The making of a mountain woman

We came across a “wishing” fence last week where you tie something on and make a wish. Ray dug in his backpack and attached an elastic band to the fence. As we walked away, I said, “You wished for a wife who likes to climb mountains, didn’t you?” He just laughed. I didn’t recognize it as the sinister laugh of a man with a plan.

“Foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique is a compliance tactic that aims at getting a person to agree to a large request by having them agree to a modest request first.”

Ray suggested we take a walk to a suspension bridge in a gorge, which sounded pretty cool. It was about an hour in and an hour out. I could do that, no problem. Once we were there, he pulled out the map and showed me that we could carry on past the bridge and do a longer loop, but we could also turn back at any point. I just had to say the word. He didn’t tell me the word.

Before we left the house, Ray offered to haul all our stuff in his big backpack, ostensibly to lighten my load. It didn’t occur to me until later that the chocolate was in the bag and he walks faster than I do.

“Attracted by the sight and smell, the donkey steps forward to bite at the carrot, but of course, as it is attached to the stick, the carrot also moves forward and remains out of reach.”

I normally have no fear of heights, having bungee jumped and hung off the CN Tower, so I didn’t expect to have any problem crossing this bridge, but about half-way across, every collapsing suspended bridge scene I’d ever seen in action movies flashed through my head and I picked up my pace and scurried onto solid ground.

After crossing the bridge, Ray suggested we stop and have a snack and a hot drink. He’d brought a thermos of coffee and I’d brought a thermos of tea. Or at least I thought I had. As those who know me will appreciate, discovering that I’d left my thermos in the car was even more disappointing than the omelette incident. I soldiered on though.

Ray’s devious plan worked and next thing I knew my Fitbit said I’d climbed 242 flights of stairs. The hike through Holzarte Gorge was rated as “difficult” with an elevation of about 900 metres. Sneaky trickery aside, it ranks as possibly the most spectacular hike I’ve ever done, with streams of crystal clear water, cascading waterfalls, beechwood forests blanketed with flowering garlic, a field of horses wandering freely, and spectacular views of mountains, gorges and valleys.

I was grateful that Ray ‘tricked’ me into this hike and felt great about it afterwards, but then I remembered that we had our weekly group hike the following day. It was fortunately much less hilly and my legs held out, but definitely needed a rest day after that.