When I think about my hiking and mountaineering tours, the most memorable that come back into memory are the following:
- My first climb of Mount Teide, Tenerife.
- My fourth climb of Mount Teide.
- Climbing Lagginhorn is Swiss Alps.
- Climbing Weissmies in Swiss Alps.
- Climbing Mount Fuji in Japan.
- Hiking from Chamorga to La Laguna, Tenerife.
- Climbing Zugspitze in German Alps.
Interesting is that out of seven tours in the list, five are my night climbs. These are under the numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7. By night climbs I mean climbing overnight and eventually be on the summit early in the morning, without sleeping at all.
What makes such night climbs special is the combination of the following:
- Hard climb which takes a lot of efforts in general.
- Lack of sleep.
- Lack of oxygen. All these climbs are indeed quite high, some over 4000 meters.
This all together brings your mind in a special state so that you see the reality around you quite differently and very emotionally. I guess one could compare this with some religious rituals which have the same purpose, to prepare the mind and the body to become more sensitive and receptive.
The Lagginhorn climb was something extraordinary because this was my first mountain over 4000 meters.
So yes, I have been very emotional in all these tours, so much that just thinking about them can bring tears in my eyes, and I remember them so well.
The only hiking tour, the number 6 in the list, is there because of two reasons. First, this was my longest walk ever, around 35 kilometers non-stop and I mean literally non-stop. Second, most of the time I was in clouds. So the atmosphere was spooky and very special. When you see the pictures in my report you might realize this.
So have a look into these texts, I hope you might enjoy reading them and you might realize why there are so special for me.