The mountaineer proposes and the mountain provides, Bestard Crossover AG

The mountaineer proposes and the mountain provides, Bestard Crossover AG

Text and photos by Juanjo Alonso Kapi

The Sierra de Guadarrama, on the Segovian and Madrid slopes, is my usual territory for mountain sports and now it is between “two seasons”, it is an atypical winter, little snow, very cold at night and hot during the day, causing melting and currents of water on the slopes and peat bogs of the glacial cirques that crystallize from the cold at night, covering large areas of the mountain range with frozen plates without continuity. In these conditions, footwear is decisive to avoid having to put on and take off the crampons dozens of times on a journey above two thousand meters of altitude. The mountain sets the conditions and these days to walk through the glacial cirques and the lagoons of the Peñalara massif I am using the Bestard Crossover AG, with a Vibram sole that incorporates the Arctic Grip technology, which grips even on wet ice, it is perfect without crampons on slopes of hard snow and mountain meadows covered with glacial ice, a common terrain in the Sierra de Guadarrama, and the Central System in general, in this spring winter that we are experiencing.

This winter 2022 is strange, we have been anticyclone for almost two months and the Spanish mountains are scarce of snow for these dates. In these situations it is important to make the right choice of equipment and mountain material before starting the activity in order to succeed in conditions that are now unusual, such as finding glacial ice plains where every winter at this time there is a pleasant blanket of snow… The specialized brands of clothing and accessories make things easy for mountaineers each season because we have specific material for each moment, which is not many (snow, ice, rock, water…) but it is always better to choose the right clothing, especially footwear.

Mountain sports have an essential component of adventure that makes them very attractive and stimulating. In the mountaineering field there are also sports challenges, fashions, philosophy and lifestyle, therapeutic recommendations and even commercial commitments, but the need to have to improvise solutions and resources in unforeseen situations is the most beautiful thing about recreational activities in the free kingdom and wild in the mountains, at any time of year, environmental condition or altitude. The human being is obsessed with control of the world around him, he needs to know that the next step will be firm and safe, to be in control, and when there are doubts or risks, he seeks previously established solutions. In the mountains there are the natural limits to jump that exciting border and awaken the adventurer that we all have inside, at least those who feel like real mountaineers or are on the road.

In mountain sports, the mountaineer proposes and the mountain provides. The experience is not measured by the number of summits, the kilometres travelled or the number of years that each one has been walking through the mountains with a backpack on his back. The main value is having the ability to make the right decisions according to atmospheric conditions, the environmental situation of the mountain, the state of the snow, an unpredictable change in weather or an emergency situation due to an accident. Confidence in oneself, serenity in moments of panic and tension, or the technical ability to control and use the material are abilities just as important as ones experience, because the mountain always has the last word.

Juanjo Alonso “Kapi”