Training Log Archive: ReindeerCounter

Coldest night of the holidays, some guys had to put the ermegency blanket on top of their sleeping bags and didn't sleep of the night. The guide at the refuge told us there would be rain at 10-ish, so it was better to be on top of the pass at 9 at the latest. We followed the panicked departures early in the morning, rushed to fold our still wet tent and didn't give a shit about a lot of things we usually do, and started our ascent as pretty much last. And we caught up with a lot of people. The ascent to the peak of the GR20 (2322m) was planned to last 2h30, and ended up being 1h40. Pretty happy about the ascent time, though we could've been a lot faster were it not for the other walkers obstructing the path and NOT BEING TO FOLLOW A F****** MARKED PATH! COMMON GUYS, THERE'S NO NEED TO GO IN THE BUSHES TO SEARCH FOR THE GR20!

At the pass, half of the walkers lit a cigarette, which was surprising. The view on the lakes of Capitellu and "I don't rememeber the other's name" was obstructed by the fog, but we split from the GR20 and reached them without trouble. The rest of the downhill to the Restonica Valley was a succession of 300+ tourists looking at our big bags with strange eyes, and me saying "Abenteuer - Aktion - Suspens" an awful lot while setting people struggle on the metal stairs. We ended up being pissed having to say "Bonjour" to 300 persons. We walked a bit on the road of the Restonica, ate next to the nice river, undecided between freezing cold and warm. Two different couples took us back to Corte. Also, it's fun meeting Austrian guys that speak to a swiss german whose native language is german, and the swiss german not understanding a single. word., the austrian then asking "English?". E-pic.

Celebrations time! Birthday meal: Pasta with pesto and diarrhea in a refuge! YAY!

We left Calacuccia, got a ride from a couple from Bastia, the guy had done all that could be done in Corsica (Mare a Mare, Mare e Monti, GR20 back and forth) and showed us a video of him ascending a snowy peak in shorts. They dropped us at the Col du Verghju, which was the start of our GR20 testrun. The stage goes from Col du Verghju or Bergeries de Ballone to the famous Lac de Ninu and Refuge du Manganu. Fun stuff, the weather was shite but still better than the rain expected. The North-South GR20 (gihéristes) managed to stay dry, while the South-North giherists got wet. The stage was pretty easy and nice, and we reached the refuge an hour early on the planning. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SHOWERS WITH GLACIER WATER! It was fun.

Ascent of the Mte. Cintu (2701m)! Upon reading the notebook in the refuge, we realised most walkers left pretty early (you can even do it in the winter, with nice steep couloirs for skiers!), so we woke up earlier than expected, and started the climb as 5th. Upon climbing the first part, we noticed a group of around 30 persons approaching the refuge and prayed they wouldn't catch up with us (WHICH THEY DIDN'T! YAY). The first part was easy uphill on a decend path with cows and cairns to show the way. The last part of the uphill was T3-T4 walking, i.e. alpine routes. In Switzerland you'd get stairs and fixed ropes everywhere, but in Corsica you have your feet to climb and your hands to pray. No, wait, your hands should be on the rock, helping you ascend. Anyhow, we reached the summit after a nice walk of around 2h, took a summit selfie and started the descent. We wanted to avoid taking the same route choice, but we should have done so. The route we followed was well indicated, up to the point where we had to go straight downhill in an unstable rockfield. The path was unmarked, or rather over-marked with cairns everywhere. It tooks us a very long amout of time to go downhill, until we finally reached the hut. We should have known better and go straight downhill.

From the hut, we had to go downhill to reach Calacuccia, where we wanted to camp. The first part was easy, downhill-ish. We met a fat guy eating a molten Snickers or Twix - couldn't tell - and he was offended when I asked him if everything was alright. We saw him leave the hut with the aforementionned group, and caught up with him after half an hour for us and an hour and a half for him... We were worried he was lacking food and water, but he seemed okay. The last part of the hike was going from Lozi to Calacuccia. It was already painful on the uphill - unmarked path in the maquis are common... - so we tried a bigger path. Couldn't find the track, even with my exceptionnal orienteering skills. Probably it was the map's fault. Finally did it to Calacuccia, where we ate a well-deserved burger at 4 in the afternoon next to the only and very busy road of the village.

We left a few kilograms of luggage in Corte and took the bus to Calacuccia, from which we walked towars Lozi and then the Refuge de l'Ercu (1600m), at the bottom of the Mte. Cintu. We spent the night at the refuge before the ascent of the highest peak of Corsica the following day. We were alone in the 16 beds refuge, which was a bit creepy :) We had a few cows nearby as company, though they didn't wear any bells like in Switzerland!

First real day of vacation in Corsica - the previous two days were "trip" days, meaning we traveled 18 hours on two days - and I decided to go for a run in the Tavignano valley. We've been in the region of Corte last year and did the hike to the refuge de la Sega at the time, so I did a fourth of the 5h hike. My goal was to try to run to the bridge and the wonderfuls natural pools surrounding it, but I must have been 10' away from it when I decided to turn around - I had planned on running 45'.