The Pill Outdoor Journal 50

EDITO

Today is a strange day. I feel strange. Strange things happen to me. People talk to me in a strange way. The sky is strange. Even my dog acts strange.

Of course, there are times when not understanding much and feeling confused is still a great experience. But today it is as if I were catapulted into a parallel universe. Is everything the same or has part of my brain gone out? An icy Bora wind is blowing on the plains. It has been pouring for hours and 60cm of snow has already fallen in the mountains. Two days ago I was in the woods of the Karst, with 17 degrees Celsius, in January.

So, perhaps what I feel is a feeling of loss. Like that marmot that the other day came out of its hole, in the Upper Venosta Valley, deceived by a spring time that fooled its hibernation. The fault is of that damned African anticyclone, they say, that in the Alps has moved the freezing point over 3500 meters. In Tofana, the heart of the Ampezzo Dolomites, some days ago a helicopter was going back and forth between the valley and the mountain, carrying tons of snow.

“A necessary work in the attempt to guarantee the opening service of this wonderful track” declared the experts. This is what happens when it is impossible to make artificial snow and there is no material around which to structure the offer. To tackle climate change, instead of looking for alternative measures, most Alpine resorts implement precisely those measures that are pushing them to the brink. Andrea Zanzotto, the great Venetian poet, had foresighted to define the current socio-economic assets as “a slipknot progress”: a progress that, like the knot, chokes itself in its realization.

Yes, it seems that nature is telling us that today is a strange day. Then the mountain will come, and as usual it will settle any disturbance. But on days like this, when you can’t find harmony, you need a swerve, left or right, to get everything back to normal. You need to bring simplicity out of clutter and confusion. I’ve made up my mind, I’m going out for a run, who knows if air on my face and a few drops of rain will put my ideas into order.

Damn, my shoe laces broke as well.

Today is a strange day. I feel strange. I absorb a strange energy.
I write strange things.

Davide Fioraso

What will you find in The Pill 50?

Vanishing Lines
Patagonia’s new documentary highlights the threat posed by planned ski infrastructure in the wilds of the Austrian Alps. What is the ethical and economic sense of these projects?

The Melting Point
The documentary The Melting Point, starring skiers Lorenzo Alesi and Alice Linari and directed by Paolo Prosperi, takes stock of the dramatic situation of perennial ice in Italy.

Across Emptiness
In the documentary by Luca Albirisi, a Ferrino freerider, there is unexpectedly little snow porn and a lot of real punk on crust, but above all a great deal of moustache.

If walls used tinder
Matteo Della Bordella explained how great mountaineering projects are born. The last wall that made his heart beat faster was Siren Tower in Greenland: here’s how it went.

Living Dead
“Not everyone tries, few succeed.” Marta Manzoni tells us about the experience of Forrest and Lake, two brothers who don’t speak much, but have always understood each other with a single glance.

Winter Home
We asked Aaron Durogati, two times World Paragliding Champion, elite hike&fly athlete, freerider, mountaineer, speedrider and ski instructor, what drove him to create a winter base camp at over 2100m.
Insane or just a hero?

Arianna Tricomi
We wanted to meet The North Face athlete and Freeride World Tour champion. Driven by her motivation, she is not afraid to start from scratch and challenge herself with humility and determination.

What a Run!
If a freerider had to describe his ideal day, he couldn’t do it better than Markus Eder did in the documentary he shot for Red Bull: The Ultimate Run.