Minutes later, we packed our things, got re bundled and left the mountain hut to climb up to the cross-about 100 meters(300 feet) away. It was blowing hard outside and we were cold in the shadow of the summit. Up the stone trail, we would be out in the sun when we reached the top. Everyone sort of bent forward into the wind and worked our way up the last of the rock face and boom, sunlight and a magnificent view!! Mt. St. Victoire has a little metal four sided "box"(aka lookout tower?) at the top for people to safely stand in-- all five of us squeezed in. It may not have been much but it did give you a sense of stability.
The children just wanted to hunker down and know that they had made it. Susie, Craig and I all wanted to capture the moment with our cameras. Susie asked a group of three hikers if she could take a shot of them and they would do the same for us. Next thing I know, Craig is walking backwards towards the face of the mountain with a camera to his right eye. "Watch out Craig...your going to get blown off of here?" He stopped a bit and looked behind himself and I said "oh shit! he's going to get blown away" He just kept snapping photos, saying "Don't worry I'm fine". His kids were screaming at him "Dad, look out!! Remember what you told us!!!!"
Anyway, the pictures were taken and all wanted to just get off the top and out of the severe winds. About an hour into our decent, all was well and everyone was enjoying the downhill stroll. Kids had smiles on their faces, everyone was warm and the promise of Snickers Bars had some good attitudes. Craig turns to Susie and says “Ya know I just love these old running shoes of mine…had 'em forever and they fit like slippers…the only problem is they have no treads?’”
NLB
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