How NOT to Climb Monte Fasce


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March 5th 2012
Published: March 6th 2012
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monte fasce


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Thick in the middle of it
August 30, 2008

This is a tale of a trek that I come closest to not completing. It has become a tale of inspiration and motivation to finish what I've started. I traveled on this trek with an englishman, Tom, and a frenchman, Sebastien. It begins with a bus ride and ends with some good food with plenty of exhaustion in the middle.


Tom and I met Sebastien at the crossing of the 17 and 512 buses. We hopped aboard the small 512 which would take us up the mountain a little bit to a good starting point at the edge of the city. I was quite impressed with the driver's ability to navigate the small streets in a large bus while narrowly avoiding scraping along the parked cars on either side. We finally reached the end of the line and began our trek (point 1).

The path took us up and over the autostrada and then reached a small mountain road. We were fairly confident the road would lead us pretty close to the peak. As we continued along that road it became quite clear that we were wrong. We were getting closer to the peak horizontally
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Seb and I
but not vertically. We contemplated going back to find the right road versus just going straight up the slope. The direct route didn't look too difficult excepting the steepness so we decided on that one (point 2).

Once we had begun, we realized that the bushes and shrubs were taller and scratchier than we had expected but it was too late. We were already thick in the middle of it. Of course, this was August and the sun was very hot and relentless forcing us into several water breaks. After some time trudging through the weeds, we made it to the road (point 3) with scratched and bloodied legs.

We weren't on the road for long when the path diverted (point 4) and from there we headed up the steep mountain-side again. This time, however, there was a nice path to follow. I was apparently so out of shape compared to my comrades that I had to stop much more often than them. I struggled and persevered and finally made it to the top (point 5) and was rewarded with a stunning view of the city of Genova (Genoa)!

We wandered among the antennas, took pictures of
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IIIIIIIIIII need a break
the view, took pictures of ourselves, and drank some water. It was well into the middle of the day and we were starting to get hungry so we headed back down. Back on the road we should have been on originally, we quickly discovered a small restaurant that seemed perfect to quench our appetites. We each ordered a nice, cold beer while splitting a large plate of red wine salsiccia and french fries. Maybe it was the exhaustion from the trek or maybe the food really was that good, to this day I'm still not sure what made it taste so amazing.

We headed back down the road for awhile until we found a path beside someone's property that took us into someone's backyard where they were building their own wooden half-pipe. This path put us on the wrong side of a locked gate but we were able to hop the small fence and get back on the road. The road led us back to the bus lines, which took me home to a nice shower to clean out my woulds from the day before heading out to a polish dinner (cooked by Lukasz!) and a Sampdoria match (meh).



In the end, I survived the day. I've been on many treks since this one and even some that were as "pathless" as this one and each time I am reminded of this one. The view from the top is always worth it.


Additional photos below
Photos: 10, Displayed: 10


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The Right RoadThe Right Road
The Right Road

Seb and I view the route we took
The TopThe Top
The Top

Finally resting at the top
The GroupThe Group
The Group

Seb, me, Tom
LunchLunch
Lunch

Tom enjoying his red wine salsiccia
Battle WoundsBattle Wounds
Battle Wounds

Seb and I inspect our injuries


Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0436s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb