Frenchman restores cross alone on 3,400-meter mountain summit

The installation of the cross on a Pyrenees summit. Photo: screenshot from roman76jose’s Instagram account

An 18-year-old French landscape designer, Maël Le Lagadec, single-handedly carried and installed a new wooden cross on the summit of Aneto Peak in the Pyrenees. The young man made the new shrine from dark walnut and carried it on his own shoulders to an altitude of 3,400 meters, Aleteia reported.

After learning that the metal summit cross had been cut down with a power grinder and thrown into a ravine, Maël decided to build a replacement himself: “I told myself that instead of simply getting angry like everyone else on social media, I was going to act,” Maël explained.

The cross weighed about 35 kilograms, while the total weight of his gear together with the cross exceeded 80 kilograms.

The ascent took 15 "punishing hours" in harsh weather conditions: freezing temperatures, fog, and deep snow. Although Maël was accompanied by a friend, he insisted on carrying the heavy burden himself, not wanting to expose his companion to the risk of exhaustion.

At moments of extreme fatigue and back pain, the young man recalled Christ carrying His Cross to Golgotha. According to Maël, he “never gave up mentally,” because he regarded the symbol as an important landmark for mountaineers and a spiritual protection for the entire valley.

As the UOJ reported, a 50-meter cross was demolished in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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