Chamechaude 12-04-2014

Another hiking trip. Though this time wasn't me who planned it. The second hike in two weeks. Last time was Moucherotte in Vercors. This time was Chamechaude, the highest point in Chartreuse Massif. And this time, there were more people joining. The four people including me from the last time Moucherotte hike, plus four more classmates of Eugene, so in total, there were Eugene, Fabio, Alessandro, Edna, Thibaut, Louise, Denis and me. 

At first, me, Eugene, Fabio, Alessandro and Louise took the Transisère bus from Grenoble to Sappey en Chartreuse in the early morning. Thibaut has a car, so he and together with the other two left Grenoble slightly later, and we met up at Sappey. The actual hiking route starts at Col de Porte, 5km away from Sappey. Since it wasn't very interesting to walk there, so Thibaut fetched all of us by car in two trips to Col de Porte.

Yet again hiking on snow. The weather on that day was good, but tiring snow again. Now I really think that I have the aura, difficult snow hiking aura. Whenever I go for a hike, there surely be snow. So far, the record hasn't been broken yet.

Everybody except Fabio, who took this picture, at the beginning of the hike
From left to right : Denis, me, Alessandro, Edna, Eugene, Louise, Thibaut

The signboard at Col de Porte

The red team, apparently red is the trendy colour for hiking

The non-red team

The starting part was rather easy, path with gradual gradient, through the forest. A pleasant surprise, an almost wolf like dog kept following us. Come to think about it, yet not so surprise since we had plenty of sausages in our bags. Rather saying that he followed us, he was always ahead of us, as if he was our guide. He was so fluffy, so white, and huge too. We all decided to called him Jon Snow.

Jon Snow, chiling while waiting for us

Through the forest, at around midway point, the mountain became very exposed. And Jon Snow also decided to leave us at this point. Only then, we understood how clever Jon Snow was. The gradient of the rest of the path increased significantly. It was technically not a path neither, since the entire mountain was covered with a thick layer of snow. And there was nobody else hiking to Chamechaude that morning. Almost no indication to follow, we had to figure out our way to the top most of the time.

So we moved very slowly. Some of us didn't wear proper hiking shoes. Normal sneakers don't have much grip and normally not waterproof. Walking with them on snow can be very slippery, very uncomfortable and even dangerous. Edna with the least hiking experience was so scared throughout the trip. It was understandable too. Some parts were just so steep.

Walking on grass is so much easier

Some parts were basically rock climbing, but without rope

Thibaut standing on a giant rock, Chartreuse Massif as background

my turn for photo

And Alessandro's turn, picture taken at wrong moment 

and Louise's turn

refueling for the final push

The hill side is just so damn steep

After searching and searching, and not sure where exactly the correct route was, we were at one point stucked in nowhere. With not much time left, we decided not to go all the way to the top. So, we crossed a huge, steep, snowy surface. Fabio and Alessandro led the way, using shoes to poke holes into the snow, to make steps so that the rest of us could walk on. People behind were doing the same, making the steps firmer. In this case, basically the leader had to do the most of the work, thus the most tired. And after 4 hours of hiking, we reached not the top, but still a place where we had a really good view. And there we had lunch.

FInal push, crossing the steep snow,
photo credit to Alessandro and Fabio, who were at the front

Where we had lunch

Some ravens also joined us for lunch

Brownie commercial

Everybody doing smooth criminal, even the trees

Awesome view on top

Holding on the edge, Dent de Crolles in the middle of the picture

Denis posing sexily

Fabio, I would say he was our leader of this hike.
He always led the way and searched the path to the top.

The way down was yet again pure fun. Sliding most of the time. Even Edna who was so scared most of the time was having fun sliding downhill. And as expected, we merely used one and a half hour to go down, back to Col de Porte. After that, we separated in two groups. Eugene, Louise, Alessandro and me walked to Sarcenas to take the bus back to Grenoble, while the others in Thibaut's car.

Live "Dauntless"ly and you won't live beyond 40

The big question that popped in my head after watching Divergent - is life expectancy that bad in Dauntless faction? Why? It's because I didn't see any old people in Dauntless throughout the movie, while there are older people in other factions, just except Dauntless. I know fear is arguably what keeping us alive, keeping us away from all sort potential dangers. Being fearless can cost your life. May be that is why nobody lives beyond 40 years old in Dauntless. 

Anyway at start, I had not much confidence in this movie. Judging by the not-so-appealing trailer, this is yet another film adaptation from teen book, just like Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter. But after watching a few good reviews about it on Youtube, it seemed to be not so bad. 

In fact, it is actually not so bad afterall. It doesn't mean it's superbe or anything, it's just an above-average movie. For me, the fact that Shailene Woodley is playing the protagonist gives a slight edge to the movie. She is also another reason why I wanted to watch Divergent, and also Ansel Ergort, and Miles Teller. She had a great chemistry with Miles Teller in Spectacular Now, a really good movie. She is also going to play Hazel with Ansel as Augustus in the coming soon TFIOS, and I am a big fan of TFIOS book. Too bad, both Ansel and Miles only have relatively small roles in Divergent. 

By now, you can say that I am a fan of Shailene. Probably quite true. Among the current "goddesses" of internet, I mean Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence, etc., I really prefer seeing Shailene on screen. She has a nice smile, very cheerful with a slight touch of shyness. I don't know whether my description is correct, but her smile certainly makes me want to smile too. 

So far, all the movies she acted in have been decently good. Hope that she rocks the role of Hazel. 

  

2001: A Boring Space Odysses

I wanted to watch it since very long ago. Quite some time ago, I tried to watch it, but it was so damn boring, that I gave up after 30 mins into the movie. Recently, I determined to finish the movie in one shot. 

Nowadays, cinemas flooded with action-packed movies, and I as an audience also already adapted in this trend. May be that is why I complain about the rather slow pacing of Space Odysses. If we imagine we are living in 1968 and watch this movie, Space Odysses would be very far ahead of its time, far ahead in terms of practical effects. I still can't believe it came out one year before Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon! Many shots in Space Odysses still shadow most of the CGI in modern movies. Indeed, Stanley Kubrick really did a damn great job as a director for this movie, that many so called directors nowadays still need to learn from him, from this movie.   

Like I said, the movie is very boring for me. The only thing that kept me motivated to sit through the movie is to see Hal 9000. I have long heard of the evilness of Hal, so I was very excited to see Hal in action. And no surprise, the most interesting part of the movie for me is the chapter Jupiter Mission, in which Hal is very heavily featured. Honestly, I feel like Hal is more "human" than any other characters in the movie. Hal is the villain, yes, but I felt so sorry for Hal when he begged for mercy when David was shutting him down. Hal's voice slowly became distorted and fading away, made me almost want to forgive Hal and let him "live". But David's decision was the right decision. It must be shut down.

The ending is very interesting. It leaves the audience with many questions, which was intentional as the director and Arthur C. Clarke said. In fact, just after the movie, I did alot of research and read a few reviews just to have some ideas to form my own interpretation.

In the end, I would still say it is a slightly boring movie. But I think it worths 150 mins of your life to watch it, to see the reason why it is a masterpiece.

Moucherotte 29-03-2014

Why everytime I go for a hike, there must always be snow. It can be just a coincidence, but the hiking trip this time was no exception. The goal of this trip was Moucherotte, the easternmost peak of Vercors massif. Eugene and his two coursemates, Fabio and Alessandro, and me took the transisere bus 5110 from Grenoble to St Nizier. Once we reached, we headed to the tourism office for details of the hike. Then it began.

We took the bus at bus stop Pérrières-Vouillands because
it was nearer than going to Grenoble main bus station

It was the end of March, although the sun was pretty bright, there was snow even in St Nizier, sitting merely at 1000m above sea level. So basically the whole journey was hiking on snow, which made the hike really tiring. Since Moucherotte is very frequented, so there are sign posts and indications all the way. It is very difficult to be lost. Plus on that day, there were many people going there too. Many people were carrying skis along them, hiked up and then skied down, which made us quite a noob, especially me with my pair of jeans.

The peak Moucherotte is very easily recognizable. There is some sort of a weather station and an orientation table up there, the table which we used to have our lunch. The view up there was magnificent. The rocky peak of Moucherotte with Grenoble city at the background can make any sloppy photos epic. It was just impossible to take bad photos with that beautiful view. The only thing that spoiled the view on that day was the haze. 

The starting point at St Nizier

Fabio

Walk on snow is just like walking on loose sand,
add some gradient and it becomes extremely tiring

Me and Alessandro

Eugene and unexpected companion for lunch.

Lunch on the orientation table

Grenoble city down there, and Belledone Massif at far

Chartreuse Massif at the background

Me trying to camouflage in rocks

The whole range of Vercors Massif,
if there is enough resolution and zoomed in enough,
We should able to see the Lans en Vercors ski resort
in this photo. 

The way down was pure fun. We went down through the exact same way we went up, and we decided to slide down. We tried many styles, penguin style with head down first, typical luge style, and we even tried four men train just like bobsled but without the vehicle. We used 2 and half hours to go up, while the way down was just within an hour. The other three were wearing ski pants, of course no problem for them. But me and my jeans sliding down, my jeans were all wet when we were back to St Nizier.  

The aftermath of the failed bobsled formation

Back to St Nizier, waiting for the bus to Grenoble