The mountains are calling and I must go - preperation has started...

The day has come. After some very work-intensive and hard month preparing our "go-live" it is finally time to hit the mountains again. John Muir - a very famous American Conservationist - has been quoted many times. And I will do so, too: "The mountains are calling and I must go."

The week has been exciting already. I did get my box with outdoor equipment from the basement and started to sort out what I need.

Only opening this box and going through all the stuff already makes me feel good and happy. Many memories are linked to the little and light (😂) pieces of gear. But it also spreads the smell of freedom and the outdoors.

Some things never change. I am still looking for ways to reduce my base weight. The newest thing I got myself for the upcoming trip is this guy: A new air mattress. It's the NeoAir X-Lite in x-small. This saves me another 220 grams to my current one which is an extra large. I do fit perfectly fine on the extra large but it's a lot of extra weight. I am really curious to see how I will deal with this litte one...

The idea is to get my "pillow" (down-jacket & merino jumper) off the air mattress so that I save the space of my head on the mattress and then I'll either have to sleep curled up or I will use my backpack for the legs. As long as the ground doesn't get to cold at night I should be fine. And if not it's just what it is: "Ultra-light, freeze at night!" 😂

So that's what it has come down to now. Not much is left anymore. The good thing about this 5 day hike is that I won't have to take a few things that I would need on a longer hike. Chargers for the camera, spare socks and hanging lines for food. I have also cleaned up a bit further in my medi-kit and repair box. There is going to be endless room for chocolate 😍

But what is all the preparation for now you might ask yourself? Well, I am heading to the mountains. I will fly to Geneva on Friday and then take a bus to Chamonix in France - straight to the base of Mont Blanc. The last time I have been there was 2010 when I climbed Mont Blanc. Such a beautiful trip from the Italian side with tough conditions. It was a hot summer and the snow bridges were so thin that we kept on falling into crevasses over and over again on the way down. A very formative experience in my mountaineering career.

But this time will be fun only. I will try to hike the "Tour du Mont Blanc" a trail which circles around the massiv of Mont Blanc. It passes through France, Italy and Switzerland covering a bit more than 170km (100 miles) and an elevation change of almost 24,000 meters (80,000ft). From the parts I have been to so far and all the pictures I have seen it's a stunning tour. Usually the tour is done as a 10 day hike from hut to hut.

Limited by a couple of factors I only have about 4.5 to 5 days which makes it a challenging pace. Especially considering that I am not in trail-shape anymore after living the startup life - mostly sitting on my butt - for the last month 😂. But I have actually trained for it in the last weeks. I combined my new job and old hobby golfing with the preparation for this trip. I went to one of the really hilly courses in the area, started playing two and ended on Sunday with three consecutive rounds of golf carrying my bag like a backpack. That only gave me more than 30km of walking while I could play golf for 9.5 hours. I don't think preparing could have been more fun 🏌️‍♂️

So just cleaning up my desk now and I am so excited to get back into the mountains for a little while. And there will be a surprise on top. I won't go by myself... So stay tuned if you want to know who is crazy enough to join me on this tour. Someone you know 😉

#happytrails

by Florian