Interview to Gabriele and Erica of InMontagna.Blog
Gabriele ed Erica are a couple of mountain enthusiasts who is able to make people dream, thanks to their website inmontagna.blog. Enjoy their “double” interview…
1.First of all, we would like to know what you do when you are not busy with your hobby, outdoor activities.
Gabriele: we are busy with what is the antithesis of the mountain! I mean, I have a IT company where I am the CTO, which means that I need to spend many hours losing my marbles in front of the PC. Maybe also for this reason I always look forward to go to the mountain in the weekend.
Erica: I am a freelance architect, I do this job in 360-degree; likely this means that I have always different days (likely because it also means I can’t be bored easily), inside and outside the office…for sure I prefer outside!
2.In your blog “inmontagna.blog” there are tents (or maybe hundreds) of trails which you describe with precision and are posted with photo albums that allow your followers to have valuable information before going hiking. What pushed you to work so much during your trekkings (for the pictures) and also after (for the description) for the sake of other people? Who makes you do that?
Gabriele: the whole thing started by chance. We found ourselves with an archive of thousands of pictures related to the last 5 or 6 years of trails and at that point we thought to use them also for the community of people who shares our interests. The blog currently contains not more than half the things we really have done in the last years, but it is already a good starting point. Who makes us do it? Like for any passion it is sharing which transforms a job into a pleasure, and it is always good to think that you are doing something potentially useful for other people who love mountains.
Erica: we ask the same thing ourselves! Jokes aside, for me taking pictures to what I see has always been fundamental, because it means try to catch an impression, an emotion, to be able to uncover it years later, when the memory would not be able to make it reappear: with an image everything is simpler. Apart from the blog, I would never give up this aspect. Writing about a trekking is another way to remember the details which otherwise would be lost: you do it for youself, you do it for your friends…and from here to doing it for everybody else, at that point, it is a short step! A blog at the end of the day is like a memories container, which instead of being closed in some drawer is shared with people you don’t even know.
3.In the blog section “Stories of the mountains” there are various sections: Mountain climbing, Peaks, Via Ferrata (Iron roads), Snow/Ice/Mixed and Trekking. Where did you start from? Why did you broaden your scope? Is there something that you like more?
Gabriele: like everyone I started from trekking, then knowing the places and seeing the mountains from nearby it is normal to want more and more difficult challenges. Also mountain climbing and skiing in my case came early. I started climbing when I was 4-5 years old, but it was because of love at first sight and in a short time I was quite good at it. It is a pity that I started ski mountaineering just 3 years ago! All these things have been possible thanks to a family house near Madonna di Campiglio, that allowed me to know the beauty of the mountain in all its aspects. We try always to vary the type of trail we do, also according to the season, so there is no favorite activity: what is important is to explore always something new.
Erica: I started to go to the mountain just 10 years ago, because there was no tradition about this in my family; anyway I have always been truly “wild”, since I was a little girl, so loving the mountain, when there was the occasion, has been easy. Learning to enjoy the effort has been less easy: Gabriele still remembers the first trail together, where I was stopping every two seconds with the excuse of admiring the view! I like climbing, but I am still bad and for me it is still a way to reach an objective, to go beyond by limits: I like the long-distance trails, where you can find everything, where the view changes the more you go up, and so does the difficulty; the altitude where I feel at home, I don’t know why, is the one where vegetation disappear and leave space to bare rocks, to stones, to mugo pines. With snow and ice…we are still working on it! I need to admit that the rest of the activities do not bother me, but I rather do what I like more. For example, I do not ski, so when Gabriele go ski-touring I do something else, like hiking alone.
4.Among the different trails that you describe in your blog we think it is hard to choose a single one, but, try to tell us which one in particular strikes a chord with you?
Gabriele: It is hard because every trail leave something unique in my heart. Among my favorite there is the Via Cerana al Carè Alto, done with a wonderful sunny day, the Via Preuss al Campanile Basso, which was the realization of a dream that I had when I was a child, and – another unforgettable one – Les Pyramides Calcaires in Val Veny: I discovered a new world related to this area nearby the Mount Blanc, that I didn’t even know and that fascinates me very much.
Erica: it is really hard. Almost all the trails are linked to powerful memories, exactly because they are experiences and not just “sport”. There is the peak I thought I could never have touched (Cima Brenta by the North side), the days of walking passed along the Alta Via in Valle D’Aosta, the traverse on the Alpine glaciers where I feel like Alice in Wonderland… but the place which strikes a chord with me more than anything else, where we have done trails for many days, some of them alone, is the Val Grande. I believe that it is a really magic place, even if there is nothing related to mountaineering, strictly speaking. To me it is great exploring, looking for the limit, both from an internal and external perspective: and the mountain, all of it, in this sense is a life coach.
5.The next question can only be about your next trekking. Tell us what you have in mind for the next months…
Gabriele: Now that the snow have settled on the mountains it is only a matter of time before starting the ski-touring season…but what is really cool will be our next trip to Nepal. We will hike around the Annapurna in December and we are looking forward to it!
Erica: normally we plan the trails practically at the last moment! But soon we will leave for Nepal, where among other things we will do a trekking around the Annapurna. For me it is one of a lifetime trip: I have dreamed about it, I have planned it, I have imagined it…then some months ago I decided that we have thought about it long enough and I just booked the tickets! Apart from the fact that it will be winter and the places to go for normal people like us are limited, I think that even if I could I would not have chosen to go up to the Peak (Gabriele like to go up and reach “a peak”). I like the idea, instead, of going around one: in some cultures the peaks of the mountains are considered holy, and Annapurna is the tenth highest mountain in the World and going at its feet is like a sort of pilgrimage.
6.Our last question is about Bivo. You have tasted it, would you suggest it to other people? And if yes, why?
Gabriele: We are bringing Bivo with us in every trekking! I personally am really “choosy” about food and for now I have only tasted it from Erica’s shaker. What I can say is that it is true that it provides energy, also immediately, giving you a sensation of fullness which I would not have expected. So I will not only suggest it, but I think it is an useful tool which can replace the camping stove or the sandwiches, particularly for the long trekkings.
Erica: Of course we have tasted it! I have immediately liked it. I liked also the idea: I am omivorous, but I don’t like to eat junk food. The ingredients of Bivo are simple and “healthy”, and when you drink it you don’t feel “heavy” (this is important, especially when you are during some kind of outdoor activity in the mountain). It is comfortable to put it in the backpack: even if it is bigger than food bars – that cannot replace a “meal” anyway – it is for sure smaller that the same amount of food you need to bring with fruit and fibers to be full after a day of trekking or during it. So for me it is highly recommended, and something people need to try. Even Gabriele have tried it…and he does never eat anything new, especially if it is healthy 😉
