Mountain, bivouacs and a thousand emotions

We are lucky to live in Italy and especially in the province of Cuneo, in  that south west corner of Piedmont where mass tourism is not yet as present as in other areas.

Here, very close to France, the valleys sometimes look like as they would never end with their thousand wild facets, the trails that wind up along more or less exposed slopes and where it is possible at times to see the sea of the French Riviera. Authentic magic of the Maritime Alps Natural Park, where you can experience outdoor practices following the rhythm of the seasons.

We like to experience the mountains “in our own way”, slowly and respectfully, surrounded by silence and solitude. Walking for hours and hours, going up the slopes until we reach our goal, stopping, observing and leaving without any hurry, without stress but always in search of beauty and good time.

Here comes the idea of returning to frequent bivouacs more, to shoot them and to tell them to the public.

The wood that crackles during a full moon night, the low clouds, the chamois that, intrigued, approach us like old friends. An intimate and pure atmosphere that brings us back the mountaineering of the past and makes our hearts beat faster. Around us the Argentera, the Corno Stella, the Monte Matto, the Asta, just to mention some of the peaks that have written wonderful pages of mountaineering thanks to exciting challenges surrounded by undisputed beauty. Right here, in this corner of Piedmont, there is the Guiglia Bivouac that pops out of the carpet of clouds with its red color almost to recall an equally enchanted sunrise. That night we were in three because at dusk a young boy from the scouts of Savona joined us after his solo journey crossing the mountains for several days. It seems like we have known each other for a long time, we created an immediately family atmosphere and as always time passed by quickly while the fire slowly went out leaving space for an incredible blanket of stars above us and clouds at our feet.

Not only hiking and shooting but also a more sensitive eye towards mother nature, so dear to us that it led us, right near the bivouac, to collect part of the incivility of the human being who forgets his waste upstream too many times. It will perhaps be a matter of a lack of education or something done without even thinking about it but which unfortunately compromises the authentic beauty of the mountain and ruins its essence. It is funny to meet along the trails some gentlemen who are almost unbelieving in seeing us carrying a bag of rubbish of all kinds to the valley but it is stronger than us, we cannot fly over such badness and we feel more and more guilty towards nature and the mountain.

Every time going up, kilometer after kilometer, you quickly forget the frenzy of the city, the weight of the backpack on your shoulders becomes almost irrelevant because the mind is lighter and lighter and the feeling of freedom that you feel on those trails is difficult to express in words.

A few hours of walking are enough to feel isolated from the world, disconnected and ready to learn to reconnect with your deepest self. Rediscovering the essentials: a book, a candle, a good pasta with beans that boil on the lit stove while the day slowly comes to an end and the last timid rays of sun illuminate the highest peaks with shades that warm the heart. From up here, from the Barracco Varrone, you can see some guys setting up a tent near Lagarot right on the border of the larch and beech vegetation that characterizes the first part of the route. This time we will be alone, in a decidedly more mountainous scenario made of stones, mosses and snowfields while the famous Canal of Lourousa and the north face of the Corno Stella dominate behind us.

Night is falling and it is difficult to recognize the sounds of the mountain, but in this absolute solitude we feel at home and in complete safety. In the distance some stones roll downstream, perhaps our friends chamois from the previous sunset. Outside, the wood collected along the stony ground crackles happily as we observe falling stars, new constellations and we fully recharge ourselves seeing such beauty. Sometimes we feel almost like the protagonists of a movie, the two of us in a beautiful bivouac at 2235 meters above sea level where every gesture becomes special and unforgettable.

Every time the emotions change just like the landscapes we cross, like the shapes of the bivouacs, the colors of the sky and our moods. We try to fully enjoy every moment and at the same time to make it perfect before leaving and returning to the hectic world down there. And it doesn’t matter if we have to walk more than five hours because we already know that when we get up there, at the Moncalieri Bivouac, we will be surrounded by the most beautiful mountains of Piedmont: the Argentera, the Monviso in the distance and the Gèlas, one of the two most southern parts of the entire Alpine arc, second only to the nearby Clapier. Climbing between continuous zigzags immersed in the alders you arrive, after hours of walking, to the White Lake of the Gèlas where you can see the first snow. Only the most expert eyes can glimpse the bivouac from here because it is completely camouflaged, also thanks to its sheet metal coating. The heat during the entire climb was terrifying, the thermometer of the car at the parking lot indicated almost thirty Celsius degrees at one thousand two hundred meters of altitude, insane.

The sky grumbles in the distance towards the plain when we decide to go up a little further to enjoy the sunset directly from the Passo dei Ghiacciai.

This is pure emotion because we have dreamed of reaching this place for so many years. A light breeze blows through the Tibetan flags while our gaze is enchanted in admiring the Argentera on the left, on the right below us there’s the bivouac and the lakes encountered climbing and under our feet the Gèlas glacier that descends towards the valley. The thunderstorms slowly stop almost to suffocate the plain and the sun disappears behind the Regina delle Marittime decreeing the end of a new day.

Going down we meet a young French adventurer who will keep us company throughout the evening telling us about his three-day hike between passes and peaks decided from time to time along the way without any time limit. This is also the mountain.

Just a few hours of sleep because the desire to see the dawn is unstoppable, we go up again towards the glaciers pass, the stove burns and the coffee maker mumbles flooding us with Arabic aromas while the sun rises in front of us illuminating the valley and giving us back those known forms that until a few moments before were hiding with the night. It is incredible and at times indescribable what we feel. We would love to immortalize every moment but not only with the camera but with our heart and eyes.

Bivouacs unite, make you know people, make them grow. They are like books: they create memories, tell stories and can truly bring out the best part of us by teaching us to improve ourselves every day more and more.