Is there ever a "right" way?

On my travels in the Alps, I have sometimes deviated from the beaten track in order to find somewhere more undiscovered. There has been many an occasion, however, where I have deviated from aforementioned beaten track and been told by a passing fellow hiker that I am going off the track and I really should stay on it. Almost always well-meaning, I guess they often assume that I am lost, even if I have a map in hand.

There are, of course good reasons for doing so. The Alps (and mountain areas in general) are by their very nature dangerous places, and if you do not know what you are doing, you can get yourself in a spot of bother, certainly when there are huge precipices near by. Advising others to keep to the track can therefore be quite a philanthropic action.

However, I got the feeling when walking up to the Breche de Chabrière that almost every other walker was following the same route: they had taken the chairlift up to the viewing table from Réalon, walked up to the Breche up the specified route and then continued through the Breche to do the loop back to Réalon. Its quite phenomenal when you think about it: all of these disparate, unconnected groups walking in exactly the same direction, doing exactly the same route as if they were on some sort of guided tour. In these circumstances, as I was to find out, deviating from that set route was not what you did. Any chance of discovery or adventure was completely stunted, as you would soon be beckoned back to the path from whence you came. This happened to me on several occasions, by several different (obviously concerned) passers-by. I should say that I am not the most danger-seeking person, but the chance to move off the path to see what's over a brow, or even deviate off the path slightly to let other people get passed you seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Well there you go, rant over. But it does beg the question of whether there is a "right" way to get to the top of a mountain, say. The very basis of this blog is that there is not, that despite the fact you know one walk in one area or one route up to the top of a hill, there will always be another route which is just as interesting and probably a lot quieter. The "right" way is the tried and tested, the "undiscovered" way is the possibility of something new and equally valuable. I definitely enjoy and appreciate the tried and tested way, but sometimes a new route can surprise you in ways the "right" way never could.