Category: Photo

Falling

Falling

It is not that easy to begin this post. I am not even sure anyone reads this anyway, but writing as always been something I enjoyed. Thus, I am writing. Last week I took advantage of Koningsdag being on a Thursday to travel to Chamonix.

Having lunch under a tree.

The plan of the trip down to Cham was to hike three days, and enjoy the Alps. Simple.
I checked the weather forecasts for a while, until they converged into what we can consider a mixed forecast: rain and snow the first days, and sun the remaining ones.
I brought all the clothes and gear that I thought were enough for winter hiking, but decided to leave home mountain boots, crampons, and ice axe. I was not going to push that hard, and was ready to back off if conditions were nasty enough to require proper mountaineering gears. However, I brought microspikes and trekking poles, just to be on the safe side.

Friday the 28th of April I was hiking on the Aiguilles Rouges, at low altitude because of the snowfall that was going on since the night before. I hiked from Chamonix to the slopes below the Flegere, and was feeling good. I went up and down to put meters on my legs, and had a pretty good time. I could feel all these months of training were giving fruits as I felt in a really good shape.
At some point I lost the trail because the snow was completely covering it. I checked the map, and knowing where I was I decided to keep moving to find the trail again, and then get down. At some point I realized I was walking over a sloped boulder field, but there were trees and the risk of avalanches seemed pretty low, so I kept looking for the trail. I could always retrace my steps and go back the way I came, but it was early and my turnaround time was still few hours in the future. I was proceeding real slow, though, because I didn’t want to step on a hole and hurt myself, or get stuck.

Then I felt. I was traversing a slope, when my feet slipped below me, and I found myself lying horizontally, prone, sliding down the mountain. The only thought I had was that it was over. I was going to die on that mountain, and rest under the snow in Chamonix.
Clearly that is not what happened, as I am here writing this right now. What happened is that, after few meters, I just stopped. I stood up, moved to a tree nearby, and took the trekking poles that I wasn’t using until then.
I thought “well, that was close” but wasn’t scared, wasn’t in panic. Sure my heart was slightly faster than before when I stood up after the fall, but not that fast. Kept looking for a way down, but after few more minutes of exploration simply decided to trace my steps back. Going back I kept hiking, and was still in a pretty good mood.

Actually, I am still in a pretty good mood. What happened was that I stepped on a rocky slab that was hidden under the snow, and slipped on the wet rock. I walked more carefully going back. But I wasn’t being careless before. There were things I could have done better, e.g. use my trekking poles to check what was under the snow while moving off-trail, but I was well prepared and equipped, and I made only one mistake. Lesson learned. This is what contributes to what we call “experience”.

What surprised me, what really surprised me, is that in a split second I accepted my death. Sliding down the slab I didn’t have any doubt about that being my last moments in life, and I was OK with that. I wasn’t really scared, I wasn’t trashing, I wasn’t screaming, I wasn’t crying. I was just looking at the world moving below me, at the snow, at the trees. I was worried of the speed, there was a voice inside me saying “you are going to accelerate until you stop, then it’ll be over“. I didn’t see my life being replayed in front of me, but I acknowledge that the time was flowing slower than usual.

I don’t know why I wasn’t scared, but I am so glad I wasn’t. If that had to be the end, I certainly didn’t want to spend the last moments of my life being scared of death. Being in peace was such a better feeling.
After the fact, I didn’t think to stop wander and enjoy the beauty that this world has to offer. I didn’t think to stop hiking, climbing, exploring. I didn’t question my choices. I was happy to be there, I was happy to be who I am.

I am happy outdoor.

Update on 2016 goals

Update on 2016 goals

Just a short update on how 2016 is going. At the beginning of the year I wrote a post about my goals for the year, and I am pretty happy about how things are going so far.

Selfie on the summit of Monte Amaro.
Selfie on the summit of Monte Amaro.

 

The first goal for 2016 was to reach the summit of Monte Amaro, in the Majella massif. I reached the summit during the evening of the 15th of August, bivouacked just outside the Pelino hut, and went back down the morning after. The night was humid but not really cold, and I did see few shooting stars and even a passing satellite. On Stava you can find the GPS track of me going up, and then going down the day after.

Selfie after the run.
Selfie after the run.

 

The second goal was to run a half-marathon, and not just the distance, but a real race. And I just did that. Last Sunday, the 16th of October, I was one of the over 18000 people participating in the Mizuno Amsterdam Half Marathon. Not only I was able to run the whole of it, but I managed to run in under two hours (official time being 1:57:10). And, the most important thing, I did have lots of fun running it, and the atmosphere of the race was awesome. Again, this is the Strava GPS track of the race.

 

There are still some months to go on this 2016, and I hope to achieve even more outdoor goals 🙂

Random girls, 3

Random girls, 3

We are in L’Aquila and, like in every other story, we are in a pub.

The place is noisy. Our guy doesn’t even know the real name of this bar. For him this place is called “Z&P”, and this is how we will call it. It is most certainly a Thursday night, the night of the week when students go out and get drunk, all in a desperate attempt to forget everything they studied in the previous days and, if they get lucky, meet new people.

Our beloved hero is talking with a friend and they are introduced to a lovely young lady. To be fair, he told me that he does not remember how lovely this young lady was. Or how young this lovely lady was. Fact is, we don’t really care.
They start talking, and after their names are pronounced the fair maid asks him what to her is the most important thing: what does he do in his life. This is a world of college students, so the question basically means which is his field of studies. Our guy is young and too naive at this point, so he speaks the truth, that he studies computer science. In his defense I’ll have to say that he learned quite some from that moment, and at the same question he nowadays answer that he is an organ player and works in small protestant churches in northern Europe; sometimes, he even adds that he is an heroin addict.
But let’s get back to our story. She listens to his answer and adds “Computer science, that’s so boring. Bye”. After this phrase, she leaves.

The guy is frankly shocked and does not understand her comment, so he turns to his friend that says “She study arts, she learns by heart when some painting has been painted, then she spends her time trying to imitate the style of that dead painter, and we are the boring ones.”.

 

Epilogue

Our guy never grasped what happened that night and why he was considered guilty of boringness without a fair trial. I know him quite well and, truth to be told, he is as boring as a broken chair, but his being boring has nothing to do with computer science.
Then, one day, he read “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance“,  and he eventually understood what happened that night.

Holidays

Holidays

Working at home today. Between an experiment and the following one, between a “make” and plotting some graphs, I look outside my window and see a pale sun. Anyway, a pale sun is better than the usual rain. I also see many people with their trolleys going around. This reminds me that the first time I came in this neighborhood it was the 18th of August of 2009. So, while I will be in Italy for few days of rest, sun (I hope) and parties with my friends, new students will arrive here, bringing new life in Uilenstede.
It is somewhat exciting to remember how I felt my first time here, and I hope all the new students will have fun and learn something as I did a couple of years ago.

So, have fun everyone, and see you again at the VU in a while 🙂

Prague 00

Prague 00

I’ve been to Prague for Easter (yes, I’m still alive). This is a picture took somewhere in Malá Strana.

Nice place Prague.

Prague 00
Prague 00