A walking avalanche

Valentina B.

Maybe peoples’ true selves come out in the tensest of moments. At least that’s the feeling I had in Vallée Blanche that day, hanging from a crest under the l’Auguille du Midi, 3777 metres high, shooting photos of the M4810 team as they were reaching the top after a long, steep, icy crest that tested their abilities.

At a certain point, I see Valentina B. through the camera lens.

Behind her dark sunglasses, when she lifts her head to look at how much is missing, I encounter a gaze that almost scares me: it seems to launch a flash of energy loaded with tension, strength, excitement. For a moment I have the impression that an avalanche has started in front of my eyes, but that instead of slipping downhill, it’s climbing – in the form of this tall and lean girl.

Then she realises that I’m photographing her, and her face opens into a worn out, but proud, smile.

Vale B

I was about to understand the reason for that gaze: within that fountain of energy that is Valentina, a moment of incredible stress was underway. The climb was really testing her. 

“I was panicking. I think that if it wasn’t for the fact that I was tied to other people with the rope, I would have been stuck there. I couldn’t wait to get to the top. That was my only thought, as if thinking it harder would make me reach the top more quickly.

Height isn’t really my thing, I realized that much at Pointe Léchaud…”

I remember it well. I was just behind her, and in a pretty exposed spot, she had gotten stuck. I could see her getting agitated and I realised that… she wasn’t hooked on to the safety rope. Panic had the best of her for a second, but she then managed to clip her carabiner to the rope that kept us secure along the wall that we were climbing. I could see from her face that it was a stressful moment for her.

Up to now, she’s overcome every challenge.  But I wasn’t sure that I would see her name among the candidatures for the Mont Blanc. But there it was: the first woman (as for what regards the alphabetical order, at least) on the list.

Aren’t you worried, given the challenges we’ve had until now?

“Are you kidding?! Of course, I’m terrified. But you know what? I also know that I would never forgive myself for not trying. It’s a one of a kind opportunity for work, for the company that welcomed me, and for myself. One of those trains that you just can’t miss, one of those stories that I could recount to my grandkids. How can you not attempt the climb if you don’t have objective impediments?”

Of course, how could I think otherwise? In the end, you can’t stop an avalanche, never mind when it’s strong enough to move upwards.

It’s true, Valentina really can’t step back, seeing how much she pushed to be part of the project when, for timing reasons, she should have been excluded. She had joined Methodos as an intern when the project had started and, for obvious reasons, interns could not participate in M4810. When it came to getting a contract, she didn’t lose any time: she put participating in this high altitude Change Management project among her top conditions. 

“No, come on. But I’ll tell you that I didn’t hide my thoughts on it. Ever since I had joined Methodos and found out about the project, I thought it was amazing, as an experience and as a company initiative, and that I wanted to participate at any cost. 

Actually, I probably didn’t really give it proper thought back then. It was so beautiful, innovative, and unique that I didn’t stop to think if I was capable of it, or of how difficult it would have been. My enthusiasm was at its peak, I even went to speak about it with Filippo, the CEO. Only after getting the ok, and having participated in my first outing at the Grigna, did I begin to understand what I was getting myself into. But I still think now what I did then: I can’t not try.”

Vale B

Who knows what someone so exuberant and explosive could take away from an experience like this? Someone who took just two days to decide to volunteer on her own in Sri Lanka. Maybe the mountains calm her, like they do Sabrina?

Or maybe not, since she laughs when I suggest it…

“Calm? Me?! No, unfortunately not. It actually agitates me. Maybe the thing that most surprised me until now is understanding that there are limits.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m convinced of the power of mindset, maybe even too much. I always kind of thought that those that didn’t manage to reach their own peaks in the end don’t have a strong enough motivational push. Then I realised it’s not so black and white. There are limits, and we need to respect them. The real challenge is distinguishing the ones we impose on ourselves unnecessarily, that we need to overcome, from the physical ones, that are just part of who we are. A bit like what Alessio always says.

I apply this point of view also to what happened to me in the past. I was never a mountain person if not for skiing – my life was basketball: I started playing at the A2 level when I was 14 and from then on, there wasn’t room for anything else in my life (other than school, of course). Then, I tore my ACL. Once, twice… then a third time. It became more pain that pleasure at that point. I finally came to the conclusion that I had to take a step back and give up that world. It took a while to rediscover myself, and, really, to reinvent myself.

Vale B

It’s weird, basketball has nothing to do with mountaineering: it’s a quick sport, where an action lasts 24 seconds and where satisfaction is immediate, no infinite waiting times – a total team sport. It’s basically the complete opposite. Anyway, my condition taught me, even before the mountains, the value of effort in the long term: recovering three times from a torn ACL is a life lesson in its own way.

But what I really bring with me when we’re up there reaching for the peak is the sense of teamwork. No matter how strong my desire to get to the top may be, I would never be able to leave a team mate behind or not wait for the others.

In the end, for me, the point isn’t reaching the top. It’s the experience itself, the extraordinary multi-faceted challenge that we’re facing together: that’s the greatest push.”

Vale B

The journey

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3061

Mont Fallère

Methodos - M4810 - Mont Fallère

It is the first peak over 3.000m of our project

Mont Fallère is found in the Grand Combin Alps in the Aosta Valley.

Found between the Gran San Bernardo Valley and the Valdigne, it’s a great introduction to the magical world of the 3000s. Mont Fallère, situated in the heart of the Aosta valley, proposes a 360° panorama of all the Aosta valley peaks. Its layout is not the be underestimated, but overall it doesn’t present great difficulties, even if we need to be really careful in the final part of the ridge.

We go up in two stages: the first day up to the Fallère Hut; the second day we arrive at the summit and then we go down to the valley.

Read the story :)

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3128

Pointe Lechaud

Our first alpinistic climb to a summit

Pointe Léchaud (3.128m) is located along the borderline between Italy (Valle d'Aosta) and France (Savoy).

It is located south of the Col de la Seigne (2.512m) between the Veny Valley and the Savoy Valley of the Glaciers.

We climb in two stages: on the first day we walk from La Visaille to the Elisabetta Soldini Hut (2.195m); on the second day up to the top and back to La Visaille.

From the hut we go up to the Col Chavannes (2.603m); from the hill we have to leave the marked path that begins to descend into the Chavannes valley, following a path on the right that crosses the very steep eastern slope of Mount Lechaud. The trail continues on the right, again not far from the crest of Mount Lechaud and crosses a small valley of stones or snow, reaching the wide basin where the Chavannes Glacier is located. Once we have put on crampons, we set foot on the glacier going diagonally to the left. From this point we gradually turn to the right pointing directly to the top, which can be reached by overcoming some easy rocky steps. What we see is a vast and spectacular panorama on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.

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3842

Vallée Blanche

Methodos - M4810 - Vallée Blanche

Crossing the Gigante glacier towards the Aiguille du Midi

Although it may seems like a "scenic walk", the Vallée Blanche should not be underestimated, as it is an itinerary that involves crossing the Gigante glacier. It is always necessary to be accompanied by an Alpine Guide who knows the itinerary very well and knows how to avoid the dangers.

We go up by cable car to Punta Helbronner (3.462m), we wear harnesses and crampons and we tie ourselves together.

The first section makes us lose altitude and then we start to climb towards the Aiguille du Midi. The last section includes the ascent of the snow-covered ridge of the Aiguille du Midi, reaching 3.842m.

The return is with the panoramic cable car which takes us back to Punta Helbronner.

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4559

Monte Rosa

Methodos - M4810 - Monte Rosa

2 full-immersion days of technical alpine skill training on Monte Rosa

The Monte Rosa is a mountain range that is found in the Pennine Alps, along the watershed line between Italy (on the border of the Aosta valley and Piedmont) and Switzerland. It gives name to the Monte Rosa Alps supergroup, which in turn is composed of various important groups and subgroups, east of the Cervino and south-east of the Mischabel range. It is the most extended range in the Alps, and second in height after the Mont Blanc. It is the highest mountain in Switzerland and the second in Italy, and has the highest average height, containing 9 of the 20 highest peaks of the chain.

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4061

Gran Paradiso

Methodos - M4810 - Gran Paradiso

The Gran Paradiso is the only mountain over 4000m that is fully on Italian territory

The Gran Paradiso is the only mountain over 4000m that is fully on Italian territory. A classic and fascinating climb: after a first part on ice, to be able to reach the peak marked by a statue of the Virgin Mary, you must pass some simple rocky crossings.

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4810

Monte Bianco

Methodos - M4810 - Monte Bianco

Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian) is a mountain situated in the North-occidental Alps, in the Graian Alp range, on the watershed line between the Aosta valley (val Veny and val Ferret in Italy), and Haute-Savoie (the Arve valley in France), in the territories of Courmayeur and Chamonix, which give name to the Mont Blanc Massif, belonging to the subsection of the Mont Blanc Alps.

It’s 4808,72m (the last official measure was taken September 13, 2017) make it the highest mountain in the Alps, in Italy, in France, and in general in Europe if we exclude the Caucuses. This is why it’s called the King of the Alps. It shared a spot on the list of the highest Seven Summits with Mount Elbrus in the Caucuses.

Primarily granite full of peaks and crests, cut by deep glacial valleys, it is internationally renowned for its climbing and, from a historical point of view, the birth of mountaineering coincides with its first ascent: August 8, 1786.