Apparently TAB doesn't work on blogger. So I wrote this paper for my english class. It has better grammar with less content! Hurray!
My life has been full of great experiences. I have been around the world, from California to Afghanistan, Moscow to South America. The greatest experience, in my travels, I have had took place near Bour D'Osions in the French Alps. In the summer of 2006, I had the opportunity to work at a small camp in the French Alps called Camp Des Crimes, or Camp of the Peaks in English. I enjoyed the whole trip, but one day was more memorable than the rest.
One day in mid July during the last week of my stay, I remember as being the most exciting, peaceful, and adventurous part of my life, so far. On that day the camp staff, counselors, and campers set out for an overnight hike to an alpine lake high in French Alps. During the hike, I broke off from the campers and climbed up to the peak of one of the nearby mountains. I spent an afternoon in solitude, reflection, and peace upon the peak. The greatest adventures are the result of great risks. The night before our hike up to the alpine lake, I was debating whether to participate. The idea of hiking for four or five hours with all my gear to a lake deep in the French Alps with fifty teenagers didn't sound very fun to me. Someone eventually convinced me to go on the hike and I am very glad I went. I went to sleep early the night before and woke up early to a wonderful French breakfast of cheese and French bread. After breakfast, I went out and found the tent Camp Des Crimes had issued me and the campers I would be sharing it with. I conversed with the campers and, with my intellectual power, I negotiated carrying the majority of the gear. My gear consisted of a sleeping bag, three one-liter bottles of water, about three cast iron pots, a change of clothes, a bag of food, a camera and its accessories, and enough firewood for my tent mates and me. Since the planned campsite was very far above tree line, everyone carried firewood for the camp fire. So I packed my backpack and strapped the firewood to my frame. Everyone participating in the hike loaded up their gear onto the bus. The bus carried our group to the base of the trail about 20 kilometers away.
It has been said that great achievements are
due to overcoming great obstacles. Our hike up the mountain was nothing less. It is a wonder that I even made it up the mountain. I had fifty pounds of gear and was leading a group of teenagers on the hike. I unloaded my backpack from the bus. I could barely get it on my back and realized that I now had to drag my backpack, along with my corpse, up a few thousand feet to the lake. I was in low spirits until I began walking and talking with a few of the older teenagers from the camp. It was interesting to hear about the lives of the French students. The hike started out very mild. Our group walked a few kilometers down a small road that weaved through a number of small villages. The hike started above tree level. The surrounding terrain was rolling green hills covered in violet, alpine flowers. After about an hour of hiking, we passed through pastures of alpine cows and over a river that ran through the valley. The trail increased in slope so I started taking more breaks to catch my breath. I struggled less with the mountain and more with just trying to keep my balance. Through out our hike, I had been keeping up with the front of the group consisting of fit individuals, but soon found myself falling to the back of the pack. After a few hours, we reached the lake and stopped near one end of it. The lake was all that was left of a glacier that was once in the valley we were in. It had sculpted the surrounding terrain and left massive ridges. Even in the middle of summer, patches of snow existed on the ground around where we stopped.
My dad once told me, “Stupid is is stupid does.” If taking a risk for the adventure of a life time is stupid, then call me stupid. It was lunch time, so we all got out lunches and ate near the edge of the lake. I ate in silence as I took in the beauty around me. While eating, I noticed a mountain to the east that looked like it was climbable without any climbing gear. I suddenly felt absolutely compelled to climb that mountain; my life would not be complete without climbing it. I asked my dad if he would accompany me. He declined and so did everyone else I asked, excluding the campers. Apparently, people were tired when they reached the top of the mountain. I felt energized since I took off my obese backpack. Determined to climb that
mountain, I asked Tom, our camp director, what I should do. Tom was an artist, so he gave me an artist's answer. He said that if I felt like climbing it, I should go climb it. I knew that teens were very impressionable and I didn't want anyone of them to get hurt, so I made a plan. I waited for the right moment, then turned and sprinted. I sprinted up the mountain until I got tired of sprinting. As I ascended, I realized that this seemingly innocent mountain was taller and steeper then I had anticipated. I kept a brisk pace until I came to the end of the grass covered section of the mountain. I stopped to take a breather. Turning around, I saw that apparently someone had noticed that I started to climb the mountain, but no one followed.
All men need a place of peace and tranquility. An interesting fact is that the mountains in the Bour D'Osions area are all slate which gives them a shiny, jagged, and sinister look. Slate has a grain, similar to wood. When slate chips, it chips in flakes and looks similar to bark. This chipping makes slate extremely sharp and dangerous, as I found out. The slope became almost vertical. My hike became a free climb up a hundred feet or more of jagged, sharp slate. I am a fairly talented at climbing. I managed to climb to the top of the rock formation, just to learn that it was not the top. I continued climbing and climbing. As soon as I got to the top of one rock formation, I found another rock formation to climb. I climbed in and out of crevasses and across rock faces. I climbed to the point that I had almost forgotten that I had hiked up part of the mountain. Finally, I found the top. At the top, I found a pyramid shaped rock. I climbed to the top of that rock and saw that the other face of the mountain had a large inverted section. At the top, I felt three hundred and sixty degrees of freedom. There was nothing higher than me on all sides. I felt that I had reached the celling of the earth. I sat in silence, overwhelmed with the moment. Never before had I felt a stronger feeling of peace and tranquility. I sat and viewed the world sprawled out before me.
Life is a risk. Every time I reflect back on my adventure, I am overcome with a sense of peace and achievement. I would never trade my alpine hiking experience for anything in the world. I have never regretted climbing that mountain, even though I could have easily died multiple times. When I came down the mountain, I found one of the counselors sitting by the lake filtering some water. He asked me what motivated me to climb the mountain. I took a second to respond. I told him that I was compelled and that it was an opportunity I seized. I may never have the chance again to climb one of the alps. I took a risk for the experience of a lifetime.
My dad once told me, “Stupid is is stupid does.” If taking a risk for the adventure of a life time is stupid, then call me stupid. It was lunch time, so we all got out lunches and ate near the edge of the lake. I ate in silence as I took in the beauty around me. While eating, I noticed a mountain to the east that looked like it was climbable without any climbing gear. I suddenly felt absolutely compelled to climb that mountain; my life would not be complete without climbing it. I asked my dad if he would accompany me. He declined and so did everyone else I asked, excluding the campers. Apparently, people were tired when they reached the top of the mountain. I felt energized since I took off my obese backpack. Determined to climb that
mountain, I asked Tom, our camp director, what I should do. Tom was an artist, so he gave me an artist's answer. He said that if I felt like climbing it, I should go climb it. I knew that teens were very impressionable and I didn't want anyone of them to get hurt, so I made a plan. I waited for the right moment, then turned and sprinted. I sprinted up the mountain until I got tired of sprinting. As I ascended, I realized that this seemingly innocent mountain was taller and steeper then I had anticipated. I kept a brisk pace until I came to the end of the grass covered section of the mountain. I stopped to take a breather. Turning around, I saw that apparently someone had noticed that I started to climb the mountain, but no one followed.All men need a place of peace and tranquility. An interesting fact is that the mountains in the Bour D'Osions area are all slate which gives them a shiny, jagged, and sinister look. Slate has a grain, similar to wood. When slate chips, it chips in flakes and looks similar to bark. This chipping makes slate extremely sharp and dangerous, as I found out. The slope became almost vertical. My hike became a free climb up a hundred feet or more of jagged, sharp slate. I am a fairly talented at climbing. I managed to climb to the top of the rock formation, just to learn that it was not the top. I continued climbing and climbing. As soon as I got to the top of one rock formation, I found another rock formation to climb. I climbed in and out of crevasses and across rock faces. I climbed to the point that I had almost forgotten that I had hiked up part of the mountain. Finally, I found the top. At the top, I found a pyramid shaped rock. I climbed to the top of that rock and saw that the other face of the mountain had a large inverted section. At the top, I felt three hundred and sixty degrees of freedom. There was nothing higher than me on all sides. I felt that I had reached the celling of the earth. I sat in silence, overwhelmed with the moment. Never before had I felt a stronger feeling of peace and tranquility. I sat and viewed the world sprawled out before me.
Life is a risk. Every time I reflect back on my adventure, I am overcome with a sense of peace and achievement. I would never trade my alpine hiking experience for anything in the world. I have never regretted climbing that mountain, even though I could have easily died multiple times. When I came down the mountain, I found one of the counselors sitting by the lake filtering some water. He asked me what motivated me to climb the mountain. I took a second to respond. I told him that I was compelled and that it was an opportunity I seized. I may never have the chance again to climb one of the alps. I took a risk for the experience of a lifetime.
