Sabbatical - Hiking Interlude; Hikers
In my last post I touched on the guides. Today I'd like to talk about my fellow hikers. When I booked this trip, I really had no idea what kind of people would be on it. On the one hand, I figured it would be something like my trip to the Galapagos: mostly older upper middle class types who could take two weeks off and had the money to pay for it. On the other hand, the Galapagos trip was not particularly physically strenuous. My mother, who has serious knee problems, was able to handle all of the short hikes that were involved. Since this trip was advertised as being significantly more strenuous (REI rates the Tour Du Mt Blanc as an activity level 4/5, and its Galapagos cruises 2/5), I wasn't sure if that was going to skew the attendees toward a lot of young trust fund types or other rich assholes.
As it happens, of the fourteen people in the group, I was one of the youngest. 10 of them were in their late fifties or older; e.g., upper middle class people who were retired or near retirement and could take two weeks off from work. I was the next oldest at 37, with the other three people being in their mid-30s. When I met the group, I had a brief moment of "oh crap, all these older people will slow us down" since unlike our guides, they didn't have the hardened look of people who walked the mountains. However, it turned out that all but one of them had far more trekking experience than I did, and most of them were in far better shape. I was consistently the fourth slowest person as well as being the fourth youngest person.
Fully half of the people in the group were traveling together. They'd been on several previous trekking adventures with REI before, including one in New Zealand and another in Australia and some others I don't recall. Those seven people were:
1. Chet - Chet was a dive instructor on Grand Cayman for many years, then moved back to the states and got a job at a pharmaceutical company. He went hiking in the Adirondacks every weekend to prepare for this trip, and was once featured in a NY Times piece on The Devil's Path in the Catskills. He was also the linchpin of the seven people traveling together. Chet had the same sense of humor as my father. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not.
2. Teri - Chet's second wife. She spoke the least of anyone on the trip, and I know comparatively little about her.
3. Alena - Chet's daughter. She is a pharmacist in Florida. She has French bulldogs. Side note: I saw a lot of French bulldogs in France.
4. Anson - Alena's husband. He is also a pharmacist in Florida. He and Alena met in college in New York. Anson was a serious fisherman. both Alena & Anson are younger than I am.
5. David #1 - Chet's college friend. He lives in New Jersey (?). David got some kind of food poisoning in the airport on the way to Europe, and spent much of the trip ill. Doctors weren't able to get him fixed up, so he rode in the van many days and only did some of the more minor hikes. I didn't speak with him much.
6. Scott - Another of Chet's friends from somewhere. Scott lives in Oregon and spent most of his spare time hiking and doing outdoor activities. He said that the Tour was the toughest trek the group had been on thus far.
7. Jan - Scott's wife is a serious outdoorswomen and a horseback rider. I got the impression that she and Scott were outside doing things every chance that they got.
In addition to this large group, there were two more duos. Coincidentally, both duos were from Minnesota.
8. Duane - Duane was the oldest member of the group at 70 years old. He was also the fastest hiker by a pretty fair margin. He was spending his retirement doing various outdoor adventures like hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro. He grew up on a farm in Minnesota and had retired to rural Minnesota, where he spent time fishing with his grandkids. I grew up knowing a lot of people like Duane, except that Duane was actually well traveled and knowledgeable about the world.
9. Dave (David #2) - Dave and Duane were college classmates who reconnected as a reunion when they realized that they both had fun doing adventure trips. Since then they had traveled together a few times. Dave's biggest previous adventures was driving from London to Mongolia for charity, which he did with his son (sons?).
10. Karen #1 - Karen is a lawyer in the Twin Cities. She'd done several treks before, including the Himalayas. She had some knee issues on this trip and took a few days to ride in the van.
11. Karen #2 - Karen works at a hospital in the Twin Cities and knew Karen #1 from some mutual activity. After her health scare during the tune up hike she rode in the van on all but the shortest days.
I was one of three singletons on the trip.
12. David J (David #3) - David was a guy from New York City who had lived all over the country for his wife's job as an executive at some national corporation. He himself worked as psychiatrist and then as a adjunct professor. After his kids went to college and his was wife was killed in a car accident, he retired to Boulder, Colorado and spends all his time hiking. The Tour was just the first part of two months in Europe for him; he was planning to hike the Matterhorn, then the Dolomites in Italy, and then he was going to do a bike tour in Tuscany. He was loud and abrasive in a NYC kind of way, and I really got along with him well. He was rooming with David #1.
13. Matt - Matt was a rocket scientist who was raised in Missouri, went to UM Rolla and ended up in Los Angeles, where he hiked every weekend. He was randomly assigned as my roommate. In addition to being the youngest person on the trip, Matt was pretty much the stereotypical Eagle Scout in every way, and I mean that kindly. He was also the fastest hiker besides Duane, so he was usually so far in front of me that I only saw him in the hotel room or at meals.
14. Me - Fourth youngest. Fourth slowest. Close to the bottom of the hiking experience list. However, I had more cheese knowledge than anyone else, and other than David J. I was the only who was in Europe for more than just the Tour.
Somewhat surprisingly, I got along with all of these people. I guess the kind of people who think hiking through the mountains for two weeks is a fun thing have enough other things in common to talk about. Or maybe we were all so tired that there was no energy to spare for finding out we didn't like each other.
I now regret that I didn't take more pictures of my fellow hikers, but I did get one good group shot as we hiked from the Bonatti toward Switzerland.
As it happens, of the fourteen people in the group, I was one of the youngest. 10 of them were in their late fifties or older; e.g., upper middle class people who were retired or near retirement and could take two weeks off from work. I was the next oldest at 37, with the other three people being in their mid-30s. When I met the group, I had a brief moment of "oh crap, all these older people will slow us down" since unlike our guides, they didn't have the hardened look of people who walked the mountains. However, it turned out that all but one of them had far more trekking experience than I did, and most of them were in far better shape. I was consistently the fourth slowest person as well as being the fourth youngest person.
Fully half of the people in the group were traveling together. They'd been on several previous trekking adventures with REI before, including one in New Zealand and another in Australia and some others I don't recall. Those seven people were:
1. Chet - Chet was a dive instructor on Grand Cayman for many years, then moved back to the states and got a job at a pharmaceutical company. He went hiking in the Adirondacks every weekend to prepare for this trip, and was once featured in a NY Times piece on The Devil's Path in the Catskills. He was also the linchpin of the seven people traveling together. Chet had the same sense of humor as my father. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not.
2. Teri - Chet's second wife. She spoke the least of anyone on the trip, and I know comparatively little about her.
3. Alena - Chet's daughter. She is a pharmacist in Florida. She has French bulldogs. Side note: I saw a lot of French bulldogs in France.
4. Anson - Alena's husband. He is also a pharmacist in Florida. He and Alena met in college in New York. Anson was a serious fisherman. both Alena & Anson are younger than I am.
5. David #1 - Chet's college friend. He lives in New Jersey (?). David got some kind of food poisoning in the airport on the way to Europe, and spent much of the trip ill. Doctors weren't able to get him fixed up, so he rode in the van many days and only did some of the more minor hikes. I didn't speak with him much.
6. Scott - Another of Chet's friends from somewhere. Scott lives in Oregon and spent most of his spare time hiking and doing outdoor activities. He said that the Tour was the toughest trek the group had been on thus far.
7. Jan - Scott's wife is a serious outdoorswomen and a horseback rider. I got the impression that she and Scott were outside doing things every chance that they got.
In addition to this large group, there were two more duos. Coincidentally, both duos were from Minnesota.
8. Duane - Duane was the oldest member of the group at 70 years old. He was also the fastest hiker by a pretty fair margin. He was spending his retirement doing various outdoor adventures like hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro. He grew up on a farm in Minnesota and had retired to rural Minnesota, where he spent time fishing with his grandkids. I grew up knowing a lot of people like Duane, except that Duane was actually well traveled and knowledgeable about the world.
9. Dave (David #2) - Dave and Duane were college classmates who reconnected as a reunion when they realized that they both had fun doing adventure trips. Since then they had traveled together a few times. Dave's biggest previous adventures was driving from London to Mongolia for charity, which he did with his son (sons?).
10. Karen #1 - Karen is a lawyer in the Twin Cities. She'd done several treks before, including the Himalayas. She had some knee issues on this trip and took a few days to ride in the van.
11. Karen #2 - Karen works at a hospital in the Twin Cities and knew Karen #1 from some mutual activity. After her health scare during the tune up hike she rode in the van on all but the shortest days.
I was one of three singletons on the trip.
12. David J (David #3) - David was a guy from New York City who had lived all over the country for his wife's job as an executive at some national corporation. He himself worked as psychiatrist and then as a adjunct professor. After his kids went to college and his was wife was killed in a car accident, he retired to Boulder, Colorado and spends all his time hiking. The Tour was just the first part of two months in Europe for him; he was planning to hike the Matterhorn, then the Dolomites in Italy, and then he was going to do a bike tour in Tuscany. He was loud and abrasive in a NYC kind of way, and I really got along with him well. He was rooming with David #1.
13. Matt - Matt was a rocket scientist who was raised in Missouri, went to UM Rolla and ended up in Los Angeles, where he hiked every weekend. He was randomly assigned as my roommate. In addition to being the youngest person on the trip, Matt was pretty much the stereotypical Eagle Scout in every way, and I mean that kindly. He was also the fastest hiker besides Duane, so he was usually so far in front of me that I only saw him in the hotel room or at meals.
14. Me - Fourth youngest. Fourth slowest. Close to the bottom of the hiking experience list. However, I had more cheese knowledge than anyone else, and other than David J. I was the only who was in Europe for more than just the Tour.
Somewhat surprisingly, I got along with all of these people. I guess the kind of people who think hiking through the mountains for two weeks is a fun thing have enough other things in common to talk about. Or maybe we were all so tired that there was no energy to spare for finding out we didn't like each other.
I now regret that I didn't take more pictures of my fellow hikers, but I did get one good group shot as we hiked from the Bonatti toward Switzerland.