Ah, home at last. After a 3 day weekend to travel we have all returned “home"--or at least that is what it feels like. Having been at the chalet for two weeks now it is definitely easy to say that this place has become our home away from home and all who stay here are family. With the breathtaking view and fresh mountain air it is not difficult to see why everyone who comes here is in a perpetual cheery state.
Last week, on a beautifully clear day, I went paragliding. It was sublime, pastoral, majestic, and just plain amazing. I was like a bird floating over the mountains and looking down on the villages. From this perspective, it is hard for me to see that anyone would have a negative view of the Alps. This is, until I watched the aptly named film The White Hell of Pitz Palu. If the title didn’t already give it away, this 1920’s black and white silent film showed two hours of worse case scenarios on a mountain--from falling off a glacier and getting frozen alive to climbing a mountain and being stranded on the edge of a cliff for days with concussions and broken limbs. One of our novels, When the Mountain Fell, also gives a good description of the powers of the mountain, retelling the story of a great rock avalanche destroying an entire village.
I suppose you must always take into account all perspectives of each situation. The mountains are certainly a force to be reckoned with and all respect is due to them, but from my experience here, I don’t believe these negative views will sway me any time soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment