Winter ascent to Gran Paradiso

So here we are. After a demanding journey by car, about 12 hours from Pilsen, where the starting point for departure was by car (I drove from Frýdek-Místek :-) It is 3:00 and our four-member crew goes to a short sleep in the car at –15 ° C. It wakes us up at dawn. We pack our things, check the equipment and after morning hygiene and coffee for 1 euro in a local hotel, we set off for today's accom­modation at the cottage Vittorio Emanuele II at an altitude of 2700m.

It was still going well here, the snow was not blowing too much and the wind was blowing so that we would not sweat too much under the load. Slowly, hills over 3500m appeared to us

The weather looks idyllic, but before we arrived at the cottage, a strong wind picked up, the strength waned and the speed of progress was lost. Significantly exhausted, we put our luggage in the winter hut, prepared the wood and melted the snow into the water so that there would be something to manage for the evening.

In other words, the wind intensified. In order to be better able to tolerate tomorrow's height, it was necessary to climb a few hundred meters that day, unfortunately the wind and falling in the snow allowed us to get about 150m above the cottage, from where you could see at least the top of our journey tomorrow.

From here, the mountain looks light and innocent, we had no idea what awaited us the next day ..

The morning was critical, the wind whipped our cottage all night and in the morning he didn't want to stop. We came to a difficult decision, when it was agreed that we would try to go where it would go in that wind. In the light of the headlights, we walk through the blizzard looking for our tracks from the previous day. Unfortunately, my negligence and Zdeněk left the snowshoes at home and that is now holding us back. We divide into two groups, the one with snowshoes and almost dancing on the snow, and we who don't have them break down every three steps to the knees in the snow. Only at dawn at a height of just over 3000m the snow begins to be blown onto solid boards and our progress begins to get shifted. In the distance with clouds Mt. White

morning monte bianco as it is called italy

Before we get to Zdenda with the place where the peak with the whole parade can already be seen, it took us a lot of energy. Unquenchable wind, cold, altitude, exhaustion, alternating euphoria from the views, the sun and the feeling that we have it. All accompanied by the words: „Zdendo, is it bad when my heels freeze?“ I don't know, my heels never freeze, … do your heels freeze ?! If you can go it's good ,,. And so we take slow certain steps, with regular breathing breaks. The limit of 3500m is already known and the wind. Suddenly I realize that I probably whistled it, that I'm losing morale and I don't even know if I want to climb it. Morally and physically at the bottom, I try to catch up with Zdeněk to tell him that I'm done, that I've had enough, but Zdeněk goes his own way and every time he turns, he sees me behind me as I go, so we continue to the top: – )

It was my first encounter with such a high mountain and even in the winter. I have never felt altitude sickness, so what followed, with each step below the summit, can be expressed in words like total exhaustion, weakness, the urge to go to sleep, and vomiting, the already mentioned strong wind, cold, broken morale. But since I'm almost within reach of my friends and the summit, I thought I wouldn't give up, even in a good time, when I still had about half an hour to reach the summit before we turned it down. I don't know where it came from in me, but with very slow steps, with frequent exhalations, I reach the top exactly at 12:00. So in the time of 7 hours walk from the cottage and elevation gain of about 1400m. After about 15 minutes I begin to realize that on the top of my dream mountain, I conquered the limit of 4000m, and in the very first week fulfilled my long dream :-) After a while I regain the strength, zest for life and hot flashes that we felt during output faded. The mountain accepted me. Unfortunately, thanks to my early arrival, we also go back down in time. The weather is badly deteriorating and the clear sky becomes a total milk at the place of descent, where you can't see 5 m in front of you …

The next day we set off back to the parking lot early in the morning in the light of the headlights. We still have a way to the car park. The way down goes well, the dawn overshadowed the clouds, but the process is fast and in some places we dare to ride our asses, which adds to our joy :-) In the parking lot at a local restaurant, we indulge in espresso for 1 euro, thank the mountain for accepting us and she let everyone down in good health. At the same time, a small celebration of conquering the summit and leaving back to the homeland begins.

Everything was carefully planned in advance and mainly the weather came out, because in January 2017 there was not much snow. At that time, clear weather was reported in Gran Paradisa, otherwise the entire Alps and the Carpathians reported cloudy with snow. All things were consulted, even the fact that we lacked snowshoes, it was taken into account that we will either give it or turn back to the cottage. But Zdenda and I are hardworking and so it went all the way up :-) I would like to thank Pavel for his organization and realization of my dream, Zdenda for his encouragement and presence and Kamča, who was just with us and united our group :-)