Author: JH

Back in the land of the free, I finally got around to posting the Mont Blanc Massif images, here. That’s sans Mont Blanc itself, which I saved for next year. As an editor, I’m concerned: 15 images from what was not a long trip at all is way too much. At least for someone who subscribes to the view that it’s near impossible to come up with more than five worthwhile images per year. But these work for me. The bigger question is how on earth one is supposed to readjust to Manhattan: the weather; the food; and so forth.

Somehow up here the difference between the forest line and the tree line is more distinct than in other places I know. Our village is below the forest line, but even a moderate walk from our house leads beyond it. The lonely trees further up, above the region where forests flourish, then appear particularly striking.

The Mont Blanc has become a bit of an idée fixe… the so-called “massif” is so large that its presumed star proves elusive. There’s always yet another mountain closer to our house that needs to be discovered before I venture further. And there’s a strange pull towards our own little village, which is so remote that, more than ever, remoteness itself becomes the object of the study. As of now, I’ve traveled along two valleys, one toward an enormous “barrage,” a water reservoir built in the 1950s, and one towards Mont Dolent, a mountain that looks as if its name is well-deserved.