These are not absolutist “dogmas”, they are simply the fruit of my life experiences.
In this short collection of aphorisms and thoughts, born from the reflection that comes from walking in the mountains, the sum of my way of living is condensed, of relating to the world, of feeling sensations and emotions. They are not absolutist dogmas, they are just the fruit of my life experiences.
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Marvellous and brutal is the way a summit welcomes you... which without a companion in adventure remains, all the same, a cold heap of snow and rock. Undated (Thinking back to the Corno Grande) |
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I had a molar pulled out, it was not painful at all. I felt nothing whatsoever. I was anxious because I felt no pain. A few days later they stitched up a wound that would not heal, it hurt like hell but.... I have found that pain is reassuring, it tells you that somehow you still exist, you can still suffer but also still rejoice... 26 April 2010 (Pains past, present and future) |
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I cannot climb a mountain by cable car, not even by car... I have to start from the bottom, because only from the bottom can I understand how high a peak is. In fact it is not for the conquest of the summit that I set off, but to experience the length and the difficulty of the route. 28 April 2010 (On the “Politically Correct”) |
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I think that human beings, most of the time, “do things” and undertake “actions” of whose “scope” and importance they have not the slightest idea. Only after carrying them out do they understand how much effort they cost them, only afterwards, in their memories, do they give them their true worth. 05 June 2010 (Monte Vettore) |
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One thing has always amazed me: how immense the sky is above the mountains. Recurring thought, undated (The clear sky over the mountains) |
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Never arrive at conclusions before the conclusions have arrived... 06 June 2010 (Thinking back to the clouds on Monte Vettore) |
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The ability to overcome ourselves, our fears, our laziness, our shortcomings seems to be limited in every man. It is a mechanism of cogs that prevents us from any “real” change in the way we act... We cannot expect change from the Mountain, nor from ourselves, let alone from others... 9 June 2010 (Waiting for better times...) |
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Walter Bonatti certainly did not read Walter Bonatti's books to become Walter Bonatti... Be yourself and stop making such a fuss... 22 June 2010 (From a line of reasoning by Marco R. - Coming back from Monte Genzana) |
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You see, my friend, I have reached the sky by way of the earth. Undated (Remembering the wish to fly...) |
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From start to finish it was one long improvisation. The mountains are this too: they teach us that we must be ready for sudden choices, and that sometimes these can give you marvellous hikes or save your life. 23 February 2008 (Canalone dei Mezzi Litri) |
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In the face of death everything stops. Our greed stops, hatred stops, desire stops, every stupid human vanity stops... In the face of death the train of life stops, just as a man stops on the summit of a mountain. Reaching a summit brings the things of life back to their proper measure. 27 April 2008 (Monte Amaro) |
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