There is a pleasure in
the pathless woods, there is a rapture on the lonely shore, there is society,
where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in the ITS roar: I love not man
the less, but Nature blackberries.
Lord Byron
Few months ago, while
I was rearranging shelves of my room, I came across a book that I didn't
remember to have: Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. For those who didn't have
the opportunity to read it (i highly recommend to do it), the book tells the
story of Christopher McCandless, a young American boy, who finished the
university and decided, unbeknownst to the family and his friends, to take a long
journey into nature abandoning civilization and running away from a consumerist
and capitalist society in which no longer bear to live.
I don't know whether it was
the cover image to appeal to me or the fact that I didn't want to re-order
anymore, but in a few minutes I was sitting on the floor, completely absorbed
in my reading, and after a day, book finished, I wanted to have a backpack and
set off immediately.
Because the feeling you get after experiencing Christopher
and his story is this, you can not help but reflect and a question arises: what
is my relationship with nature? I would be able to fully immerse myself in it,
only live life, at that time in that place, no phones, no internet, nothing,
just snow-capped mountains, rivers, starry skies, just me in the wilderness?
The case wanted that in that
same period me and some friends were planning summer vacations and it seemed a
good time to take up the challenge and take advantage of those ten days, free
from university exams and work, to experience something different, not the
usual holiday with all the comfort and technology always at hand, but
something more lively, away from the monotonous security to which we are used
and closer to an unconventional adventure.
Once the friends were convinced, the choice
of location was easy: what better place of Trentino-Alto Adige and its
Dolomites? Set of mountain ranges located in northeastern Italy, the Dolomites
offer to their visitors a number of hiking paths called “Alte Vie”, which have
a historical, geographical and cultural valency. Our choice fell on the Alta
Via number two that comes from Bressanone to Feltre for a total of about 185
km, a total climb of 11,000 meters and 6 mountain ranges crossed, not exactly
Christopher's Alaska, but a nice challenge!
Now, ignoring the details
about the preparation, the trip , about how hard it was to put up a tent in the
middle of a storm on the top of a mountain, or climb a rockface with a backpack
of 16kg on the shoulder, I believe that reducing life to essentials, free from
the burden that we have in excess, not only the material one but also mental
and emotional stress, let it go and live everyday under a new and different
sun, is a really great feeling. At first, of course, it will seem strange and
unsettling, set off with no certainty can be scary, but once taken the first
step there is nothing more beautiful and inspiring.
Because in today's world,
with frenetic rhythms , in which the imperative is to have everything at once,
in which we can no longer do without the technology and all the comforts that,
imperceptibly, change our lives and limit our skills, where it's becoming
difficult even finish a meal without
having checked the phone and the dialogue and relations with people are
minimized, immerse themselves in nature is a choice not only radical, but also
beneficial and necessary, if we want to remind where we come from and what we
are actually able to do, to understand
better ourselves and the environment.
Let's think about it, try to
spend a day or even just a few hours into the nature and for sure it will know
how to repay you. I leave you with this words, found written on the door of one
of the shelters that hosted us in Trentino and that I find incredibly true:
Ask me why I go to the
mountains. Ask me why, when the rest of me is tired, the only way is the path.
Why?
Because in the mountains you
can not waste your breath for useless words. You have to keep them to get to
the top, there is only space for silence or kind words.
Because the only weight is
the backpack. There is no burden on the heart.
Because everyone, if they
wish, can get to the top. Just step by step.
Because meet people who find
a moment to say hello.
Because there are no frills:
just you and your body, you must love it if you want to have the forces. There
is the sky with his moods. Do not mess with the rain, wind, snow or night. You
must be very careful, and return to the primitive stage in which nature and her
movements were part of your life, an integral part of your daily life. You can
not snub the nature, in the mountains: it pulls you by the sleeve, asking you
to look at it, study it, to be present.
In the mountains you can and
you have to be yourself, no distractions.
Maybe that's why, over many peaks,
mobile phones and internet work in fits and starts ... it is nature that says,
"Let it go, let go the superfluous. Stay with friends. Stay with animals.
Stay with yourself. You don't need anything else. "
@ arrotante do momento!:
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Martina, 23 years old, Italian.
Aspiring social educator, calm, dreamer, lover of music,
nature and outdoor life, but especially addicted to travel and to everything
that allow us to make new experience. I found myself dreaming of being
elsewhere..why, however, do not go there?
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