This video was from another mountain hike, though this one was more of a climb, and a climb for which we were woefully unprepared! The mountain in the opening shots is the one we are climbing. It’s pretty vertical for many stretches and has warnings at the bottom trying to keep anyone off that doesn’t have the right equipment and preparation.
Equipment would be little things like hiking boots in place of my tennis shoes which are basically slicks. Or enough water. Preparation would be things like adjusting to high altitude. Like I said we were woefully unprepared.
Three hours up I got sick. Quite sick. I had to leave the group to find a place to get sick. Then I didn’t know if the group was above me or had descended past me. I waited, still sick and now without any water. Oh, and I discovered that stinging nettles can cling to the rock face of mountains. I won’t tell you how I made that discovery, though it was very uncomfortable for the next couple of days. I decided, very foolishly I knew even at the time, that I had to get down off the mountain. So I descended slowly to a little waterfall that had a horizontal spot to rest. (That was when I took the video of the waterfall you’ll see) I had a little drink from the stream and waited then noticed the black clouds rolling over the summit above me and felt a couple drops. And then, basically, I panicked. I knew I’d never make it down in my slick shoes if it was wet. So I went down the rest of the way myself. I was really dehydrated and it took about two hours. They caught up to me right when I reached the bottom.
I didn’t get much video of the climb because it was just too technical to have the camera out. This guy made a good video that shows the climb
Some other dude’s video
WARNING – He’s says one bad word in it!
Anyway – I felt a bit better after getting down and we decided to take the cable car to the top. I was assured that they had ‘facilities’ at the top. And we were told that it was a 15 min wait at the top to come down (it was over an hour wait to go up).
So we got to the top and the altitude (surprise, surprise) got me again (or maybe it was the bear, deer and wild boar I ate the night before). No facilities. Mob scene at the cable car to get down. Took over three hours to get back off the mountain.
I have not had a day where I’ve felt that bad for so long in a long time!
So here’s the video. I shot so little footage that I decided to use slo-mo as an effect to fit the music, but mostly just because I didn’t have much to work with.
If you click the video, pause it and click the picture again you will see it in higher quality.
The music for the video is Song For Waiting by The OaKs
