Wehn we can me and my friends try to organize this kind of activities. The subject of this post, in particular, took place last summer, when we decided to go for a two-day trekking in the Apuane Mountains, which are located in the region of Tuscany, Italy.
From my home it takes almost 4 hours with the car to get to the destination, so we had to leave early in the morning to be at the starting point at a decent hour.
On the first day, our objective was to reach the Rifugio Nello Conti, which is an amazing mountain hut where we had booked some rooms to spend the night.
With us we had also a female friend which wasn't so used to going for long walks on mountains, so we had to keep a moderate pace so as not to tire her out too much. Obviously, we had not gone there to compete, so we went very quietly to our destination, as we had almost the whole day to ourselves and the Sunset quite late in summer.
We arrived at the top of Monte Sella around 5.00 pm and stopped to rest for a moment and take the usual photos.
The refuge was a few hundred meters down and as soon as we arrived the two owners, who were two guys of our age, were kind enough to offer us a beer to quench our thirst (which we really needed).
We took the opportunity to lie down on the deckchairs for a while and relax a bit.
One of my friends, who is the one who usually organizes these outings, as he is also the most experienced in the mountains, at one point stands up and says he wants to go and explore the area around the hut. I immediately tell him that in my opinion, this is not a good idea, for several reasons:
the sun is setting, and obviously going around in the mountains in the dark (alone, since none of us had the strength or the desire to accompany him) is never a good idea;
The tour was a not-so-short loop;
There was no telephone reception in the area, so if something had happened there would have been no way to call for help.
But of course, there was no way to dissuade him and he set off anyway armed only with a torch and the phone, which was useless.
In the meantime, other people had arrived at the refuge, including the mountain rescue team, who would spend the night with us.
Two hours had already passed since my friend had left, meanwhile, it had become pitch dark and the guys at the refuge were setting the table for dinner. Obviously, we had to tell them that our friend hadn't come back yet, and since it was starting to get worrying, the mountain rescue team was also informed.
I was really worried, I had no doubts about my friend's preparation and physical abilities, but I also knew that one of the first rules for any kind of activity in the mountains, is not to do it alone. No matter how well prepared you are, mishaps are the order of the day. Even a simple sprain is enough to make it really difficult to finish the tour, then add the fact that it was dark and the phone didn't work... and here it is... a really bad situation.
I also began to have feelings of guilt both because I should have insisted more with him not to let him leave and because I might have decided to accompany him if it had been impossible to make him give up his plans.
Both my other friends and I were really worried and the rescue team was about to start searching... when, as calm as ever, our friend finally returned.
As soon as he saw the look on my face (I was really pissed off), he immediately realized that he had done something stupid and that he had made us worry unnecessarily, so he apologized to us and to the rescue guys (who scolded him well).
Fortunately, everything was resolved in the best possible way, and my anger also passed quickly, since there was good mountain food and lots of alcohol waiting for us.
The night was truly beautiful, the mountain atmosphere truly works wonders. I have recently realized that dinners with friends are no longer the same as when I was younger, unfortunately, even at dinner with other people, we spend more time on our mobile phones than talking to the people in front of us. And the saddest thing is that it has become a normal thing, nobody notices it.
This is why I love having dinner in the mountains, where the phone does not pick up and the only company available is that of the people around you. Furthermore, another thing that I absolutely want to emphasize is that almost all the people who love the mountains, whether it is for trekking, or cycling or trial or other, are much more friendly and sociable than the rest out there. In the mountains, when you meet someone, you always greet each other, even if you don't know the other people ... in everyday life, in the city, probably if I started greeting someone that I don't know I would be taken for a maniac ... and this it's another thing that makes me sad...
Obviously, a great evening always corresponds to a painful and tiring awakening ...
But since we still had a long way to go we had to get up early in the morning.
We left the refuge and headed towards Monte Tambura, which has a peculiarity that we had not taken into account.
The path to reach it is completely uncovered from both sides, so you are walking on a very thin strip of land with an overhang on both sides.
Now, for me and my friends, this was not a problem, since we were used to mountain trails of this type (usually then we do them by bike which is much more dangerous), but we had not taken into account our female friend, who instead suffers from vertigo.
We then found ourselves in a really uncomfortable situation, as we had partly approached the top and we were now halfway there, but at that moment our friend was seized by a panic attack, and could no longer continue walking. The main problem was that to go back the path was still open on both sides.
Among other things, that Sunday there was also an extreme trial race, with these "crazy" who did a kind of marathon in the mountains, running like crazy on those steep paths.
In the end, with a lot of patience, and a fairly important work of encouragement, we managed to get back to the starting point and from there we then went back down a much faster road to the car.
Apart from this very unfortunate situation, this was a great weekend. We had a lot of fun, we breathed some clean and fresh air and we also did quite an intense physical activity.
