The Alpine Line project ready to take-off
As time of departure is getting close the team has put together its tentative itinerary (see below). Our two guys are hot to get started while a wave of cold wheather is hitting Europe. Their sailboat is waiting for them in Nice where they will embark for Corsica the real start of the journey. Let’s hope their first stretch will not be a too shaky hop to Monte Cinto.
Here is their manifesto.
About 1500km as the crow flies, should lead us from Monte Cinto, the highest summit of Corsica, to Triglav, the highest point of Slovenia and a true symbol for all Slovenians. It will also be a strong symbol as this summit will end for us a long journey based on our adaptation to the environment. Indeed, we are committed to get immersed in the best possible way into the elements that we will face while practicing various physical activities: on land, we will be climbers, hikers, skiers and mountain bikers; in the air, we will be paragliders. Finally, on water, we will be sailors, kayakers and rowers! Moreover, this imaginary line will be knitted around key points: emblematic summits, majestic walls, symbolic ranges, where we want to express our mountaineering creativity through original link-ups, ascents of historic routes, or the openings of new paths.
We aspire at rediscovering the Alps by drawing an imaginary line that will make sense as we go through encounters. The human dimension is indeed a prerequisite for the success of such a journey. Aleatory encounters, meetings initiated through the website, which is our main connection to all those who wish to join us, whether for sharing a stretch of the journey or for stay in a hut in the evening. But also, meetings held with the French Alpine Club youth teams or with people with disabilities. We want to form a Large ROPED PARTY of enthusiasts, whose physical or technical level are not barriers!
Finally, if the adaptation to the environment will be our engine during these four months, we are committed to contributing to the preservation of the last natural areas that make up our continent. This philosophy shared with Mountain Wilderness, will be put into practice by the choice of proximity.
First proximity: the Alps, the cradle of our passion, and a huge playing field. We believe that it is not always necessary to leave to the edges of the world to find adventure, but it can be found, just by looking around, two steps from home by exercising a bit of imagination.
Proximity of design and manufacture of our equipment: ice axes, crampons, goggles, head lamps, sticks, paragliders, shoes, ropes, skis, ski bindings, climbing skins, avalanche transceiver and gourds are all “Made in Alps Countries”. This informal label we created for adding value to a local and sustainable economy that tends to disappear!
Finally, we want to make a movie of this adventure. While it seems to us too simplistic to only focus it on the account of the journey, we want this film to ask and answer questions that we all ask.
The approach change we will try to put into practice by fitting to the environment can be seen as foreshadowing a novel model for interacting with natural areas.
We want to meet the people who live in and by the mountains and leave a trail that can help to raise awareness …
(YJ, YB, BM)
