Alb

Sylvain Tesson’s Alb tells of a ski trip across the Alps. He goes with his friend and mountain guide, Daniel Du Lac. They start in Menton, on the Mediterranean coast, and reach Trieste. They cross Italy and Switzerland, then Austria and Slovenia. The trip takes 85 days, spread between 2018 and 2021. Each year, they ski for about 20 days in late winter. A third friend joins them along the way. They face hard climbs through snow and lonely nights in mountain huts.

This travel memoir links a mountain trip with thoughts about the self. It is for those who like outdoor travel and inner thought. For Tesson, the white land changes how he feels and sees. The work of crossing it helps him forget himself. At the same time, he grows more alert to the world. His mind shifts from the world around him to his inner life.

Tesson draws on past trips in the cold as he writes. He has traced the routes of those who escaped the Gulag. He has also followed Napoleon’s army on its winter retreat from Russia. In Tibet, he searched the high plateaus for snow leopards. Marina Vazaca translated this edition from French. It is part of the Cartea de călătorie series.