Apparently camping and the weather appear to be a common theme here. But this experience is one that is too good not to be shared… And by good, I mean eventful. Of course.
I’d managed to persuade the boyfriend that it would be fun to go camping on our night off together. This in itself was an achievement – he doesn’t normally relish the thought of camping, so I was pretty stoked with myself. All through the day the weather held out, the forecast had been bad for 2 days but it was yet to rain, so I was pretty confident we’d be fine. We decided to meet back at the flat at 3pm in order to make preparations. Sandwich making, bag packing, tent locating etc. With everything ready and packed, we made our way to the gondola to head up the mountain. At this point it’s fair to say that the skies were not looking clear and blue, rather more grey with looming clouds rolling in. However we continued on, boarded the gondola and hesitantly sat there as we got carried closer towards an ominous looking sky.
As we arrived at the top and exited our gondola, doubt set in. It was far from the perfect camping evening – not even close. We even discussed whether we should carry on or not as we dubiously ambled away from the station and onwards, out into the mountainous unknown. However due to both of our stubborn personalities, of course there was no way we were going back at this point. We’d made sandwich’s after all.
15 minutes later: torrential, downpouring, wet rain. And I mean wet. The kind that soaks you within minutes all the way through your poor choice of clothing for a wet day on the top of a mountain, right to the skin. I can confidently say it was only when the lightening started striking relatively close to where we were that it became apparent camping was not a good idea that night! Knowing when the gondola stopped running, we had a 15 minute window to make it back. Turning on our heels, what started out as a quick walk soon became a light jog, and in turn, an all out run. Retracing out steps down the path which was now mostly made up of large muddy puddles, the rain only became heavier whilst the thunder provided an entertaining soundtrack to this otherwise already hilarious situation.
Reaching the gondola station with minutes to spare, our hope turned into total disappointment as we saw the gondolas standing still, inside the top station, as if they themselves were huddling in out of the storm. We ran out of the rain like two punters who had made a rookie weather judgment. The French lifty who spoke about as much English as I do French let us shelter inside with him - and there we waited. At the mercy of the uncontrollable and highly changeable weather of the Alps. In wet clothes. For 45 minutes. To add to this, during that whole time, we still didn’t actually know that if the storm got lighter, or ended, whether the lift would even start running again or if we’d have to walk! Then, we got the all clear signal from the lifty, and told in a round about way through hand actions and a few French/English mumbles to get in the gondola. Success! We were on our way down.
As we disembarked our saving gondola back down in Morzine, the realization set in. Although it was most definitely an unsuccessful camping trip, we got to witness a mountain storm, from the top of a mountain. It’s an experience I think I’m unlikely to forget anytime soon.
Back at the flat, after hot showers were taken and clear thinking had returned, all did not look so grey. We opened up the balcony doors, got out the tent, and set it up with the opening facing outwards! What better way to go camping in the rain. We even ate our sandwiches.
I’d managed to persuade the boyfriend that it would be fun to go camping on our night off together. This in itself was an achievement – he doesn’t normally relish the thought of camping, so I was pretty stoked with myself. All through the day the weather held out, the forecast had been bad for 2 days but it was yet to rain, so I was pretty confident we’d be fine. We decided to meet back at the flat at 3pm in order to make preparations. Sandwich making, bag packing, tent locating etc. With everything ready and packed, we made our way to the gondola to head up the mountain. At this point it’s fair to say that the skies were not looking clear and blue, rather more grey with looming clouds rolling in. However we continued on, boarded the gondola and hesitantly sat there as we got carried closer towards an ominous looking sky.
As we arrived at the top and exited our gondola, doubt set in. It was far from the perfect camping evening – not even close. We even discussed whether we should carry on or not as we dubiously ambled away from the station and onwards, out into the mountainous unknown. However due to both of our stubborn personalities, of course there was no way we were going back at this point. We’d made sandwich’s after all.
15 minutes later: torrential, downpouring, wet rain. And I mean wet. The kind that soaks you within minutes all the way through your poor choice of clothing for a wet day on the top of a mountain, right to the skin. I can confidently say it was only when the lightening started striking relatively close to where we were that it became apparent camping was not a good idea that night! Knowing when the gondola stopped running, we had a 15 minute window to make it back. Turning on our heels, what started out as a quick walk soon became a light jog, and in turn, an all out run. Retracing out steps down the path which was now mostly made up of large muddy puddles, the rain only became heavier whilst the thunder provided an entertaining soundtrack to this otherwise already hilarious situation.
Reaching the gondola station with minutes to spare, our hope turned into total disappointment as we saw the gondolas standing still, inside the top station, as if they themselves were huddling in out of the storm. We ran out of the rain like two punters who had made a rookie weather judgment. The French lifty who spoke about as much English as I do French let us shelter inside with him - and there we waited. At the mercy of the uncontrollable and highly changeable weather of the Alps. In wet clothes. For 45 minutes. To add to this, during that whole time, we still didn’t actually know that if the storm got lighter, or ended, whether the lift would even start running again or if we’d have to walk! Then, we got the all clear signal from the lifty, and told in a round about way through hand actions and a few French/English mumbles to get in the gondola. Success! We were on our way down.
As we disembarked our saving gondola back down in Morzine, the realization set in. Although it was most definitely an unsuccessful camping trip, we got to witness a mountain storm, from the top of a mountain. It’s an experience I think I’m unlikely to forget anytime soon.
Back at the flat, after hot showers were taken and clear thinking had returned, all did not look so grey. We opened up the balcony doors, got out the tent, and set it up with the opening facing outwards! What better way to go camping in the rain. We even ate our sandwiches.