Share the mountains

And now that I've caught your attention... please, at least once, stop and read this silly project...

The story

I find myself at Campo Imperatore and run into an old acquaintance made on the paths a few years back. We look around, we all know each other, more or less... we can't help laughing and we say: well, here we are, the usual handful of people, the same old familiar faces. There are the Roman mountain folk, a few acquaintances from Ascoli Piceno, the usual faces from Pescara, from the Rieti and Teramo areas... and the hard core from L'Aquila.
When we don't meet on the paths, we meet on mountain forums or in the virtual communities on the web. When we don't meet at screenings of mountain films, we meet in some shop for hikers and mountaineers. There are no new faces. At the risk of repeating myself, I'd really say we're always the same handful of people.

The why...

Strong emotions, emotions that go right through to your soul. Every mountain lover knows how thrilling the mountain experience is: whether it's climbing on rock, conquering a summit or walking in a wood, whether it's looking for an old hut or a hidden spring, the mountains always give you new and intense emotions.
If you have felt these sensations at least once, you have tried to involve friends or relatives so as to share the experience of life in the mountains, hoping to make everything even more exciting with your loved ones close by.
But how many really took up your suggestion? Few, or perhaps none... and if they did, you were told that yes, the mountains are wonderful, but getting up early on a Saturday or Sunday morning is impossible. And walking for hours, well... it's so tiring. Yes, lovely, the mountains, but more often than not friends and/or relatives are the first to stand you up.

More often than not, frankly, it's that we can't get across to them that: the mountains are not just hard work; the mountains are not just ski slopes; the mountains are not just extreme sports; the mountains are not cold and desolation; the mountains don't kill, the mountains don't hide wild animals like monsters...

In the mountains there are flowers, paths, picnic areas for families. In the mountains there are the old villages, adventure parks, there are guided hikes in the park areas. In the mountains there is a green meadow where you can stretch out in the sun and find relaxation again.
In the mountains there is the refreshment point where they'll cook you a sausage or a pork chop. In the mountains there is that panoramic balcony nobody will ever show you in the city. In the mountains the sky seems bigger. In the mountains the senses sharpen (smell, sight, touch, the sense of balance) and the whole body seems to come back to life.

The project

The idea of this project is to involve those who do NOT usually go to the mountains, to get as many people as possible to go one more time for a walk in the woods, to try the paths, to see the views.
The idea is to involve those who are overweight, perhaps to lose a few extra kilos and get back a bit of cardiac tone. The idea is to hope that some of them, who don't usually go to the mountains, will one night stay over at the hotel or simply at a bed & breakfast, at the hut that is so welcoming and run with love and passion.
The idea is to imagine a world that doesn't end in shopping centres. Where children aren't brought up by taking them to eat at fast-food places for Sunday lunch.

If you have lived the thrilling experience of the mountains, of an engaging hike, if you have felt the satisfaction of physical tiredness, the exhilaration of an unexpected view... get your friends involved... send them an e-mail... share this article on Facebook and tell your friends to share this project.
But let's not stop at sharing, let's meet up in the mountains... let's crowd the huts... let's fill the villages, let's walk the paths in the company of those who have never been to the mountains...

The promise...

What you can answer anyone who asks you why one should go to the mountains is: quality of life, recovering mental and spiritual serenity, cheap and very satisfying trips out of town, relaxation, well-being, and the chance to be amazed again, as rarely happens in everyday life.

Going to the mountains to change the economy of these areas, bringing tourism back to villages that are emptying, to change your own lifestyle, going to the mountains to change yourself and the world... gently and positively.

Let's go to the mountains!