Monte Vettore - a result for a novice...

The memory of that hike is getting blurred, I don't remember all the details and nuances of thought and approach, but even years later I can still piece together the pleasure of those days.

The climb up Monte Vettore was sensational for me, as I was discovering my true great passion. I had worked all winter on my training, with method, with consistency, with results. My overall physical condition was perfect: lean, quick, with a capacity for recovery that only consistent training could give me. Every hike was preceded by long periods of training. Back then “good physical condition” meant safety to me. That day I went out into the mountains with my “first ice axe”.

Setting off from Preci, where I was staying with my family, I reached Forca di Presta at eight in the morning. I wasn't alone: with me was a group of CAI (Italian Alpine Club) mountaineers, kitted out with all the gear, pitons and ropes to equip a route up the arête of the summit of Prato Pulito.

The snow, still very icy, meant wearing crampons wherever there was any.

The hike was quick, just two hours and ten minutes for the ascent alone. I was elated by the result: 900 metres of height gain on mixed ground covered in so little time.

But I was a novice, but that was my second summit over 2000 metres, and succeeding in the conquest meant above all that I had shown I had been, at least once in my life, had been consistent and persevering.

A great sunny day, a great result for a hiker who had only just set out on his way among the peaks of the Apennines.