| Luglio 2011 |
| DK & RFL taking a break from the Milano - Pavia heat wave - Piemonte (vacay house & ) Alba Left: DK & RFL Spotorno (look at the gorgeoous wrap Donna brought for me)- Right: The Leonetti Boys - sans Av (he arrives in August and we are off to Rome) 3 luglio 2011 Below bike ride through Pavia |
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| Baci and his REALLY big bone |
| C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S Z A V E N for an all A and only 1 B (in French) report card and with outstanding teacher comments - we are so proud!!! Av is burning the midnight oil as this week is his final's week. Joe is in London at a training...for an entire week. We miss him. Donna is back home too. And what have Zaven and I been doing to beat the heat and the dog days of summer, while trying to not contract malaria from the swarms of mosquitoes? Well Zaven has discovered the show Lost and has been working his way through every episode and sleeps until noon because he is a teenager now. In the evenings...Wii JUST DANCE - dance party, practicing our moves - we look/feel like idiots, but it is totally fun and a great work out. Zaven deserves 20 million gold stars for his excellent report card of course and for playing Wii Just Dance with his mother. LINK 6 luglio 2011 |
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| Monviso Trek July 21st - 24th 2011 |
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| Day 1: Departing Oncino and hiking to Rifugio Alpetto - 2268 meters - a climb of over 1000 meters - UGH. Lovely Rif. but cranky angry bitter not loving life German wife of the proprietor killed our buzz a bit. I am thinking of starting a blog - "Rhonda's Reviews of Rifugios" If so, this one would get 10 gold stars for the view, resident fox, hot water and normal toilets but would be negative 1000 stars for the terrifying wife who really should be kept in the kitchen and away from all the guests. We did meet a half nice German couple (ie half nice because the girl was friendly but the guy was creepy and wouldn't make eye contact) who had done the summit that day, so I took the opportunity to pump them about the bivouac that they had stayed in, the route they took, etc...I would like to climb Monviso even though Farmer Franco of Serole fame and X Alpinismo told us "Monviso e' pericoloso' Well of course it is if you are drunk and in your hot pants (he is always in short, nylon running shorts which should have been retired in 1984). In the evenings, we played tons of card and dice games, which was totally fun - Rasmus, Zaven's Danish friend, taught us a new game called Bullshit - although that is not what his family calls it, but since he knows we/I have a pirate hooker mouth, he felt he could divulge the true name of the game. |
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| Day 2: Rifugio Alpetto to Rifugio Quintino Sella - 2640 meters - only 2 hours, so cruisy hike which the boys needed because the day before was grindy. This rifugio would get 175 gold stars for friendliness - (young, energetic, dreadlocked, college kids thinking 'I have a cool summer job goin' on' vs. craggy Wolfman Jack - who has never left the mountain or showered), plus we had our own little room (it pays to get there early), it has the most amazing view as it was literally at the base of Monviso, and there were a herd of stambecchi, but no hot water and only squatty potties. Note to self: Don't try to save space in your pack - always, always, always bring your Underarmour gear no matter if it is July. It was damn cold. Since we were on the hairy edge of France we met tons of French people on the trails. TIP: If you want to meet French people come to the Italian Alps. You know we have encouraged (forced) Zaven to take French just because we want a translator and since Av doesn't live with us anymore and would never ever go on a trek... |
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| Day 3: Rifugio Quintino Sella to Rifugio Giacoletti - 2741 meters- everyone, and the internet seemed to be time challenged for calculating how long it would take to get to the rifugi on this route- "It will only take about an hour and a half to get to the rifugio" - and 4 hours later....that was a theme from the beginning, so we just sort of gave up trying to figure it out, screw checking our altitude and time on our Suunto and just kept walking - did we have any other option? This day was tough because we had to descend about 500 meters and then climb back 500 + 200 = beat down. However that day was really the most scenic. I must say this was by far the most beautiful trek I have been on - there were blankets of wild flowers, even though it seemed sort of late in the year, Alpine meadows and then those lakes, the ones with the surreal acqua color - just breathtaking. This rifugio was excellent (150 stars), high, wonderful food and staff but totally over capacity, I kept telling Joe if the fire marshall showed up (via helicopter) - they would be shut down. I have never seen anything like it, people kept showing up, without reservations - they literally had to put mattresses on the dining room floor. I get a bit panicky in crowded barrack conditions , but since no one was speaking in German (must be a past life thing), just loud Italians, so with a little Dolcetto I did just fine. |
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| Night 3: After a very cozy dinner - what did Bronwyn tell me, the best dinner parties are the crowded ones, I tried to apply that here - I think the Gay Gym was visiting again - I am wondering if Rifugi are some sort of haven for forbidden love. Out of too many people there were very, very, very, few women, fully realizing mountains and mountaineering are macho, but still it was a bit odd how many 'only men' groups there were... We did find space for 4, to play our evening Zonk, BS, Hearts....etc sitting on our bunks. I love that we have no connection to the world, our mobile phones don't get signals, no internet, no distractions just us. |
| Day 4: Rifugio Giacoletti to Pian del Re to Crissolo to San Giacomo...6 hours hiking down (we are walking pretty poorly today and no amount of Advil seems to be helping). The wind was fierce when we left Rif.G - [right mountain bandits] PS - I know the 'Heidi' / bandit look is never good for me (Joe looks totally handsome sportin' the bandana any ole way), but it 1. keeps the hair out of my face when I am looking down figuring anti fall foot placement 2. hides my gross dirty hair and 3. kept my gross dirty head warm. I sometimes ask myself - after 4 days without warm water, even to wash my face, squatty potties (Joe literally asked the 3rd rifugio, "Do you have a normal toilet?" And they said, "Outside." ie, like an outhouse), and sleeping with 50+ strangers, snoring (the loudest being my husband), coughing, seeing them in their undies, looking and smelling super subpar, myself included ... but I am truly in love with the Alps so I can live without these luxuries for short periods of time...as said before Rifugi are not for the faint of heart or princesses. |
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| Joe staged and took this photo of Rasmus. Both the boys were amazing, never complained - just sweet, polite and happy. Che bravo! |
| Amen brother we made it back to the car, surviving 6 hours of insane views, knee pounding and Zaven being shocked by an electric fence - we thought they were just to fake out the cows, but apparently not. Baci stayed in our Serole house, Rosanna had the key, so she walked him, fed him and he slept in our bed. Upon arrival, Tiziana, knowing we were jonsin' for fresh fruit and vegetables (none of that in rifugi), gave us a huge sack of just picked from her garden zucchini, tomatoes, basil and peppers - our neighbors are the best! |
| Donna's Visit |