Perched above Torino attached to a church was the Museo della Montagna, the Museum of the Mountain. It tracked the history and development of mountain life, with a particular focus on the Alps.
While the museum was generally pretty Euro-centric, it was still really fascinating. Particularly surprising was the focus on how recent alpinisme is, and how much the mountains were feared and revered until technology allowed people to "conquer the mountains" so to speak.
The next few pictures are all just different kinds of climbing gear. I don't quite grasp the intricacies of this equipment or how it has evolved, since I'm not a climber, but I thought others might appreciate it.
While the museum was generally pretty Euro-centric, it was still really fascinating. Particularly surprising was the focus on how recent alpinisme is, and how much the mountains were feared and revered until technology allowed people to "conquer the mountains" so to speak.
Obviously, "technology" meant something very different fifty or a hundred years ago. Below is a style of alpine lodging for hikers. Forgive the poor picture quality; I got in trouble for taking pictures with flash.
And here's the part I like... the skis.
Tangentially related, I was up in Stowe a few weeks ago and heard the story of the founder of Head skis showing off his first aluminum ski to a bunch of other super intense skiers up there. When someone tried to test the flexibility of the new ski (compared to wooden skis), it broke!! After that, I had to take some pictures of their collection of wooden skis, and skis through the ages, including a pair of Head skis... although I'll always be partial to Rossignol.
The museum also charters peoples' efforts to scale mountains in the Himalayas and in the Alps. They have videos and samples of the best, newest technical fabrics, and tents and sleeping bags for camping in the snow.
But it makes one reflect to some extent on how arrogant we are to think that we can conquer nature. In the case of the cold/snow, humans still change themselves and their lives to suit Mother Nature's whims and flights of fancy. Our trains were delayed coming back from Torino for snow. And just yesterday on a bus to Nice, the people next to us (me and Ciera) told us about their friend who died last year skiing in Zermatt. (My mother just read that sentence and thanked God she didn't let me ski when we were in Zermatt. Apparently he did exactly what she was afraid of me doing--he skied off the slope and into a crevasse.)
In some respects, nature truly is the embodiment of a deity, more than humans will ever be. It rolls up splendor and majesty with sheer power, practically beyond our comprehension. Alors, il faut le respecter autant qu'on l'aime. A propos de cette respecte, il y avait une citation dans le musée, disant "si tu laisses les traces, il faudra que tu te tiennes compte pour eux devant tes collègues," ou quelque chose comme ça. Je le trouvais bien impressionante.
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