Santis is the biggest mountain close to me at 2500 meters (8200 feet). I've have been waiting all year to hike it. Some people from my softball team were going, so I thought it was a good idea to go as a group. Turns out it was an excellent idea; I would have never made it by myself. Why? Because apparently I have developed a little fear of heights. 
The beginning wasn't so bad. I did realize however, that I am so out of shape for hiking. I really haven't done much hiking since May. Therefore, I was pulling up the rear. About 1/3 of the way up I started to get nervous. This only increased my breathing and made my legs shake. This is not good when you are standing on a 1 foot wide trail with a rock wall at your right and a straight drop for 100's of feet to your left. I was clinging to anything I could grab. I was also glad to be in the back where my friends couldn't see me freaking out. I took my time and thankfulyl my pitcher was nice enough to hang back with me while I creeped my way up the mountain.
I got to the first summit; a little house and restaurant. We stopped and had a drink. I had some hot chocolate. This point is about 2/3 up to the top. The next part was easy going. And then came another steep narrow ledge part. This time my coach was behind me. As we zig zagged up the mountain, we hear "Achtung!" aka "Watch out". Rocks were tumbling down at my head. I slammed myself tight against the side of the mountain as rocks, some bigger than softballs, tumble past my head. One hit the backpack of my coach. A rock falling from 50 ft could probably do some damage. So after this I was really nervous.
Then comes the worst part of all. A rock face at a very very slight slope. For this there were metal plates stuck in the rocks and a cable on each side. The steps were on average 2 feet apart. Now for anyone who knows me, 2 feet is about the length of my ENTIRE LEG. So these steps were a bit of a challange. I looked at my feet the entire time and did not look up or down. The final scare came when I guy, in a hurry to get down, slipped in from of me. Thankfully he caught himself before hitting me. I screamed some nasty words at him. He apologized and I'm sure realized that I was a basket case. 
So I did make it to the top, obviously. And this was my reaction:
Yes this is me hugging the ground. I thought people were being funny when they did this in the movies. No this was real. I could not have been happier to be on solid WIDE ground with no chance of falling rocks.
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