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– He has been climbing mountains for the second year. A year ago to Mont Blanc, this year even to two mountains in Austria and France. Where does so much strength come from? How will you prepare for it?
– The second year may be more complicated. At least for me. Real climbers might laugh at it as “more difficult”. Last year, Mont Blanc remained undefeated due to weather conditions. And of course, I didn’t really know what to expect, I also lacked physical preparation. Maybe I would have left this dream like this, if not for the stubbornness of like-minded people and the “mountain sickness” that caught us. Back in the winter we started planning again to storm Mont Blanc. Before that, we chose Grosglockner, the highest mountain in Austria and the second highest in Europe, for acclimatization. Physical preparation is especially important when climbing mountains of this height. I increased the training load in the gym, started running longer distances. In the mountains, everything is important: a strong body, endurance. How the body will react to changes in altitude and lack of oxygen is also important. Sometimes, people prepare for it for a long time, and when they reach a certain height, they fall, run out of air, vomit, can’t go anymore… In this case, you have to turn around and go back. The mountain does not make any compromises. Acclimatization was quite easy for me. After reaching Grosglockner at 3700 m, I spent the evening there with a night in a mountain hut and, as the sun rose, I took a walk near the sharp and rather unfriendly summit of this mountain.
– You yourself said that it is dangerous that all the parameters in your head change when you are in the mountains, you feel as if you are between heaven and earth. Why climb there? Aren’t there enough thrills on the ground?
– I asked myself this question many times. And I asked my friends. One wants to test his abilities, another doesn’t want to give in to a friend who climbed last year – masculine ambitions, and yet another wants to do something that life will never offer again… I discovered that the more you burden your body with physical difficulties and endurance challenges, the brighter your mind becomes. There are no depressing and unnecessary thoughts left, in the mountains I am alone with myself. All thoughts – how to put the foot correctly and in place. I count the steps – ten steps – breathing – ten steps – sigh… I check every stone that I need to hold on to or put my foot on. If it is “alive” – moving, which can roll down, hurt others – do not touch. That’s how you climb one step at a time, inhale, exhale. No extraneous thought.
After Grosglockner, we went to Mont Blanc. The track was already “touched” last year. Physically, climbing was already easier. I was ready for it. But the mountain is not a hotel. You won’t order amenities there. After climbing to an altitude of about 3000 meters, we were hit by a huge wind with snow, rain, thick fog where nothing can be seen at a distance of 2 meters.
Walking in sticky snowfields requires a lot of endurance and attention. There are snow-covered dangerous slopes. Therefore, you should go in pairs.
But that feeling when you are standing in a thick fog, in a snowy valley between the black mountains that support the sky, and somewhere nearby there is an avalanche… When you realize that you are just an ant in this world. And all the ambitions and whims and problems you left behind are nothing.
– What was the scariest moment on this year’s trip? What did you think and feel then?
– There were no particularly scary or dangerous moments this year, thank God. Maybe Grosglockner’s last meters to the overnight hut, which is at an altitude of 3700 m, when it was necessary to climb a steep stone wall. The ropes, to which we can hook ourselves with carabiners, are stretched out as if it were nothing terrible. I’m hooked, I’m climbing. The weather is clear, calm, the resting place is almost visible. Suddenly (that “sudden” means 2-3 seconds in the mountains) there is a storm, rain, wind, snow… I didn’t even have time to take my gloves out of my backpack. The rope is freezing, I can no longer feel my hands, my fingers are turning blue, the visibility is at most one meter… I can’t let go even for a second. I still have to watch where to place my foot safely. A friend who was walking next to me suddenly stretched out his gloves, otherwise he put them on my already frozen hands. It should be mentioned that in all such situations, a backpack of about 15 kg is still on the back.
At that time, I was only thinking about how not to panic. Calm breathing, “reviving” your hands as soon as possible… That’s it. No more thoughts.
In such cases, I always remember the phrase, “when the strength runs out, turn on the character.”
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The article Dalia Varnaitė: “The top of the Alps resembles the scenery of horror films” was posted by Gimtasis Rokiškis.
2024-07-28 17:30:35