The Optimism of Adventure… by Jessica Miller
/Happy New Year!
Well, we made it through 2020. The far-reaching effects of an unforgettable year are probably apparent in every part of our lives. So much of what we see on the news day to day beats the drum of despair. Adding to this are the stories of cancelled adventures, trips and special events from this past year. The New Year holiday does one essential thing in all of us, it brings optimism.
In this new year I wish all of you optimism at every turn, and the best mountain adventures you can think of!
The dolomites
For many of us hope in the future comes with looking forward to our mountain adventures in the year ahead. On a short afternoon backcountry ski on New Years Eve with my husband as the sun set early over the Eastern Sierra crest my thoughts turned to what adventures we had had last year, and what I wanted to do this coming year. Gone instantly was the doom and gloom of shutdowns, sadness of missed events, and despair of missing travel that has highlighted much of 2020.
With that I’d like to share my top three adventures that are filling my soul with optimism in 2021:
The Deliciously Wonderful Italian Dolomites!
In March 2020 we got word a virus was spreading in Northern Italy. My husband and I had already been in Europe for almost a month in Southern Spain rock climbing along the sunny Mediterranean coastal town of Calpe. We had been reading the news about a spreading virus not too far from us, but in this quiet little town it seemed life as normal while we climbed endless sport rock climbing routes on pocketed limestone. While on our way to Austria to meet guest for the Silveretta ski tour in Austria world events turned quickly. Italy closed its border, and soon would the US. Conversations turned to stories of times when Europe had closed their borders, how long would it last, would it matter?
Italy for me feels like a second home, especially in the Northern mountainous Dolomite region. It feels familiar, safe, and always welcoming. As travel was restricted and the Italian borders closed, it was unfathomable to me for the first time in my life that an imaginary line, a border, could be closed. I remember talking to an Italian cousin saying “what if we have to get there, and how can this be”? In a blink of an eye everything changed and Dave and I found ourselves on a flight out of Barcelona heading not to Austria, but back to the States.
The Dolomites in Fall are spectacular. European tourist season drops, climbers and trekkers return. Weather is still welcoming, alpine huts are open, and eating outside in local cafés and restaurants is abundant. The Dolomites is the location of the ultimate, un-intimidating, achievable adventure. From the Via Ferratas, to the hut to hut trekking and the amazing cuisine, adventure filled my heart with I can’t wait to return again.
Via Ferratas is where climbing and trekking meet. Iron paths created with cables bolted into mountain pathways create short as well as long day adventures. Wearing a harness, Y tail clips, helmet, and hiking boots/ approach shoes, you wind your way up and down and across some of the Dolomites most profound formations, across suspension bridges and exposed rock ridges, all the time clipped into the metal cable that leads your way and provides a level of safety. Falazarego Pass is one of the areas with the highest concentration of quality Via Ferrata. It is located close to Cortina d’ Ampezzo where local lodging and restaurants abound. There are also numerous mountain huts and hotels closer to nature most having a local farmhouse restaurant attached filled with the local cuisines and house specials made and grown right there.
Real via ferrata!
The Alta Via 1 is a historic trek that winds through the heart of the Italian Dolomites. Along this trek carrying only a day pack you can trek from one mountain hut to the next. Each having its own charm, culture, and cuisine. While travelling along this trail you can finally breathe in the serenity of Italian wilderness and wildlife, a stark contrast from travelling in other parts of the country.
If either of these spark that optimistic adventure within you perhaps a hybrid trip hiking along the famous Alta Via 1 and ending at Falazarego Pass to spend a few days climbing in the heart of the original Via Feratta country is the trip for you. We are headed back this summer and can’t wait!
The High Sierra, our magnificent backyard
The High country of the Sierra Nevada is salve to a weary soul, medicine for anything that ails you. The High Sierra is a 400-mile long mountain playground in California where endless adventure weather you are a climber, hiker or skier. The vastness of the Sierra, the intricate details of each valley, glacial moraines, and isolated lakes will keep you exploring for a lifetime. The silence and the serenity is piercing and an unforgettable experience.
fin dome in the high Sierra Nevada
This summer we visited Charlotte Dome and Mt Clarence King. Both of these climbs are also very worthy and must do rock climbs for any aspiring Sierra Nevada rock climber. With every day away from my other job in the Emergency Department, stress turned to peace. My other close favorite is visiting the Minarets. Viewed from a distance from the town of Mammoth Lakes, their jagged appearance flanked by Mount Ritter and Banner on one side will draw anyone to want to visit and explore these magnificent peaks. Minaret Lake is a day hike from Red Meadow out of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Where you will find yourself below Clyde Minaret, another classic rock climb.
Hiking along the JMT from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite also gives a close look of Mount Ritter and Banner. This is a wonderful section of the John Muir Trail hiking up past Shadow Lake, Thousand Island Lake over the Sierra Crest arriving in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.
Yosemite’s El Capitan is more than meets the eye
For years El Capitan in Yosemite Valley was a second home, my first home was not too far down Yosemite Valley where I worked at the Yosemite Medical Clinic and for Search and Rescue. El Capitan has its own life force. You breathe in its life, its massiveness, its lessons of perseverance, and it always gives back in you as much as you give to it. Much of the news about El Capitan has shifted towards speed records, movies, and dramatic injuries/rescues on this famous rock monolith. It is so much more than this, I truly hope those stories fade and the magic of visiting El Capitan again can return. Visiting El Capitan in Yosemite Valley should be on your bucket list. You can easily walk out to the base of the rock wall and touch it with both hands, look up, pick out climbers you see, and breathe in something that is and always will be bigger than you. Something about this has always provided me with optimism in the same way the viewing a sunset or looking at the ocean makes one see the bigger picture. This short hike from your day will provide a childlike sense of wonderment and optimism for days to come. This year my husband and I have made it our goal again to set aside what has become our busy life, work schedules, and take some time together and do a ground up big wall climb of El Capitan in the style we both learned years ago. We can’t wait!
Yosemite’s El Capitan
Visiting Yosemite National Park is a must for those that haven’t. There are many faces of El Capitan that can be viewed from hiking along the Valley Rim or snow shoeing out to Dewey Point from Badger Pass off Glacier Point road. In February the sun sets perfectly along Horsetail Falls on the righthand side of El Capitan lighting it up in a spectacular way creating for moment a “firefall”. Watching this in Yosemite Valley will bring cheers to all watching it. This only happens in mid to late February. Seeing it in person is better than any photo you have seen on the internet.
What are your top adventures for the year? We can get you there!
Jessica Miller is IAG’s co-director and director of our backpacking, international trekking and wilderness medicine programs.
International Alpine Guides has been guiding adventures worldwide for over 40 years. We specialize in the Sierra Nevada and European Alps. Exploring, guiding, and teaching new skills in our favorite places is what we love to do. If any of these adventures sound like it is for you check out these trips below!
