Why I want to hike the Via Alpina

8 Jul

The Via Alpina is my pilgrimage, my Camino de Santiago. I see it as fundamentally spiritual by nature. I am setting off on a long journey by foot, to discover more of nature and myself, in the hopes that all the nights spent under the stars will further awaken my inner wild.

A pilgrimage is essentially a long journey undertaken by foot in devotion to something beyond us. It is a transient experience, removing oneself from a comfortable environment and one’s identity.

The green Via Alpina trail is a long journey.

It stretches 390 km across Switzerland from east to west, climbing 16 alpine passes and ascending over 23 000m. It has been calling me since last year.

We choose to tackle this trek as you would any task of this size: piece by piece. We have split the 390 km into weekend segments, with an eight-day long stretch in September, with the hopes of finishing it before the snow settles in the alps.

*Ascending to Foopass on day two of our hiking weekend.*

The philosophy of walking

When thinking about my big quest, my mind also turns to the philosophers who often cite the benefits of walking.

Immanuel Kant insists that a walk a day gives the mind a good break from compulsive thought. He was very consistent with his daily walks, taking the same route at the same time each day, only adapting to walk slower in the summer months.

Friedrich Nietzsche was also a great walker. He believed that any idea worth having was stumbled upon outdoors while walking. He even wrote an entire book, The Wanderer and His Shadow, while walking eight hours a day.

*Capitalising on the morning energy to get an early start. Soninke (left), Sanna (right).*

French philosopher, Frédéric Gros, wrote a whole book on the philosophy of walking. Gros immediately differentiates between ‘walking’ and ‘sport’:

“Sport is a matter of techniques and rules, scores and competition, necessitating lengthy training: knowing the postures, learning the right movements… Walking is not a sport. Putting one foot in front of the other is child’s play. When walkers meet, there is no result, no time.”

I see a truth in all these beliefs. I believe that you can have a series of short walks, such as in the afternoon or the morning that becomes routine. But then you need to break it up with bigger walks, ones that suspend your comfort zone and throws you into the wiles of nature. You never know what experiences she will provide you.

*Slowing down to enjoy a rest before pushing up Foopass.*

The art of slowing down

I think the one thing that has attracted me to walking was the idea of slowing down, disconnecting and reconnecting. Everyday life, especially work life, requires me to be up to speed with things happening in the digital world. Spending weekends away from the rush welcomes a calm into my life.

I am a reactive person by nature, energetic, and quick to respond to my environment or new stimulus. By slowing down in nature and taking my sweet time, I can immerse myself in that environment, soaking in everything the scenery has to offer.

Being stuck in nature where technology is not needed, has helped me to ‘unplug’ and do a digital detox. I feel that, increasingly during covid times, it has become expected to be connected. That is, socially connected, whether with family and friends on the phone, or on social media.

*Taking the time to watch the sunrise - a very important ritual in the mountains.*

By taking a hiatus from the constant need to respond, the nervous system gets a break. It also opens oneself up to connect with something else, like myself and nature. I can fall into the natural rhythms, rising and setting with the sun, responding to the change of wind, and delighting in the chilly nip of a river underfoot. I think Gros summarises this connection eloquently with this line:

“There are moments of vibration between your own body and the landscape." – Frédéric Gros

All these things help to bring me back into the present, to the Now — now as my mom would say.

Starting the Via Alpina

It was not until the second morning that I woke up near Foopass to watch the sunrise that I realised how much I hungered after these moments. Poised on a rock, wrapped in my down sleeping bag with the sun on my face, brought me more peace than I could imagine. I could feel it then – the sweetness of slowing down.

When thinking about the Via Alpina, it is a long 390km journey with a lot of ascent and descent. Yes. But it is also more than those measurements. It’s an adventure, an expedition, a test, a pilgrimage. It invites a new practice into my life and hopefully a philosophy that I can take home with me after spending time in the mountains.