or what, but for some reason I had a bad feeling about what is to come.

Normally, when Jake and I plan any kind of mountaineering adventure, we arm ourselves with lots of information to make decisions, as well as lots of gear for the “just in case” scenarios that you hope will never occur. However in this case, we really don’t have anything to go by; no weather information, no route information, no clue how much further we have to go from which to make decisions that could mean the difference between success and failure, or in worse case scenario, life and death. A lack of preparation can be a huge liability.

After lunch, I continued ahead, but found that my body was definitely beginning to feel sore and tired. I probably could have used more food but I was afraid I would throw up, for no other reason than nerves. Once we got back on the vertical rock, I did feel a bit better, but we had to traverse through several more waterfalls which left me wet and with the wind picking up, a bit chilled in my core. The clear blue sky from this morning was now covered in a thick layer of clouds and perhaps thats why I began to feel nervous, worrying about the weather. Jake kept his eyes on the barametric pressure and said it was holding steady, so we should still be okay.

We were so focused on moving forward and up we lost sight of our friends and only stopped when reaching a huge ledge with a big arrow, we assume this could be the end of the climb? Unsure of where to go, we stopped to wait and once they caught up, we learned that this is indeed the first “top” of the climb. That means there is still another section that can be done, however depending on the time, skill, and circumstances, many people will also consider this the end of the climb. Jake checked the time and it was 5:00PM, we still probably have an hour or so of light and while it would be completely fine to stop here, we left it up to Anthony to make the call, since he’s the one who has done this before. He said it shouldn’t be much further and that we could definitely finish the route so we kept moving. Because we were moving a bit too fast, he asked if it would be okay if they go first, so that we don’t get too far spread out, and so we swapped positions and continued ahead.

A pair of climbers came around the corner, heading towards us. We asked them how much further to the top and they confirmed only 100 meters. So, we pushed on and around the corner to see the next portion of the climb. Looking up I realized that this is definitely going to be tricky. Not only is it very overhanging but there were many places with micro-waterfalls in the exact position of the cables we are meant to climb.

In the back of my mind I question whether we shouldn’t just bail and turn around, but Anthony and Helene were already moving up the wall. They were going so slow, though, which only gave Jake and I more time to wait and worry. The sun was going behind the mountains much more quickly than it seemed a few minutes before, and I’m not sure if we’ll actually be able to summit before nightfall.

Conditions seemed to grow worse for us. The climbing took an ugly turn, all of the usable rock features were soaked through making it impossible to get any traction. If we were to fall in this location we could very easily hurt ourselves, especially since the cable was now completely vertical. I heard Hélène freaking out just above us, unable to make upward progress which kept Jake and I in a very uncomfortable holding position for a long time. My hands and feet were shaking with the effort and it made me wish that we just went ahead. When we could finally start moving again, I couldn’t make any usable purchase on the wall and had to actually climb up Jake’s shoulders or thighs to get to a landing spot where he could then follow suit. It took so much effort that I didn’t realize how truly exhausted my body was. Plus now we are drenched through with water on our hands and feet, which starting to give me a deep chill in my bones.

Behind us the view was absolutely magnificent. I was so focused on climbing that I almost missed as the sun went further behind the clouds, showing rich colors of gold and orange beyond the deep blue clouds.

There’s no way this last section was only 100 meters. Those climbers must not have realized what we meant. My stomach started to ache badly and I realized that I had to go to the bathroom, but there’s absolutely nowhere to go. I’m barely hanging on to this vertical wall so I had to put it out of my head. My body started to shake and my hands were almost numb from being so wet. Jake had to help pull me up and around the final ledge, which came as a huge relief. But we still had to walk up a little bit of switchback before making it to the official top. Hélène and Anthony were a bit ahead waiting and happy to have made it.

I felt like a shell of myself. I literally gave everything I had to get up to this point, and my stomach was in absolutely knots. We thought this was it, we’re done. But Anthony said, “okay guys, the summit is just ahead.”

Wait, what?

This is the summit, isn’t it?

Well, yes and no. This is the last of the ferrata but there is a “short” hike up to the actual top of the peak, which would probably take another 30-45 minutes.

At this point I was resolutely not going to keep going. The sun had set and the sky is getting so dark. Not to mention that Jake and I don’t have any warm clothes and we still have to get down this massive beast. So at that we decided that it wouldn’t be smart to keep going up and instead, we should start heading down.

The True Adventure Starts Now

In every adventure there’s an element of challenge, difficulty and fear. Without it, it would just be called a regular day, an outing. For me, the real adventure began after we finished the climb. Because everyone who does this sort of thing knows that the top is only the halfway point. You still have to get down.

Because this ferrata is very popular, I assumed that there would be an easy and obvious trail to hike down. And maybe that is the case. But with the sky nearly at its darkest and the only light from our headlamps, all we know is that its nowhere to be seen. Instead its nothing but steep vertical snow-covered rocks. There is no path, no trail signs or cairns to mark the way, no clue which way to go.

I reached a breaking point, maybe because my stomach was aching so badly and I had to go to the bathroom and I was so tired and cold that I just wanted to curl up and sleep for days. Also my night vision is terrible. I couldn’t help it and burst into tears at the sight that lay ahead. How are we going to get down?

I couldn’t move. My mind was too busy reeling and needed to be drawn back in before I could get one leg to move in front of the other. Anthony took it very slow and he and Jake were so great in helping me to move down, slowly through each steep snow section of the downclimb. My depth perception is almost non-existent at night, so I found it hard to know how much pressure to put on each step so that I wouldn’t slip and fall. At a certain point, Anthony went ahead and Jake took over helping me and Helene move down.

The sky was a deep midnight blue and stars began to pop out of the sky. None of us were in a state to appreciate this, however as we were fumbling our way off the steep snowy field with nothing but headlamps to light the way. Every step felt like a leap of faith. I cringed with every slip or off-balanced motion that brought me on my butt or knees. Thankfully I never hurt myself too badly with any fall, mostly I was just wet and cold.

When we reached the snow-melt line, I felt the tension that I was carrying for so long ease up. I felt like I could walk with a bit more confidence and didn’t need so much extra support, just some extra light. We were still searching for any sign of a trail, but so far we haven’t found anything.

Generally there are man-made markers called “trail cairns” which are essentially rocks piled on top of one another, which indicate the direction of the path. When we eventually spotted a cairn, we would all walk forward and ahead, continuing to look out in search for the next cairn. In the daylight, this probably would not have been a big deal, but at night it was very difficult. This area has dozens of different trails going in every direction, so its impossible to tell which one is ours. My motto is always to take the path of least resistance, and as long as we are making downhill progress, we’re probably okay.

It felt like hours had passed and we are still very high up on this mountain. Jake checked the time, its 9:30PM.

We continued on foot, following every groove or track we could and trying to spot the next cairn to guide our way. None of us has a compass or map or clue as to where the trail actually is, Anthony is the only one of us who has been up here. And he said that there was a very obvious trail that he hiked last time, so that’s what we’re looking for in the dark of night.

I was so focused on taking each step that I didn’t even recognize how much my body was shaking and my teeth were chattering. My hands and feet were also starting to go numb…not a good sign. All of us were growing more clumsy, slipping much more than normal. Anthony continued to lead, but Hélène was falling behind, the soles of her shoes came off and she was moving like a zombie.

There was a point where the ground seemed to ease up and flattened out. Large boulders were sticking up amongst the smaller loose rocks and there were large puddles of water all around. In the dark it was difficult to maneuver and sometimes one of us would make a wrong step and splash water everywhere, further adding to the chill. It seemed like we were on a good path for awhile, and then all of a sudden there would be a huge drop-off. This would be impossible to down climb safely and I’m fairly certain this is not the correct path, so then we would have to backtrack to the last marker, if we could find it and try to scout a different way.

The longer we went, the more hopeless it felt. My brain started to think of an alternative Plan B, just in case we can’t actually get down off this mountain before too long. Jake and I are freezing cold and our rational-thinking ability is quickly diminishing. We pulled over at a large boulder to duck out of the wind for a minute, to warm up and eat something to give us energy. The rest of the chocolate bar was passed among us and it felt good to stop walking. Jake gave me his backpack as a means to have something warm on me and Hélène gave me her extra jacket, she took Anthony’s extra jacket. Jake said he was okay without anything, but I know he was just being tough.

As we sat, I noticed a bright light out in the distance, at first I thought it was a headlight for a car, but then realized its too high up and behind the mountain range. Then I realized, duh, that its the moon. The longer we wait, the more light we should get from the moon, which might illuminate our path. But I still was worried about our progress, or lack thereof.

It was a struggle to get back up and move, and we haven’t seen a cairn for nearly 30 minutes. We found ourselves on a very long and steep scree field, though these rocks are much smaller but more sharp and painful. If we walked too quickly we would slip so we had to take our time. But the further we went, the more it felt like this was not the right way.

Jake informed us that its now 11:00PM and if we don’t find this trail soon, we should consider finding a boulder to kip under for the night. We could all huddle together to keep ourselves warm and rest up until the sun comes up. All three of us were down for that plan, but Anthony refused to give up, convinced that we are so close to finding the trail. With the moon out he said he recognized a rock feature that was slightly above us and that he remembered walking down through that area last time. He said if its the trail, he will flash his light 3 times and if its not, he’ll come back here and we can figure out where to go. So we sat and waited.

I leaned against the other two, feeling myself begin to doze off. In what felt like no time at all, Anthony was flashing his light…3 times! Does that mean he found our trail? I don’t want to get too excited just yet.

Jake had to help both me and Hélène to get up, since we were so weary and sore. Hélène actually could not get up and was in tears. She refused to get up and Jake couldn’t persuade her. I said that I’d go up to tell Anthony and Jake should stay here with her, maybe he could help carry her or take her bag, but just don’t leave her alone.

For so many hours we have been walking downhill that my muscles took a while to adjust to the uphill motion. The loose rocks made it more difficult but I kept myself moving, one foot in front of the other. How the heck did Anthony get up here so fast? And then all of a sudden my feet turned the corner of the boulders and hit flat, hard dirt. Its amazing how seemingly giant and obvious this trail is, though not from where we were. But this is it, we’ve found the trail! Now I couldn’t stop myself from cheering out loud. WOO HOO!

I stopped and waited here, and saw the headlamps of the others below. One was moving fairly quickly up this way and the other was not moving at all. I assume that is Hélène. Anthony obviously made it down to her and Jake found his way up to me. Though we still have a long way to go, we both sighed in relief. It took another 5 or 10 minutes for the other two to come up. Poor Helene was absolutely beside herself with exhaustion, but Anthony was helping her along.

Once we all reconvened, I took the lead and really kicked it into gear. My mind felt clear for the first time in hours and that sense of rejuvenation was enough to keep me moving. The path was still steep, but very obvious and easy to traverse. As we continued down, the trail wound through various rocky boulders, almost like gardens. They branched out in many directions but our trail seemed to be marked by red or blue dots painted on some of the rocks, which made it very easy to keep moving with gusto.

It wasn’t far when we reached a fork in the road, right at the center was a stone house, or what looked like a house which was actually old ruins. From above it looked sort of compelling and I walked closer but noticed that it had a very odd look about it, the roof was caved in and the trees around it were like skeletons, no leaves or needles on them. I’m not sure why but I got a very eerie feeling as I passed by. The rest of us felt it too and we quickly moved along. Anthony took over in the lead since he remembered the way to go and then we reached the final leg, off the rocky trail and onto the large dirt road of steep switchbacks.

This is the part where we all turned on our “cruise control”. We didn’t walk close together and instead just kept whatever pace each was comfortable. Anthony was in the lead, I was second, Jake third and Helene in the back. Jake confirmed it was after midnight but that doesn’t matter now. All I cared about was getting down. I didn’t even notice that above us was the most beautiful night sky because my eyes were turned down. I had to focus so that I don’t fall.

Near the bottom, I caught up to Anthony, letting him know that Hélène was behind us and might need some help. He was already thinking the same so he stopped and went back. I completely forgot that my body was aching and stomach hurt. Then it hit me that I haven’t gone to the bathroom in hours, and of course when I thought this, my body started to scream at me. I took the last bit at a jog and was so grateful when I reached the bottom to relieve myself.

Obviously I was a bit ahead of the crew, so I sat out on a bench and pulled out the half eaten bag of chips that I was carrying in Jake’s bag. I guess I’ve barely eaten anything today, a sandwich a couple of donuts and some chocolate. So this is where I stuffed my face for a few minutes, it wasn’t a pretty sight but man oh man it was sooooooo good.

The night was absolutely beautiful. I was inspired to take a photo, though too tired to set it up properly and simply placed the camera on a rock on the ground to stabilize it.

Jake was down 10 minutes later and we walked over to the car to wait for Anthony and Hélène. Its 1:15AM, I can’t believe we made it back here relatively unscathed. Both of us were starving and tired but so thrilled that we survived. The others came along shortly after and all of us collapsed in the car for a few minutes.

We later learned that the route is 1400 meters of climbing at over 3000 meters high. I think we hiked an additional 7 miles, making it the longest day of climbing ever. Its also important to note that this route in late summer can receive snow and weather deteriorates often and quickly. Its a miracle that we made it, and that the weather actually held.

It was a slow and quiet drive back to the apartment. All of us were so happy when we walked inside, its 2:15AM, still this is shocking to me. And seeing as we’re all famished, Jake and I got in the kitchen to cook our dinner while the others took showers. We planned a fancy meal, but realized we didn’t have any spices so we had to improvise, though we made pork with gnocchi and peppers, a big salad with a strange dressing which we combined wine and oil (sort of like a balsamic vinaigrette) and we used the leftover chips for salt. It was a very tasty feast and we couldn’t stop laughing that we’re eating dinner at 3 in the morning!

Thats when Anthony dropped the bad news on us. We have to check out of this place at 10AM today. That means we have less than 7 hours to sleep, eat, pack and leave. So with that, we all crashed for the night.

In no time at all Jake’s alarm woke us up. We still needed to shower, change and pack. We were very slow moving but managed to finish our chores and enjoyed eating random food that we had left, mostly gelato and coffee, for breakfast. Everyone was up but all of us were tired.

It is a shame that we have to rush out so soon, though it gave us plenty more time to tour the area. Anthony planned for us to do another ferrata but none of us had any energy. Instead we took our time driving back to Cortina (to return the gear) and stopped along the way to take photos of different beautiful sights. There was a huge flock of sheep, one little baby escaped, and we saw them wrangle it back up. In Cortina we got a bite of food at a pizzeria and enjoyed meandering amongst the tourists in town square. Sometimes its nice to take a pseudo-lazy day.

Eventually we had to make the drive back to Venice, and though it was long, we stopped for a coffee and snacks about halfway through. I just couldn’t believe when we rolled into the city at 5PM, where did the day go?

Tonight is our last night together since Anthony and Hélène have to go back home. Jake and I will be spending the next 5 days in the city, we rented a B&B. For the last night, we were sharing a room in a hostel, it was such a funny and strange layout. The room was quite large, painted bright blue with white clouds, or waves, I’m not 100% sure which. There were 3 beds; 2 very tiny and 1 very large. Since they were so nice to let us have the big bed in the apartment in Alleghe, we left them with the big bed and Jake and I took the small ones, but we pushed them together so we could cuddle! 😉

None of us was keen to go anywhere but we were all starving so we found a nearby Indian restaurant, Kaarma Sutra and it was the tastiest meal that I’ve had in ages! We all feasted on Butter Chicken, Palak Corma, Naan, and other various curry dishes. It was so wonderful and we were all in such high spirits, laughing the night away.

Though its only been a few days, Jake and I have found that just listening to our friends speaking French has begun to rub off on us. Jake will always try to impart French words into conversation, but I found myself creating some “FRANGLISH” of my own. For example, I booked our tickets to go to Paris when we eventually leave and was shocked when I saw the price. Everyone asked me why I made such a face and I said, because these tickets are CRAZY CHER! I didn’t even realize I said it, but Anthony and Hélène started laughing and thought it was the coolest word ever, so now they’ve taken to the term Crazy Cher (which means crazy expensive).

And with that, the longest climbing adventure comes to an end. Bonne Nuit.