Riva San Vitale Hike

On Wednesday we had the choice to stay home and relax/work on our midterm paper or go on a hike in Riva San Vitale. Of course I’m going to choose going on the hike, I wouldn’t miss out on something like that! About 30 people went and 20 stayed home. It was cool to see the town of Riva and the building where Chris had his classes when he studied out here. It was a nice place, but I like Lugano and our setup better J. The hike was definitely hard. It was really intense the first 45 minutes because it was a really steep incline. My thighs were burning and I was sweating my butt off. After the steep incline, we got to a part with a snowy narrow path. They usually do this hike in the spring so aren’t really used to all the snow so we were basically creating our own path on a six inch wide trail. My shock sneakers with holes as heels gathered up snowballs in them and made it extra slippery to walk on. Our sneakers already didn’t have good enough traction for this and the shocks did not help at all. I honestly was scared that I was going to slip and fall down the mountain. Fortunately, we didn’t have any casualties and we all made it up in about two hours. We were exhausted but it was well worth it, the view was beautiful. And they had beer at the top of the mountain so we casually drank a beer on the top of an Alp. The way down wasn’t quite as steep thank goodness but was really slippery and muddy. Everyone was literally skiing down it while trying to finish chugging their beers. It was hilarious, a couple girls took a tumble.

           

Part of the snowy area we had to create our path through

I made it to the top!

Casually drinking a beer at the top of an Alp

The school building where the students study in Riva

Comparison of Hikes

The Riva and Lugano hikes were both tough but in different ways. The Lugano hike was longer (3 hours up instead of 2) and just a constant uphill. Neither of them seemed to know what any sort of flat ground was, but the first 45 minutes of the Riva hike was definitely steeper. It was more of a hike, climbing rocks and having to use your hands to support you. Also the snow made it more difficult and a little bit scary at times.

            I love that I have the opportunity to go on these hikes up the Alps whenever I feel like it! I’m so blessed. And I’m going to have a toned butt and legs when I get back!