Monte Bianco - Cresta integrale del Brouillard
View route detailsAlong the Val Veny road, after the two hairpin turns, the immense mass of the Brouillard ridge stands out against the sky. It’s a petrified dinosaur, the giant back of Mont Blanc, a wave in a stormy stone ocean. Partly to tease Lorenzo, partly because I didn’t know what to do, when he asked, “Where are we going?” I pulled this ace out of my sleeve (and of course I insisted with arrogance, so that he would never realize it was a joke). So, off we go. Up vertical meadows, following the tracks of chamois and ibex, and then the ridge line, because “otherwise, what kind of traverse would it be?” We’re always convinced we’re further along than we actually are, and at a certain point we stop to bivouac. The solitude and beauty of this place are hard to describe. We set off again, and slowly we make our way up Punta Baretti and Mont Brouillard, and here the solitude ends. First we meet two Germans who are abandoning the climb, then a group of former teenagers from Vicenza (average age around 60, already two bivouacs behind them and a third planned, highly motivated and with epic backpacks), who follow us for a while. Alone again, the clouds below us and a summit that never seems to come into view. To the right, in the mist, my shadow sometimes appears in the center of a spherical rainbow. The summit is cold and empty, swept by a biting wind. Every now and then I wonder what drives us. I think I know the answers, and I believe the most beautiful thing is sharing them with others who feel the same way, without needing to say a word.
