Bobby took his radio and called Yann:

‘Hey buddy! Have you seen the movie Godzilla??’

   ‘Yea, why?’ asked Yann who was still in the valley and couldn’t see what was coming toward us.

   ‘ ‘Cause the monster is paying us a visit!!’ Bobby said, pointing at the menacing clouds. Hearing the instructor talk like that about the weather was not a good sign, and the higher we were getting, the darker the sky was.

Finally we arrived at the launching spot, at an altitude of about 2000m/6600ft. Romain and Bobby started talking about whether or not to fly. After some time, they saw that the storm seemed to make its way toward the Aiguille des Glaciers and the Mont Blanc. In front of us, though, the sky was pretty dark still. The guys hesitated and finally asked for a volunteer to ‘check the quality of the air’.

   ‘Me!’ I said without letting anyone else get a chance to volunteer first. I really wanted to fly and was only more excited because of the weather conditions.

   ‘Okay man, you go first’ Bobby said. He called Yann and asked if he would let me lead the way.

   ‘It’s quiet down here. Fine with me, it’s your call’.

I sat in the harness and got ready to go. But as soon as I started moving, a right-side wind of about 30° swept the area and I had to abort the launch. It was no surprise: the wind is always stronger in the afternoon. Now, the problem was that I had a chairlift on my right and another on my left! I didn’t want to land up hung in the cables. After 10 long minutes, Romain said:

   ‘Alright Orel you take off when you feel it but remember to be careful with the wind.’

He didn’t need to say it twice. I immediately rushed down the slope to inflate my wing and soon took off. Just twenty meters high now, the harness started shaking like crazy. I passed just two meters far from a treetop before being roughly sucked up by a rising column of air which threw me away from the face of the mountain.

As I was getting farther and farther away, it got more intense. I was struggling to maintain my course, fighting against a strong wind that was making me drift in the wrong direction. I was focused to control my wing and my trajectory. I had taken off for only what seemed to be two minutes when I heard the voice of an instructor coming from the radio, and here’s all he said :

   ‘Ok, I don’t think we should send anyone else.’

All of a sudden, I felt very lonely. I looked around. I was the only person flying in the valley. I was so high and so far from everything and everyone… I was wishing someone could talk on the radio, but the only things I could hear were the wind blowing in my ears and the rustle of the wing, as if there wasn’t enough air to keep it flying. The sky was so dark above me. On the other side of the valley I could see a huge mass of clouds that had covered a range of glaciers and was now rushing down its slopes. And the worst part was that I had the feeling that I was getting higher instead of going down. At that point, I thought about this life insurance they made me sign when I registered for the program. It was making sense now.

   ‘Dang! I got a paraglider in sight! Is that Orel?’ Yann asked from the landing site which I couldn’t even see from where I was.

   ‘Huh, I think so, he’s the only one in the valley’ Bobby said.

   ‘We should probably start telling him about the “big ears” technique cause he’s just going higher and higher right now.’

   ‘Yea, I’ve noticed that too and I’ve been thinking about it for a moment.’

So there I was, hung on this mere canvas wing,  actually taken in an ascending column of air, going up instead of down, with instructors telling me how to do a technique I had just heard of. Great! I started to be really worried, but followed the instructions of the guys and did the big ears, which consist in folding the wingtips of your wing to increase the rate of descent. I couldn’t use the brakes anymore because of the maneuver, so I had to use my body weight to control my course. The big ears technique was physical and I was getting tired, but after a few minutes, I noticed I was finally losing altitude, going away from the scary ceiling of dark clouds in which I thought, at some point, I would disappear.

I succeeded to reach the bottom of the valley. If I thought the launching had been tough, the landing was even worse because I had to do it without the brakes! When I touched the ground I felt relieved and happy of what I had just done. I’ve had very few paragliding experiences but this solo one was definitely the best. This flight brought a bunch of different sensations inside of me, from excitement to fear, and even in the evening I was still feeling like I was in an alternative reality.

Paragliding can be dangerous as it can be safe, it just depends on you. Sometimes I get upset when people talk about this sport, and they obviously just assume things. For them it’s just a lazy sport: you run, you seat, you enjoy. They seem to completely ignore the issue of physics. You have to do it yourself to understand how vulnerable you are, but as my instructors told me, ‘ if you ever dreamed of being a bird, then paragliding is the thing for you’.

Photo : Nick from Sierra Trip Reports.

Encounter with a gang of cows on the way to Ben Lui

Radiant majesty of Ben Lui

En route to the top!!

The shadow of the clouds made me feel like I was underwater

We had to pass some steep sections from time to time

On the very top of Ben Lui! Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig on the left.

Here you can see Loch Awe and Stob Diamh and Ben Cruachan in the distance.

You can read the report of the walk to Stob Diamh here.

The top of Ben Lui and a view on the hollow of Gaothach. You can see Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig in the background.

The col between Ben Lui and Ben Oss. Such a lovely place!

Tribute to my boots, they're kind of a part of my body after all!

Loch Oss from Ben Oss. A view on the Ben More area (South of the small village of Crianlarich).

You can actually see An Casteal and Beinn Chabhair that we climbed in March.

Loch Oss from Beinn Dubhcrhaig

A view on Loch Oss, Ben Oss and Loch Lomond on the left-hand side. I think we can see the Cobbler and a small bit of Loch Fyne

Wonderful colors over Loch Fyne (or is it Loch Long? I'm not sure)

This is the best campsite EVER. If you intend to stay overnight in the area I definitely recommend this spot which is the driest miles around. It's exactly 5km South of Tyndrum on the OS map (Coile Coire Chuilc, next to the Gleann Auchreoch

That's when the fabric of my boot took fire :)

Happy New Year y’all! Bonne année et tanti auguri!

We started our journey with an early walk in the mountains. Our guide brought us to a big crag. It wasn’t raining, but we could hear rumbles of thunder now and again. We put our suits and harnesses on and rappelled the entrance shaft. We spent six hours in the cave.

Now 10 meters underground, there’s no light anymore, and the noise of the forest is totally muffled by the rock. We progress, traveling through various places. Sometimes, it’s a huge room, so high that the light from my head torch can’t even reach the ceiling. Sometimes, it’s a passageway so narrow that I have to bend, wriggle, crawl and pray not to remain stuck.

Progressing underground can be really tough and slow. You can only see few meters ahead, at best. You need to be constantly alert of the obstacles, not only in front of you but all around you. It’s often difficult because the passageways are so small that you can’t even turn your head to look around. You always end up hauling yourself along, crawling and struggling to move forward like a trapped rat in an old damaged pipe.

The descent of a shaft or an abyss is the easiest part of the job, because then you have to go all the way up using your arms. Yeah, that’s why one needs to actually know their limits in order not to be out of breath halfway up the rope. When I think of the caving team that recently reached the depth of 2190m (7200ft) in the abyss of Krubera-Voronja, Georgia, I can’t imagine how hard it’d been to get back to the surface!

 The underground world is fascinating but really gloomy. It’s rock, and only rock. Sometimes, however, we find interesting formations such as draperies or flowstones and stalagmites. For example, one looked similar to a giant jellyfish. Most of the time, the rocks are smooth and rounded, and it’s like we are on a moon where the ground would be wax-covered. But sometimes they have sharp and aggressive forms.

Only one thing disrupts the intense silence: water. So, it’s easy to start freaking out, thinking of the slimy and uncolored creatures that could hide in these obscure areas of our planet. But actually, the worst-case scenario would be an encounter with an inoffensive cave salamander :)

It’s possibly the darkness which is the scariest thing, because you can’t have an overall view of the surroundings. It is as if the darkness swallows all the light your torch gives off.  I wonder how explorers deal with the threat of dead batteries during long expeditions.

The way back to the surface is an awesome experience. I was down there for only six hours, but I can imagine what the sensations are when you stay for one or two days. So, as we move back to the entrance of the cave, we hear muffled rumbles that get louder. Once at the bottom of the shaft, I can see with surprise that an impressive quantity of water is flowing down into the cave, forming a small stream. We climb up the shaft, with a heavy rain to contend with. In a few seconds, we’re soaked. Finally outside, we are exposed to a world of light and noise as a thunderstorm rages. What a change! We go down the valley and see that the path we took this morning is now blocked by a powerful stream of orangey water. When we eventually reach the car, I realize it’s like we’d left the real world for a few hours, and now we’re back :)

Caving can really make us stronger. I think that an expedition and especially a solo one can make you conquer your fear of the unknown, darkness, and tiny spaces. I guess frequent caving can help one to quickly develop a strong sense of orientation and self-confidence. I wouldn’t practice caving for its scenery, though, but because I could improve a lot of skills.

A narrow section (this one is still decent)

Classic landscape

Example of what kind of weird concretions we can find. This one looks like the jellyfish one we saw.

I didn’t have my camera during this trip so I attached a few pictures that I found on the Internet to illustrated the story.

Have you ever done caving? If you haven’t, I recommend you to do the experience. Of course I understand why you wouldn’t :P If you have done it before I’m curious to know what it felt like for you. I wonder if everyone likes it for the same reasons. Maybe there’s something to understand that I haven’t.

The valley of Allt Coire Giubhsachan, southeast of Ben Nevis

The sun hadn’t risen yet but the sky was clear. The surroundings were lit up by a particularly powerful moonbeam. The frosty grass was crackling under my feet as I walked to the Giubhsachan river. The place was intensely quiet. I looked up at the mountains. The Ben Nevis wasn’t in sight, hidden by the Meall Cumhann hill. Today was going to be a long day.

While the others were still sleeping, I thought about what we had done these last two days. Everything we had done, we’d done on impulse. But now, we were talking about climbing up the highest mountain of the United Kingdom, the legendary Ben Nevis! And we wouldn’t just climb it following a good old official path – there wasn’t any from our location – . We would actually make our own way from the bottom of this cold valley all the way to the top of this big rock.

When the others woke up, we discussed our plan. The weather was perfect: blue sky, no wind, not too cold. But I had often heard about people being rescued on Ben Nevis, and I knew we would have to be cautious because the weather can change very quickly in Scotland, and we didn’t know what the forecast was for the day. Even though we weren’t very confident, we agreed to do this exciting challenge!

We left our campsite when the sun was rising. It was the weirdest sunrise I had ever experienced. The first rays of sunlight spread a bright redish color all over the place, creating a surreal atmosphere in the valley. For a moment, I wondered if I had gone color-blind during the night!

We started walking in this colorful landscape following a stream. After a while, we ended up in the valley of Allt Coire Giubhsachan, south east of Ben Nevis. In front of us stood the famous Carn Mor Dearg Arete. The top of Ben Nevis was still hidden. The place was very strange. The bottom of the valley was wide and completely flat, when we were already around 400 meters high. I really liked that walk in the valley.

The sun was high when we saw the summit of Ben Nevis for the first time. It looked so far away, as if to discourage us. The face of the CMD arete was definitely too steep to climb with our backpacks, so we decided to climb the ridge south of Ben Nevis straight to its top. It took us a while. The grass was slippery but was at the same time our only hold to move forward on the slope.

When I finally reached the top, the beauty of the area struck me. I spent some time admiring the mountains in a peaceful silence. The atmosphere brought strong uplifting feelings inside of me, feelings that I don’t think I had ever felt before.

The summit of Ben Nevis was now clearly in sight but was still so far. I kept considering that menacing clouds could appear all of a sudden from behind the mountain. We spent the last hour and a half making our way through a field of rocks. It was extremely exhausting and seemed endless, but I knew we would be on the top within a few minutes.

And finally, here I was immensely happy, on the top of the highest mountain of the UK!

The shortest way to Fort William from the top was probably the Pony Track (tourist track) that we followed for what seemed to be… days. It wasn’t a very interesting path but at least it was safe and there was no way we could get lost.

After a stop near lake Meall, we finally reached Fort William, and celebrated our achievement in an old local pub. The craziest trek you’ve ever done needs some serious celebration and, I remember now, we had an awesome flat-party that night in Glasgow!

Unbelievable color of the grass during the sunrise! We felt like we were on Mars! Serious!

Behind this hill... the Ben Nevis!

The valley of Allt Coire Giubhsachan, South-East of Ben Nevis

Making our way to the col between Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg, exhausting!

Looking over my shoulder, I can see the Nevis Gorge far away!

View from the col between Nevis and the CMD arete

South-eastern face of Ben Nevis, a view on the Mamores. Right in the middle of the picture is Stob Coire a' Chàirn, a Munro we climbed the day before, and next to it, the ridge of An Gearanach.

The landscape was so beautiful that it looked unreal.

The Mamores from the top of Ben Nevis

The top of Ben Nevis. Surprising!

On the edge of the North face, looking North West

A team climbing Ben Nevis from the East face of Carn Dearg

Memorable break at Lochan Meall

Welcomed by a flock of sheep at the end of the Pony Track

Fort William, a lovely town.

On the way back to Glasgow, wonderful sunset from the train.

This is the third day of a three days trek.

- First day: What the Aonach Eagach ridge taught me

- Second day : A day in the Mamore mountain

Sunset from our campsite in Glen Nevis. We settled in a field of ruins. The area was so quiet, the atmosphere magical...

    This is the second day of my first trek through the Highlands. We were supposed to follow the West Highland Way from Kinlochleven to Fort William, but for some reason we chose to cut through the Mamores.  After our day on the Aonach Eagch, we stopped at Kinlochleven to buy some food at the grocery store. Then, left the village and made our way  along the Bà river until Stob a’ Chairn. From there to the Nevis valley, it took us a few hours. The path was interesting and the landscape incredible.

Main street of Kinlochleven, small village East of Loch Leven, Scotland

Kinlochleven

Am Bodach (1032m), one of the Munros of the Ring of Steal. I climbed this one in March.

Stob Coire a' Chàirn (981m)

Steep ascent to An Gearanach (982m). If you pay attention, you can see two people climbing to the top.

Na Gruagaichean (right) and Binnein Mor (left)

Sgùrr a' Mhàim (1099m) from An Garbhanach

Narrow ridge of An Garbhabach and Na Gruagaichean in the distance

Making our way on the ridge of An Garbhanach and An Gearanach. Easy after what we had lived on the Eanach Eagach :)

Sgùrr a' Mhàim from An Gearanach

West face of the ridge

Magnificent view from the top of An Gearanach

Ben Nevis and the CMD arete from An Gearanach, who thought we'd climb it the next day? You can almost see our campsite, in the valley on the extreme right, a bit outside of the picture. The next day, we climbed Ben Nevis from the valley on the left straight to the top.

Glen Nevis, the Waters of Nevis river and Carn Dearg (1020m) far away. We had to cross the Waters of Nevis bearfoot, very challenging experience!

Sunset from our campsite in Glen Nevis. We settled in a field of ruins. The area was so quiet, the atmosphere magical...

This is the second day of a three days trek.

- First day: What the Aonach Eagach ridge taught me

- Third day : Ben Nevis from Glen Nevis

Meall Dearg (953m), exposed section of the ridge, especially with 12kg bakpacks

      It was my first trip to the Scottish Highlands and I didn’t really know what to expect. We hadn’t meticulously studied the maps, we just knew we’d have three days to get to the train station of Fort William from the village of Glencoe. Our first idea was to get to Kinlochleven on the first day, and then safely follow the West Highland Way.

I can tell you now that we didn’t follow the plan at all. We thought it’d be faster and more fun to cut straight through the mountains instead of trekking in the valleys. So, we ended up crossing the famous Aonach Eagach ridge on the first day, making our way through the Mamores on the second day, and climbing Ben Nevis straight from the Southern valley on the third day.

I’m going to focus on the first day because that was the craziest of all. The bus dropped us next to one of the best pubs in Scotland called the Clachaig Inn, located in the valley of Glencoe. Instead of following Loch Leven we decided to give the Aonach Eagach famed as the narrowest ridge on the British mainland a try. I wasn’t very confident as we had no climbing gear at all and heavy backpacks. But people wanted to move on, so I followed the group.

We began to climb the face of the mountain following something that looked more like a dried stream than a path. Soon, the way got steeper and steeper. The more we were going forward the more exposed it was. After not even 30 minutes we had to scramble crags, with no possibility to turn back.

I was relieved when we got on top of Sgor nam Fiannaidh, but I soon realized what we did was only a preview of what was about to come. As soon as I saw the ridge, I started to have serious doubts about the feasibility of our plan. But we ended up doing it! I still wonder how we made it. It was just insanely dangerous. We had to crawl along a traverse so narrow that I couldn’t not see the two huge drops on both sides of me at the same time.   We had to climb up crags so steep that I was feeling the gravity pull my heavy backpack. Often, we had to help each other with the bags to avoid a 500 meters free fall.

At some point, what had to happen happened: we got stuck. The way was just too narrow. There wasn’t a path anymore, just a succession of slippery rocks surrounded by deadly cliffs. We couldn’t cross them because of our bags. For a few minutes I seriously thought we’d have to abandon our bags, throw them down the 1500 feet drop or even call the helicopter. I have to be honest with myself, I had never been so scared and never felt so close of death. I regret  that no one thought of taking a picture of the obstacle but we were all so worried about getting ourselves out of this damn mountain! We tried to remain calm but everyone was worried. One of us took the lead and found a way to get us on the other side of the traverse. To do so, we had to scramble along a steep grassy slope just above a sheer drop. Luckily, the roots of the few plants I had to use as handles on this slippery section were deep enough to support my weight because otherwise I’m sure I would probably not be hear to tell you this story. My muscles were tense with fear. For a moment I thought my body would just stop responding and I would slip and fall, rebounding against the cliff like a contorted marionette.

But I made it, and after the grass climbing part came the hard scrambling time. During the climb, I looked over my shoulder to see how the guys behind me were going. When I saw them struggling on this craggy mountain, surrounded by hundreds of feet of void, my head started spinning. I asked them if they were all right. “Yes we’re okay”, they answered quietly, trying to focus on their moves. My friend who had the most experience was leading the way and he finally reached the top of what was probably Meall Dearg. We all safely caught up with him. There was probably an amazing view from the top, but I was too worried about getting us out of this ridge to enjoy the landscape.

I felt way better when I saw that there was a path again, and the ridge was wider. We followed it, climbed down the last 30 feet high crag and arrived at a col. The sun was going down and we had the opportunity to quickly go down in a remote valley from here. After an exhausting walk in the Scottish marsh we finally got to a forest where we settled our tents and cheered for our adventure.

     Crossing the Aonach Eagach ridge has been a great lesson of humility. It’s been morally as much as physically challenging. It taught me not to ever underestimate the power of nature, and never overestimate yours. If you want to give something difficult a try, you’d better get prepared as much as you can. What scared me was probably more the fact that I wasn’t prepared and wasn’t expecting such an exposed route, rather than the route itself. Since that day then, I’ve been following some basic rules, I now study the route as if I had done it before,  I consider that everything’s probably gonna be harder than what I expect and that the weather is going to be awful, or I could possibly not get out of it alive. Challenge is exciting, danger gives you adrenaline, but when real fear takes over, it’s time to think and be humble and reasonable.

Aonach Eagach from Glen Coe

The mountain of Meall Mor

Climbing an a steep path

Glencoe Village, Loch Leven and Loch Linneh

Little pond next to the Clachaig Inn

Scrambling session

The Clachaig Inn in sight

Glencoe Valley from Sgorr nam Fiannaidh

The Aonach Eagach ridge from Sgorr nam Fiannaidh

Loch Achtriochtan, Stob Coire nan Lochan, Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire nam Beith

Loch Leven, the Mamores and Ben Nevis

North side of the 1m (3ft) wide arete of Aonach Eagach. Similar drop on the other side.

The ridge between Stob Coire Leith (940m) and Meall Dearg (953m)

I haven't felt safe until we were back down in a valley

Meall Dearg (953), one of the most exposed section of the ridge, most of all when you have no rope.

Climbing down a very steep crag. I still wonder how we made it with our 70L backpacks.

Aonach Eagach and Am Bodach (943m)

Aonach Eagach ridge and Stob Coire Leith from Meall Dearg

Going down in Coire nan Lab

Coire nan Lab and the stream of Feith nan Lab, we're saved!

This is the first day of a three days trek.

- Second day : A day in the Mamore mountains

- Third day : Ben Nevis from Glen Nevis

Route 138. Wonderful view on the Saint-Laurent.

     A road trip to Tadoussac, this was our plan to celebrate my first week-end in the New World. We were so anxious to leave that we didn’t even waste time creating a detailed itinerary. We had heard about the famous scenic route 138, also known as the King’s Way, that starts in Montreal and runs up to Sept-Iles, the northernmost town in Quebec and the last stop before the real Canadian wilderness. The King’s Way passes through Tadoussac, a small town halfway between Quebec City and Sept-Iles, perfectly located for a 2 day escape from Montreal.

We left Montreal on a Saturday morning. The weather was perfect. We followed a country road along the Saint-Laurent, reaching Trois-Rivières and then Quebec City. I was impressed and excited about everything. The houses, the farms, the trucks, the cars, the trees, advertising, the roads… everything’s different from what you see in Europe, and that’s exactly what I was looking for. Besides, everyone seemed to enjoy life. People were either taking care of their gardens, washing their cars, or relaxing in comfortable rocking chairs. There were a lot of bikers and travelers on the road. I felt really far from the  seriousness and gravity of France.

Quebec City

Once in the suburbs of Quebec, I understood that architectural beauty is definitely not a North American thing. The road was surrounded by the ugliest motels, fast food restaurants, local Wallmarts and insanely huge Canadian Tires. “These are the suburbs”, I thought, “nothing to be surprised of”. And to be honest, I liked that. But when we passed the waterfalls of Montmorency, I was now like, “what the heck!?” Let me describe it: these are huge falls, probably more than 80 meters high, really impressive and beautiful. But why the damn did they have to build such an ugly bridge above them? Why did they surround the place with a concrete fence to hide the falls from the highway, and yet build this insane concrete path just at the bottom? That, I can’t explain. I can just say it’s an environmental disaster.

The route between Quebec and La Malbaie was lovely. The landscape had changed from plains to woody hills. At some point, we had a break around Port-au-Saumon. We explored the area and discovered two small beautiful islets. My brother and my friend thought it’d be fun to swim to the closest one. I didn’t dare do it, and I don’t regret that. The water was so cold! I thought one of them would die of hypothermia on the way back.

Main street, Tadoussac

We eventually reached Baie-Sainte-Catherine, on the South side of the Savenay Fjord. We had to take a ferry to cross the river. Fortunately, it was a free service. Once on the other side, we visited Tadoussac for a little bit. It’s a very small town that probably survives thanks to whale watching. There’s a small and lovely harbor, one weird-looking church, some hotels, restaurants, and one local store. We went to the hostel to see if we could sleep there. The place was a typical Canadian house, and I was looking forward to relaxing in one of the many armchairs of the living room. But when we saw the dorms, we thought we’d better save our money and changed our plan last minute. We decided we’d go camping somewhere outside of the town.

So, we left Tadoussac, following a small road that led us to a giant sand dune near the Moulin-à-Baude Bay. Even though it isn’t far from the town, it was already wild. We parked the car and explored the area. A small path going through a firtree forest took us to the top of a big rock, from which we had a wonderful view of the dune. At that point, I realized how big Canada was: we were obviously in a touristy place, but we were strangely alone. That would hardly happen in Europe.

Around 8, the mosquitoes became seriously aggressive, and we had to find shelter in my tent. I didn’t have a good night, but I succeeded in getting some rest. In the morning, I had dozens of mosquito bites everywhere.

Moulin à Baude River

We left Tadoussac around 11am. So far, we’d been lucky with the weather. But it was changing and around 2pm, we had scary, dark clouds just above us. I got the opportunity to drive all the way from La Malbaie to Quebec, and I really liked it. Driving in North America was a fun experience. When we arrived in Quebec, I thought I’d rather stay there for 1 or 2 days instead of going back to Montreal straight away. I visited some of Quebec with my brother and our friend, and then they left me to go back to Montreal.

This trip was really fun. I was able to see a bit of the Canadian countryside. I tasted some local food, saw unique places, discovered more about the history of the country and learned how to drive an automatic car… but the awesome memories I made on this two days trip are just a taste of the wonderful experiences I’ve had in North America.

Leaving Montreal

Route 138, aka The King's Way, Quebec

An Canadian farm

A church in Canada

Route 138 near Trois-Rivières

Funny bridge near Trois-Rivières

An American truck

La Malbaie Bay

Route 138, aka The King's Way, Quebec

Near Port-au-Saumon

Sabere islet and Camarine islet in the distance

Sabere islet, near Port-au-Saumon

The yellow line

View from a rest area on Route 138.

Ferry service to Tadoussac from Baie-Sainte-Catherine

Ferry service to Tadoussac (Route 138)

An American RV, we've seen some of these dragging their own car behind.

16 km/h, because they love accuracy

Lovely wooden house in Tadoussac

A massive sand dune, Saguenay National Park

Moulin à Baude Bay

Moulin à Baude River, Saguenay National Park

Parking problem?

Trees and more trees, Saguenay National Park

Canadian wildlife

Saguenay National Park

Sunset in the Tadoussac area

Improvised campsite in the Saguenay National Park

Heat storm building up

Some of the photos have been taken by my bro and Loïc. Hope you like them :)

A cool thing about this walk is that is where I met two German friends. We all started to follow the path leading to the top at the same moment. It was steep, although not exposed. At some point, we took a break with them, and eventually spent the day together.

The summits are magnificent. Each of them is unique. The highest summit is the middle one. The top can be accessed without a rope, by a secret way. I found it by chance, as I was crawling through a small hole in the rock. I  scrambled onto a narrow ledge, with a sheer drop of at least 100 feet on one side. And then, there I was, finally standing on the summit. It was a mere rock with a diameter of no more than 7 or 8 feet I would say. There was a pretty strong wind, and I didn’t dare to stand up. I nonetheless took a look over the edge of the cliff, to see what I had just climbed. Well, the huge drop made me feel like I was insignificant.

The East peak is a real master piece. It overhangs all of the Southern valley, and one can have an impressive view on Ben Narnain from there. I don’t know how I reached the top, but I wasn’t following the path, that’s for sure. I had to scramble and crawl on a very sharp inclining section, and suddenly… there was the summit! I had attained the edge of a giant cliff. I sat there, my feet hanging in the void. My mates caught up with me, and we stayed there for half an hour. We admired two pro climbers struggling while making their way on the vertical face of the mountain.

We didn’t go to the South peak.  I saw it though, and I don’t know why, but it reminded me of some photos of the Andes. I think that we would’ve had to follow a very narrow ridge, but the weather was making it dangerous. Instead, we got to the col between the Cobbler and Ben Narnain. From there, we walked to the top of Ben Narnain. We almost got lost in a thick fog. We knew we had reached the top only because of its massive cairn. It was pretty chilly and we soon headed back to Arrochar.

Glencoe Village and Loch Leven

    Back in 2010. It was a cold and sunny day. My hiking mate was leaving Scotland, so we decided to do a last trip to Glencoe, probably the most beautiful valley of the UK. The route was amazing. From Glencoe Village, we crossed a lovely forest, and then, cut straight to the top  of the Pap of Glencoe, a mountain famous for its steep and cone-shaped summit.

Sunset, near Tyndrum Village

Loch Tulla, near Bridge of Orchy

Stob a Ghlais Choire and the famous Stob Dearg

The Three Sisters, Glencoe

Loch Leven from Glencoe Village

Glencoe Village

Stob Coire nan Lochan from the bottom of the Pap

A lovely forest at the bottom of the mountain

The Pap of Glencoe in the distance

Sun over the valley of Glencoe

West face of the Pap of Glencoe

Short break on a flat section

Steep ascent to the top of the Pap

A shelter on the top

Ben Nevis and the Mamore mountains in the distance

Meall Garbh and Garbh Beinn

Lochleven and the Mamores