Post by Lotus Eater on Apr 3, 2006 8:09:50 GMT 7
After delivering a lecture at a Nuclear factory on Saturday a mate and I headed for the mountains.
We wanted to drink champagne watching the sunset and managed it.
Beautiful eerie sky after sunset.
This meant we had to climb at night - no torches - to reach where we were to sleep - but that was fun in itself. We slept at 2500 metres and there was still plenty of snow. Here is why I choose NOT to go to the bathroom at night in the dark. Inside was solid ice - I choose not to question exactly what was frozen on the floor!
Next morning we were up to see the sunrise over the mountains, after one of the coldest nights I have ever spent - totally inadequate blankets in a room with no electricity, no showers, no hot water (had to pay 10Y for a thermos!!!). They literally melted ice and boiled it the next morning for our water. The ice was collected from icicles forming on the trees outside.
We started climbing again and reached where there was a "no foreigner allowed" sign - dithered there for about 20 minutes trying to decide if we would ignore the sign, listening to explosions in the far distance and watching puffs of smoke rise. But finally decided to keep going. Reached 3600metres. You can see it is a tad windy!
The path descendding was just as interesting as the path coming up. But I am now a firm believer in SNOW! It is so much better to walk on than ice. At times we were climbing through snow over a metre in depth.
I had planned on calling my family from the top of here - but - no coverage - it cut out before the bottom of the mountain and didn't come back in until we got back there late the next day. So I missed the whole reunion.
But it was a fabulous weekend.
We wanted to drink champagne watching the sunset and managed it.
Beautiful eerie sky after sunset.
This meant we had to climb at night - no torches - to reach where we were to sleep - but that was fun in itself. We slept at 2500 metres and there was still plenty of snow. Here is why I choose NOT to go to the bathroom at night in the dark. Inside was solid ice - I choose not to question exactly what was frozen on the floor!
Next morning we were up to see the sunrise over the mountains, after one of the coldest nights I have ever spent - totally inadequate blankets in a room with no electricity, no showers, no hot water (had to pay 10Y for a thermos!!!). They literally melted ice and boiled it the next morning for our water. The ice was collected from icicles forming on the trees outside.
We started climbing again and reached where there was a "no foreigner allowed" sign - dithered there for about 20 minutes trying to decide if we would ignore the sign, listening to explosions in the far distance and watching puffs of smoke rise. But finally decided to keep going. Reached 3600metres. You can see it is a tad windy!
The path descendding was just as interesting as the path coming up. But I am now a firm believer in SNOW! It is so much better to walk on than ice. At times we were climbing through snow over a metre in depth.
I had planned on calling my family from the top of here - but - no coverage - it cut out before the bottom of the mountain and didn't come back in until we got back there late the next day. So I missed the whole reunion.
But it was a fabulous weekend.