I just saw your latest photos. I'm impressed not only by them but also by your dedication. Hiking in the mountains with all that equipment really needs a strong and motivated person.
Thanks Francois. All that is mostly a lot of fun.
Going there alone at this season would be dangerous. The key is to find people you like hiking with and who are willing to slow down a little bit to wait for the guy carrying the tripod. My two friends this time were a lot fitter than I am and have significantly more mountaineering experience than I do.
- one is about to become a guide in Chamonix and gets bored it he doesn't walk 8 hours in a day off the official paths, he does 500m vertical an hour with a 20 kg pack and doesn't get too short of breath, I have a very hard time doing 400m and hour,
- the other one is a marathon trail runner who just completed a 70 km mountain race at night in Japan. She climbed some serious faces in Japan and spends most of her winter backcountry skiing.
I would have been unable to walk at the same pace with my heavier pack hadn't they been willing to cope with my photographic "disabilities", and I would probably not have gone there alone.
So in the end it is a team work.
Cheers,
Bernard