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Saturday 25 October 2008
There, now it's raining... I can feel the little drops falling on my rain cape. They tick irregularly..., the drops..., and they seem to make a gentle music... and listening even more closely I seem to hear the whisper of nature. For every drop that falls I see a leaf leaving its tree, it dies, it lets itself go, almost happy, to the natural turnover of life and death. Each leaf falls slow and damp, with its last breath. The damp of the rain has woken the smells of the wood, the scents of the grasses and the aromas of the mushrooms hidden among the leaves. In this enchantment of a “timeless fairy tale” I finally feel at ease, I walk slowly, I feel serene, even under this rain and even though I'm starting to get wet. Lost in my thoughts I go back over the climb I've just finished...
The forecast said rain. I was undecided for a few days; when it's like that I'm always a bit against going out. But autumn this year will come only once (as usual) and the wish to see the woods of Monte Morrone, of the Cerasolo and of Monte San Rocco had been teasing me for some time. Even if the forecast is so unreassuring, the urge to set off is decidedly stronger. Only half past four in the morning. At the sound of the alarm I hurl myself out of bed. I have barely an hour to have breakfast, get ready and leave the house. But the enthusiasm and the new wings that have grown on my feet carry me out of the house in less than half an hour. I fly, and I see that D.R. too has spread a fine pair of new wings. I read the enthusiasm in his eyes. A positive, optimistic enthusiasm, able to seize moments of pure enjoyment. On the way we pick up Andrzej, he's smiling too, ready for a new climb, curious to deepen his knowledge of the Monte Velino group, to find a window of rest and meditation. In barely an hour's drive we are near the dirt track that climbs up the Valle dell'Asino. It's a propitious moment for this thirst for mountains, for this desire for freedom, we are all in top physical and mental shape. The path that starts from the motorway underpass, near Corvaro, follows a well-trodden dirt track, and in the mud there are fresh tyre tracks. Here we are still outside the boundaries of the Velino and Sirente Natural Park, an extremely wooded area that wedges into the Valle dell'Asina. The wood is frequented by hunters and their numerous packs of dogs. The daylight struggles to get into this damp and shady valley; we would like to capture the colours of autumn but we know that with these infernal little digital cameras it's hard to catch certain colours, the faint lights of dawn. Andrzej walks briskly, at certain moments when he walks he seems to be praying, I see him sink into a state of pure bliss. At times we manage to talk about what going to the mountains means to us. These are the moments I like best, when somehow we manage to uncover our thoughts, our deepest desires or fears. D.R. lingers to take a few photos, he has decided he wants to enjoy the day. He even hopes the rain will come. Like me he is looking for a catharsis of the spirit, the emptying of the mind. He wants to find himself again in physical contact with nature. It's like rediscovering your own origins by experiencing simple gestures: walking, breathing, observing. That way we manage to come down from the closed tower of our thoughts to live, simply, life. At about 1450 metres we begin to glimpse on our left the meadows of Monte San Rocco. They are meadows hanging on a wide balcony. You can glimpse the great oaks that populate the Cerasolo wood. Here we find a fork. Going left you reach the entrance to the so-called Mercaturo. To the right you can reach the huts of Fonte dell'Avena. I remember the area very well, a check on the map and we decide to go left, skirting Monte Ginepro and entering the final part of the Valle dell'Asina. A few hundred metres from the fork a sign reads Mercaturo. To the left the dirt track continues towards the Bosco del Cerasolo. We enter the valley following the path, not very clear but well marked by waymarks. I'm happy to have found again the way I had travelled two years before on skis. At the head of the Valle dell'Asina a wide high-altitude meadow welcomes us with its morning colours. We don't hesitate to look for a rest, a sip of water and a few sandwiches. But our feet still can't keep still and soon we set off again towards Monte Uccettù. Following the easy route, marked by different systems of waymarks (once blue, once red and white, once red, yellow and green) we finally come out of the wood. Comfortably sitting on the ridges the hunters are perched, a few little dogs come to say hello. We decide to intercept the ridge that leads directly to the summit of Monte Uccettù without passing through the Sella or Vado dell'Asino. In short, with some effort we reach the summit. Here the landscape is more like the Costone or the Punta Trento e Trieste we have already seen. All around, little rocks and lush grasses cover the whole ridge. On the summit of Monte Uccettù the landscape is unexpectedly beautiful. Looking North-East, the Puzzillo, Monte d'Ocre, Monte Orsello, the Costone; to the South-East the Velino and the Cafornia are covered (as usual) by clouds. To the South-West the Murolungo and the Morrone. Standing on Monte Uccettù you are almost at the centre of the mountain group, it's a wonderful feeling. Already from here we can see the Lago della Duchessa, which we'll certainly see better from Monte Morrone. The weather is starting to change... and even though we're in no hurry we set off again towards Monte Morrone. The pace is firm. Andrzej is in top form and reaches the South Summit of the Morrone in less than half an hour, keeping up a very respectable pace. The Morrone is literally a surprise. It's a long crescent-shaped ridge running from South-East to North-West. The ridge is interrupted by two high rock towers with no objective dangers; the path runs around them, leaving the hiker ample room to move without difficulty of any kind. The two towers, and the glacial cirque on the north side, are more easily seen from the North Summit of the Morrone, the one that, according to the maps, would be the true summit. I couldn't stay on the summit for ever. The moment on the summit is a perfect moment. I have to return to my world, to the valley, to the plain, and then towards those cities I detest so much. But then why does the human being prefer to live in an imperfect world? I talk about it with Andrzej and he seems to give a plausible explanation. Man fulfils himself in the search for the perfect moment. Desire is the engine of the “self”; reaching a goal, a summit, is a perfect moment, precisely, which cannot last for ever, it's an instant, it's a brief moment of enlightenment. For the return I've decided not to take the way we came up, the clouds are filling with water, I see them rising from the valley. Monte Velino and the Murolungo are already completely covered. We descend towards Fonte dell'Avena. Already from the North ridge of the Morrone you can see the two huts and a few horses grazing. We go down the slope of stones and grass, hoping it won't start raining while we're descending: it would be annoying to dodge the stones and try not to slip on the wet grass. Arriving at Fonte dell'Avena, near the huts, the magic happens. It starts to rain and we are just in time to shelter in the first hut, to put on our rain capes and finally head back into the wood... There, now it's raining... I can feel the little drops falling on my rain cape. They tick irregularly...
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