Striking photos, symbols of life and death

For years and since 1935, a small cabin, stood as a high altitude refuge at 12,057 feet (3 675 meters) at the col de la Fourche, on the Küffner ridge, on the French-Italian border near Mont-Blanc. It stood there in perfect defiance of its precarious look and fragile setting, hanging about 1,000 feet (300 meters) over the Brenva glacier below. 

 

This refuge (also called Bivouac de la Fourche) was a key shelter for climbers attempting the Mont Maudit or the Mont Blanc. On August 24 the small structure ceased to exist as melting permafrost unsettled the structure’s frail foundations and sent it tumbling down and scattering its construction materials on the glacier below. 

 

Thank god, no one was inside and no victim were reported. To me these pictures and that story remind me of human life and death and on how we cling on some brittle foundations in defiance of danger and stand on a perilous setting for a lifetime, often times fulfilling a sound purpose or a mission, with its share of joy, suffering futility and memorable events. 

Then, with very little warning, tumble and disappear to leave almost nothing behind, but a few scattered remnant and just a few fierce memories linger on.

In keeping these images in mind, let’s be grateful to be given the privilege to live, as precarious as it maybe and in defiance of all odds!