A Visit to Paradise: Days 4 - 5
Learning to Climb French: Alpine climbing at Les Ecrins and Dolomites, August 2-10, 2005

We left Vallouise in the direction of Briançon, aiming northeast towards A21, which would take us to Torino. At Briançon we purchased groceries and tobacco and headed for the Italian border where roadwork delayed us for the better part of two hours. From Torino, we followed the A4 towards Milano, Bergamo, and Brescia. Just east of Brescia we turned northeast along 45bis in the direction of Riva del Garda, where the next day, we were to meet with François friend, Mirco. Eight years before, Mirco and François had spent a year of study together in Sweden and they had not seen each other since.

We arrived at Salo, along the west shore of Lago di Garda at dusk. Lago di Garda is the largest lake in Italy and it maintains a most pleasant micro-climate all year long. Surrounded by mountains and beautiful villages, it is a sight to behold.

At Salo we stopped for François to make a phone call and for me to take a panoramic shot of the harbor (see above). We needed to find a spot where we could sleep. During the drive along the lake shore it occurred to me that it would be wonderful to sleep on a hidden beach. François, following his nose, found the perfect spot and soon we were contemplating the stars while drinking wine on a deserted Italian beach.

Unfortunately, the 20 year old Campingaz stove of François parents had other ideas and François' wasted our two gas canisters wrestling with it. Needless to say, the stove won the match and we ate a cold dinner of lentils and sausage. Around midnight François crawled into bed while I stayed awake writing in my journal. At 2:00, the calmness and beauty of the surroundings invited me to go for a swim in the lake. I must say that swimming alone and naked in the dark vastness of the lake is one of those moments that will remain edged in my memory for the rest of my life.

"Who is that ugly guy and what is he doing on my beach?" -- I thought as I was rudely awaken at 7:00 by a hairy Italian carrying strange equipment. Well, as it turns out, we had not discovered the beach, but rather, we had landed on a very popular site among the windsurfers in Lago di Garda. While the Italians rigged up their boards, we had breakfast and watched them perform their stunts on the windy lake.

By 8:30 we were on the road again in the direction of Riva del Garda for our rendezvous with Mirco.

We arrived too early for the encounter with Mirco, so we drove to the hills behind town where we spotted a limestone cliff about 300m high. François found an attractive young lady cleaning a pool and inquired about climbing on the wall (actually, I am pretty sure that he just wanted to check her out). According to her the wall was never climbed, which is not surprising given the amount of rock around town. From the wall we drove to an overlook where François demonstrated his keen sense of equilibrium by walking on a retention railing with a significant drop on one side. Meanwhile, I looked enviously at the cyclists who relentlessly pedaled up the hills while suffering in the morning sun.

We met Mirco downtown by the convention center, and he turned out to be a very nice guy. First, he introduced us to his mother who was busy attending to tourists at her place of work, a model toy store. From the store, Mirco took us on a grand tour of his village including a stop for italian ice cream and coffee, a walk on the lake beach, and visits to a number of historical sights.

In the afternoon, Mirco's Mother invited us to an amazing Italian lunch at their house where we met the rest of the family. After lunch we attended to our last piece of business in Riva; buying a new stove. Mirco's Mom mentioned two stores that might carry them. Sure enough one of the stores was a Campingaz dealer where François purchased a new Twister 270 stove and left the old one to rest forever in stove heaven.

The drive out of town continued along 45bis to Trento, followed by a stretch of A22 towards Bolzano. Another 63 km along SS48 towards Cortina d'Ampezzo brought us to our destination: Canazei, a small Tirolian village deep in the heart of the Dolomites, flanked by the Marmolada group on the south and the Sella group on the north. In Campitello di Fassa (2 km prior to Canazei) we met with the other members of the Club Alpin d'Ile-de-France at the campground Miravalle. After proper introductions we set camp, had a quick dinner, a warm shower, and went to sleep aiming at climbing a route on the lower south face of Piz Ciavazes (2831m) the next morning.