SNOGS - Snow Blogs
Mad Hatter, Canazei
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A freestyle season in the Dolomites - 25/1/2012 21:12Our snogger in Canazei, The Mad Hatter, reports on the lack of snow in the Italian Dolomites - January 25, 2012 At this point we have to be eternally grateful that the Dolomiti Superski company who maintain the lifts and pistes have been so good at investing in snow cannons, piste bashers and skilled drivers to operate them. Without them we'd be looking at the slopes in the same way we are looking at the stuff in between them. It hardly seems possible to be skiing at all when underneath the lifts looks like this:
...and this:
Happily temperatures have been sufficiently cold - like -18 last Monday - to continue producing snow, so our pistes are actually in remarkable shape. They've been fast and flat and not too hard, especially after a morning's sun on them. We've not been completely without snow and did have a whole night's snowfall on Friday, which did wonders for the panoramas and may finally have laid the foundations of a base layer as it wasn't immediately followed up by the kind of high winds that scattered our previous falls. Advertisement  What's really needed is a few dumps in succession, but unfortunately the forecast isn't really promising that. It is actually snowing as I write however and the temperatures will still allow maximum snow-making, which is just what we need to get the rest of the snow parks open.
Last week saw the one in Plan de Gralba, near Selva open, complete with car to jump and our visit to Alpe Lusia, above Moena in Val de Fassa was rewarded with a great afternoon on the well-shaped jumps there. Looks like a freestyle season in the Dolomites this year.
Click here for our Canazei resort report. All white mate? - 12/1/2012 10:46Our snogger in Canazei, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in the Italian Dolomties - January 12 2012
Aw wight mate? Or all white mate? We are all right, but not quite all white. Santa didn't bring us any snow for Christmas but the New Year was much kinder and the night of Monday January 2 was spent sipping wine while gazing out of the kitchen window at the tumbling, spinning snowflakes making their way unsteadily to the ground, like ecstatic drunks wobbling their way down the street in the dead of night. As the piles of snow grew there was an almost tangible sigh of relief drifting over the valley as a collective pressure valve was released. It had been a long wait for this, the first decent snowfall of the season. The waiting wasn't helped by the news that there was ridiculous amounts falling a mere couple of hours north. At the beginning of December things looked like this:
It seems that as we didn't get a base cover in November/December when ground temperatures were higher, there's nothing really for new snow to stick to, resulting in no off-piste on offer. Happily, despite this, our pistes are in great shape, especially now that the heavy traffic of Christmas and New Year has gone, and of course the Dolomites are still spectacularly beautiful. With sunny days ahead there was only one thing to do - scavenge in the local tip, find some priceless, lycra, one-piece cast-offs and be reborn as "The Dolomates" - superheros looking for a mission.
Tuesday wasn't a day for the faint-hearted as starving powder-hounds raced to destroy the bases of boards and skis, far too keen to charge into off-piste which was grass and rock the previous day. While it would be great to report that following this respectable fall there has been wonderful conditions, the sad fact is that there's been a succession of seriously windy days, causing lifts to close and our long-awaited snow to go back into the skies that brought it.
One such mission might have been rescuing the dignity of this little dog clad in fur coat and booties to match its owner, but the old lady was too much for our superheroes. Instead they went up the mountain and enjoyed one of the most spectacular sunsets of the season so far...
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement Did we do something wrong? - 26/12/2011 23:22Our snogger in Canazei, The Mad Hatter, reports on the lack of snow in the Italian Dolomties - December 26 2011 All The Mad Hatter wanted for Christmas this year was some snow. Unfortunately it seems that someone in Italy has been behaving badly, so Santa hasn't listened. Silvio has a lot to answer for already, so it seems quite acceptable to blame him for the lack of snow too. Or perhaps Mr Berlusconi really is the divine being he thinks he is and he's decided to punish the Italians for finally kicking him out. Who can tell? The only thing that's certain is that the Dolomites really do need days of snow to get the season going. In fairness to the Dolomiti Superski company, its investment in snow cannons, combined with the tireless work of the piste bashers, means that enough runs are open - including the Sella Ronda circuit - to prevent disaster. Considering there's been no serious snowfall since the end of September, when a freak storm caused chaos on the roads and railways of Austria and the Italian South Tyrol, things are really quite impressive. At the beginning of December things looked like this:
The total lack of snowfall was then made worse by an inversione termica which produced higher temperatures at the top of the mountains than in the valleys, making snow-making impossible. A cold spell in early December allowed some artificial to be laid down and then about 5cm fell on the 13th, causing great sighs of relief to echo around the mountains. It was already too late to rescue the holiday of Sant'Ambrogio which usually marks the beginning of the ski season, but was welcome nontheless. The heart-shape on the top of my village fountain seemed a promise of better things to come...
Things then got very, very cold which was good for preserving what snow had fallen and put the snow cannons into overdrive. Each day seemed to promise more snow but aside from a few flurries, there's been nothing as yet. Of course it hasn't stopped us from having a good time and there are pistes to ride - but the off-piste is a no-go area. Can everyone reading this please start some snow-dancing for us?
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement It's all over now - 3/5/2011 17:26Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - April 7, 2011
The last lift So it's all over - that was Winter 2010-11. How will it be remembered I wonder? The winter that wasn't? Try telling that to my neices, who spent two nights under foil blankets at Heathrow airport last Christmas, instead of sunning themselves on Kiwi beaches. Of course all that snow in England was of little consequence to those of us living in the mountains of Europe, unless it was a feeling of vague jealousy and a sense that all was not quite right in the world when seeing deep snow cover in the UK and somewhat threadbare ski runs over here.
Pistes still open... Actually it really wasn't so bad in Italy. There was good cover laid down early enough in the season for our dedicated and skilled piste-basher drivers to have something to work with, and although off-piste opportunities were nothing like the last couple of seasons (but let's be honest - we were spoiled rotten), the pistes have been good all season long, up to and including these last weeks. Even though the summer-like temperatures forced the closure of the runs back down to village level (and with them the Sella Ronda circuit), at the upper levels there was still plenty of fun to be had with eight lifts still running and 10 pistes to choose from.
The deserted Canazei bowl Riding in T-shirts and being forced to re-hydrate frequently with cold beer is not a bad exchange for some crusty stuff in the mornings and slushy stuff mid-afternoon. The slopes were pretty much deserted too, which just added to the pleasure. Of course it would have been great to have had our usual end-of-season dump, but it didn't happen and instead we had tempertures in the high 20s, endless blue skies and blazing sunshine.
Alfa with snowboards The perfect weather to indulge in another kind of mountain passion. We may Love2ski, but we love to drive too, so it was time to get the cars down off their winter blocks, refit the wheels and give them some exercise. Is there a cooler way to come home from a morning's snowboarding in Italy then in an Alfa Spider Veloce 2000? Maybe in a Ferrari 308?
On our way to the UK We made our Great Escape in exactly these cars, plus a 1975 Toyota Celica and headed for Innsbruck, with a detour to visit our mate Klaus at Oilers - his American-style roadhouse near the Ötzal. From Innsbruck we went to Düsseldorf by car-train, then to the UK via the Nürburgring - the perfect way to end a winter season!
Ferrari sunset near Calais Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement  Pastures new - 16/4/2011 21:14Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - April 16, 2011
A herd of mufflone It's a sad day when the crew is finally disbanding and going off to pastures new, even if there are pastures new all around us and the slopes where we used to ski are being grazed with equal enthusiasm by mufflone (a type of mountain goat). The first airport run was yesterday so we're already down in numbers, but there's still time for a final beer in the sunshine before another trip down to Flat Land and the airport.
Getting ready for summer in Canazei The population of Canazei has now returned to it's off-season level, so the passing cars are all driven by familar faces. The board shop has already converted to mountain bikes and most of the ski hire shops are now closed. I suppose they know that any die-hard skiers still coming up here in the next two weeks will be bringing their own gear. It looks like this might even be the first winter when a decent spring dump doesn't come - and even if it does then the avalanche risk will be off the scale. There are rumours of 5 or 10cm coming in the next few days so the last of us remaining may still have a good morning to come, but for the moment it all about the cleaning and the packing.
Skiing across the pool Well, almost. It was quite a party this weekend as, following a day of cleaning, we had our end-of-season barbecue followed by a night in the local nightclub listening to Roots Reggae band. Then on Sunday there was the annual season-closing party organised by Katsuto - a local clothing brand, billed as 'Destroy the Weekend'. They dug a swimming-pool into the piste, put on a DJ and a hog roast and we watched as people tried to ski across the pool.
All dressed up Although the sun was baking hot, the water was a cool 1.9 degrees so those who didn't make it needed instant rescue and some warming up. There were a few in fancy dress, a bathtub on skis, sledges, people trying to ski it switch and the general level of chaos of mayhem that makes Val di Fassa what it is - an amazing place to spend a week, a winter, or maybe a lifetime - who knows!
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement Deep blue skies and it's hotter than mid-July - 7/4/2011 23:05Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - April 7, 2011
Avalanches So here we are. Deep blue skies, no wind, snow capped mountains and 26 degrees in the village. In two days the last guests leave and the few remaining pizzerias and restaurants will close in Canazei. It's hotter now than it was mid-July last year and everyone has that slightly fried look about them. Not just from the sun, but also resulting from the relentlessness of a working winter. Sure, the hours on the mountain are a wonderful exchange for the hours spent working, but the never-ending, headless rush to get things done and to get up the hill starts to tire even the most obsessed. The close-living, close working, close partying crew inevitably ends up a little frayed at the edges and annoying charcteristics are now taking on an importance far exceeding their real impact.
Barbie...
More barbies... Even the snow is starting to tire and has given to just falling off the sides of the mountains in sullen, slushy slumps, blocking the passes, just when you need to make some final deliveries. Still, it's been another amazing winter. Ok, so the snow wasn't as good as the last couple of years but it was much better than 1999-2000 when it literally didn't snow from New Year until the end of March. Even now the pistes are just fantastic in the mornings - smooth, soft and deserted. Last Monday's afternoon storm even produced a nice 8-10cm at the top of the glacier for some final off-piste action on Tuesday.
Shiny snow Of course it's all been a bit shiny in the afternoons, with heavy slush to contend with, but who cares if you're sat around with a barbie on the piste, a beer fridge dug into the snow and some top chunes on the iPod dock...or the local reggae band, Roots, playing on the terrace of Baita Cuz at Buffaure with amazing views all around. The weather really has been incredible for the last few weeks and those who decided on a last-minute Italian holiday have had a perfect mix of winter sport and summer sun. The majority of the lifts close on April 10 but apparently there are some planning on staying open until the 25th (among them Canazei/Belvedere, San Pellegrino, Cortina and Kronplatz) and the Pian da Fiacconi 'shopping trolley' lift on the Marmolada glacier won't close until May 1 - although the current heat-wave might put paid to these ideas.
Roots Reggae Band Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement Grey clouds and grey snow in Canazei - 17/3/2011 16:48Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - March 17, 2011
Although it's starting to look like a disaster zone around here after a day of pouring rain, low grey cloud and warm temperatures, the real disaster that has engulfed the Japanese should remind us to keep a sense of perspective about these things. Still, rain in a ski resort is a pretty depressing thing in my book and there's been a few days of it now. It's already washed away a lot of the snow around town, and what remains has an unhealthy grey sheen to it.
Apparently there's to be a couple more days of this cloud and then Satuday's full moon should change things, bringing clear weather for next week. As soon as we can see enough we'll have to get as high as we can (3265m to be exact) to discover just how wet and heavy the snow that's falling up there really is. There's already quite a clear line at about 2000m, marking the freezing level with snow-capped trees above the line and soggy pine cones below, just like the snow in the Canazei bowl this afternoon.
Not that I went up to find out today. Instead I decided to relive some of the better days of this season by heading to the Dolomiti Superski homepage (www.dolomitisuperski.com), clicked on 'ski pass', then put the cursor over 'skipass' and chose 'check ski performance'. As you might deduce, this leads to a page where you enter your ski pass number to see all kinds of interesting data about your season/holiday. So far it looks like I've been on eight of the twelve Dolomiti Superski ski areas, sat on 1,016 lifts with an overall height difference of 373,562m and ridden an estimated 1,887km in total, with 66km being the biggest single day. For each day there is a list of lifts, a graph showing the height differences and - on a separate page - a wonderfully Python-esque animated map showing your route around the various lifts taken. Great fun.
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement Spring has sprung - 13/3/2011 09:50Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - March 13, 2011
Grassy patches So it's official, spring has sprung and Carnivale is over - but let's hope that so is our recent snow-fast. There are many dark clouds gathering on the forecast-horizon but rumour has it that they're bringing rain below 2000m. It's not as if there isn't enough water hanging around the edges of the pistes already. Still, slushy conditions are great if you want to nail a trick that ice might otherwise scare you from trying.
Front flip number one
Front flip number two
Front flip number three Unfortunately, even though it's been pretty soft in the afternoons, it hasn't stopped one of the boys snapping the tail of his nearly-new Burton Whammy Bar. Come on Mr Burton - getting too big for decent quality control these days? It's been sent off to Burton HQ in Austria, so let's see if their much-vaunted 'best warranty in the business' holds up.
A different kind of splitboard So it's been park, park and more park for the last week or so, with a few fast rides around the pistes when there are banks to climb and moguls to jump. It's a great time of year really - loads of fun to be had just messing about and not too much pain if you make a mess of something. And of course there's the dancing girls who are out when the sun is shining. Actually they're out every week up at Piz Seteur above Selva - it's just much nicer to sit out with a beer in the warm spring sun and laugh at the faces on the guys in the crowd than to do so in January.
Dancing girls at iz Seteur An apparently-famous Big City DJ came up from FlatLand to spin some discs on the terrace outside Refugio Ciampolin, in the Canazei bowl, this week. He wanted us to know that he was playing the best music in the Dolomites, in Italy and actually in the entire world. We happily believed him just as long as the Madonna look-a-like continued gyrating.
Venetian poseurs A slightly more cultured time was had last Tuesday as we went on our annual visit to the Venice Carnivale. It was a record-breaking turnout down there, as the high pressure that's been giving us slush and sunburn more or less guaranteed a beautiful day for Martedi Grasso, the last day of Carnivale. It's always quite a shock to find yourself in the midst of a big crowd after months in the mountains and especially when most of them are weirdly-dressed - like, no goggles, helmets or one-pieces! It was especially noticeable as we'd just visited Oberegan where the pistes were quiet and the inside of the wigwag apres-ski 'bar' very loud!
The quiet pistes at Oberegan Click here for our Canazei resort report.
Motley crew at Martedi Grasso I have seen the future of snowboarding and it's split! - 5/3/2011 20:26Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - March 5, 2011
Sassolungo with company It's done it again. From the feeling that we've been here a while, and everything is just settling in nicely to the sudden realisation that it's March already is always a jolt. Maybe there should be a seasonnaire-led campaign to have more days allocated to February, just to give the illusion of a longer winter! All of a sudden the list of 'must-dos this season' looks far too long, especially after the snow-drought of January. Happily that seems long ago as we've had what has felt like lots of snow recently to make up for it./p>
Get walking After four consecutive days of thigh-burning up on the Marmolada glacier, ripping up the powder fields, I decided to get some different exercise and got the split board out for a walk up the forcella (pass or 'fork in') of the imaginatively-named Sassolungo (literally 'long rock'). One face of this massif is a vertical kilometer and fans of Ski Sunday may recognise this as it gives its name to the World Cup downhill run beneath it - the Sasslong. I didn't quite find the solitude I wanted in escaping from the half-term crowds, as there were other ski trekkers making the hike. There was a huge choice of fresh lines to be had nontheless./p>
Sassolungo from the top It took me about an hour and a half to climb, partly due to having to stop to fit the special crampons, but mostly because of my very inexpert kick-turns, which cost me some time in negotiating the angled 'corners' of the skinning track. After resting up at the top and enjoying the richly-deserved feeling of conquest, it took about two minutes to descend. The first two or three turns were neccessarily cautious, looking back frequently to check for slippage, but as soon as I realised it was stable it was time to let rip. I have now seen the future of snowboarding and it's split!
Splitboard with crampons Last Monday we had the unexpected, but very welcome, arrival of about 8cm in the village, which meant much more up on the top. After a day deep in the powder but dodging the cloud, we saw that the forecast was predicting clear skies and so decided to get first lifts on Wednesday morning and head for the Val Mesdi off-piste run from the top of the Pordoi massif. The Pordoi heads the Canazei end of the Sella group, around which runs the famous Sella Ronda ski tour. Val Mesdi is one of three routes down from the cable-car (if we leave out the many couloirs) which takes you from Passo Pordoi to Refugio Maria./p>
Top of Pordoi This refugio sits on the Terrazza delle Dolomiti, which is something of an eagle's perch with a suitably impressive 360-degree view. Even if you don't fancy the off-piste, or get scared off by the sign that greets you beside the transceiver test post, it's worth coming up just for the views. But maybe not on this particular day. Clear skies there certainly were, but with 60-70kph winds to go with it. Not surprisingly this made for some challenging conditions for the part-walk, part-climb (and yes, I'm not too pround to admit, part-crawl!) across the moonscape of the top to get to the mouth of Val Mesdi./p>
Slow descent 'Mesdi' is the Ladino word for midday, making Val Mesdi something like 'The Valley of the Midday Sun'. I guess that's because the sun needs to be right overhead to penetrate this long couloir-cum-valley, so it was really cold inside but the wind stayed at the top and, once out of the mouth of the couloir, the powder was pretty fantastic. Click here for our Canazei resort report.
Mouth of Val Mesdi There's no friends on a powder day - 24/2/2011 19:03Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - February 24, 2011
There's just haven't been enough hours in the day lately. After a month-long snow drought, the desperation to get out on the fresh snow is all-consuming and, as the old adage has it '...there's no friends on a powder day'.
Which means, of course, that you have to be ready when you said you would be, and not still be faffing about looking for gloves, or a liftpass, or whatever's left of your alcohol-soaked brain at the appointed meeting time.
It was a mixed up start to the week, with low-lying cloud marking the mornings and broken cloud or weak sunshine in the afternoons. Thankfully, this went on to become more and more snow, affording me the great pleasure of introducing some old friends to the joys of fresh powder on the Marmolada glacier at the end of last week. We've been up there nearly every day since, each time finding more and more uncut lines.
The ever-changing weather and the sight of the cable car disappearing into cloud has kept all but the most intrepid away from the major off-piste runs, but they've been even more rewarding as a result - especially on Tuesday after an unexpected 5cm (at village level) of light, fluffy powder arrived overnight.
Even we were beaten back this morning though, with temperatures of -18 and gales of 60-70kph blowing all the recently arrived powder all over the place. We were there ready to go at 08.00 am by the side of frozen Lake Fedaia, but it didn't take more than one voice asking 'is it worth it?' for us to turn tail and head for the comparative calm of Carezza ski area.
We passed the ridiculously long queue for the Belvedere gondola out of Canazei, drove 25 minutes down to Pozza, up through Vigo and over Passo Costalungo before arriving at the empty slopes of this seriously picturesque area, just above the fabled Lake Carezza. Having more than four or five skiers on the piste with us made the run feel busy - this really is a secret area and well worth a visit for its sunny slopes and fantastic views.
The liftie at the top of the long, slow two-man known as King Laurin's chair must have the best view of any, perched on the side of the mountain in his aerie. There's off-piste here too, but after some biggish slabs started breaking away we stuck to the tree runs lower down. Carezza is also home to one of the weirdest-looking gondolas around - made to look even more strange with the random sight of an empty wheelchair coming back down unaccompanied...
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Sore eyes all round - 16/2/2011 15:52Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - February 16, 2011
It was a sight for sore eyes this morning - the world has finally turned white on us. Sore eye indeed, as we woke early to enjoy the fresh powder after staring intently all night at the big screen in 'El Binocol', the bar under the beautiful 'La Cacciatora' hotel in Alba (it means 'the hunter') - practically the only place in town that shows any live sport.
Sorer still were the eyes of the Spurs fans among us, who spent last night shedding tears of joy as their club shattered the composure of the top team in Italy. A.C. Milan 0 - Tottenham Hotspur 1, and at the San Siro! The three generations of Milanese who were on the next table suffered the indignity of having their celebrations shouted down by the handful of vocal Brits in the bar, as the Italian's equalizer was disallowed by the referee late in the game. Needless to say, they quickly skulked off once the final whistle was blown. As if things couldn't get any better, those who left the bar for a victory cigarette soon returned with news of heavy snow falling outside. Finally - the snow drought is over! The grand prize for sore eyes, however, must go to the girl from our group who was proudly wearing a shiner that she'd picked up that day from being kicked in the head with a snowboard.
All credit to her for continuing with the day though, as we had been on a 40km mission from Val di Fassa to Ortisei and back, via the Sasslong World Cup downhill piste and the 10km run from the top of Seceda to Ortisei. The clouds had been building all day and visibility wasn't always great, and with this week being a major Danish holiday the slopes were extremely busy, so all credit to her for sticking with it.
The snow that fell last night, all of today, and is still falling now isn't the lightest, fluffiest powder ever - but we'll gratefully accept anything that comes our way. By the end of this afternoon there were some nice sections of soft stuff to push our way through as the wind was causing some drifting over the pistes. Happily the forecast is showing more snow coming our way next week too. Something else was causing sore eyes today as one of the worst ski jackets ever made an appearance on one of the ski lifts - ouch!
Click here for our Canazei resort report. A modern innovation in snowboarding: split snowboards - 9/2/2011 12:31Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - February 9, 2011
It's all about the forthcoming full moon apparently... no, wait, it's the speed with which half an onion will soak up salt. Or maybe it's due to a butterfly flapping its wings in a geisha's garden in Japan. Anyway, there WILL be some snow sometime soon, and despite today's temperature in down-village Canazei the pistes are still great - provided you don't mind the odd mogul on the home run.
If you're of the mind to be looking for things off the edge of the piste to spin off or jump back onto the piste from, then times are pretty good. The sun is just taking the top layer off, so good for slightly crunchy but soft-enough landings, and the park's in good condition. Pistes are hard, fast and comparatively empty - so carving turns are definitely on the menu.
We went to Alleghe in the middle of last week. Alleghe is one of the closest ski areas to Venice and it's neighbouring cities Treviso and Padova, so it gets busy at the weekends. But midweek, the 80km of pistes are empty. Under the imposing peaks of Civetta (it means 'owl' which is the local mascot on stickers all around the area) are wide open reds, gentle blues and one of the most hectic black/red runs around here. We call it the corkscrew run as this tree-lined, narrow trail twists sharply from right to left again and again as it takes you back to the gondola at Alleghe - on the shores of its beautiful, namesake lake.
On the other side of the mountain in the wonderfully named 'Zoldo Alto', from 19.00 to 23.00 most nights, are two beautifully manicured runs - a red and a black - floodlit for an evening's entertainment. Sunset as we drove around the Civetta massif was one of the good ones with golden rocks surrounding us. First run down the curving black run was suitably thrilling. I couldn't ride for three days after an endless day of riding.
Today's entertainment has been some new equipment testing. It's taken until now to get my 'split' board into action. If you haven't seen one, it's a snowboard which splits into two to make two short skis to climb with using skins - alpinismo, as the Italians call it. The bindings slide on and off the board and can be set either in the normal way or attached on the skis only by the toe, as in telemarking, allowing the heel to lift while climbing. For the steeper bits there's crampons which slide over each ski under the foot. The poles are the only backcountry models worth considering - Black Diamond Expeditions. Telescopic, with the all-important flick locks (the earlier, twist lock versions of telescopic poles have a bad habit of collapsing when you really, really don't want them to...), they're strong enough to cope with you using them to haul up steep traverses and leaning on them for the 'kick turns' which zig-zag you up the hill.
That is until there's a whuumpfh sound and everything slumps around you. So you take another couple of careful steps and whuumpfh again, only this time it cracks about eight to ten metres all around, drops and... settles. Ever so carefully you take off your bag, collapse the poles, and start to turn the skis back into a skin-less snowboard - hoping you're going to get yours out of here OK...
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Suntans, goggle marks and perfect visibility - 3/2/2011 16:10Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - February 3, 2011
It's starting to turn into a morning ritual now. Get up, look out of the window, see deep blue skies, sigh; go downstairs, open computer, log into snow-forecast.com, see yet another 'full sun' added to the nine-day prediction, sigh again... Probably sounds churlish if you're reading this under leaden skies and it's certainly wrong to complain too much about suntans, goggle marks and perfect visability, but a little snow top-up would go down pretty well too right now. The snow that fell while I wrote my last report amounted to nothing more than icing sugar on my car in the morning and the only cloudy day since then (last Saturday) produced nothing more than some rather mean, tiny and entirely inconsequential ice particles during that afternoon.
Other than that, it has been a while since we had a decent fall of snow and there are another few days where the freezing level is going to shooting up to over 3000m. At least it should mean walking around the village will be less hazardous, as there's been some nasty icy patches to catch the unwary. There's been some of those up on the slopes too but generally the pistes have been pretty fabulous - especially in the mornings if you like them grippy and fast. As you may have seen in Sean Newsom's blog, the blue skies, the fabulous food and the seriously stunning scenery easily outweigh any grumbles about the lack of powder or the odd icy corner. Funnily enough I was already thinking to mention some of my favourite food stops this week before I read his posts. I might not have had quite the culinery experiences he has been treated to, but here goes:
Partly-eaten Tortelli di Zucca alla crema di pecorino e pepe verdi If you're doing the anti-clockwise Sella Ronda (the famous ski circuit around the Sella Massif) and coming up from Corvara on the red and yellow gondola, you will have to pass Jimmy's Hüt at the top of that ride. It's there on the right. Great views, great food, great grappa. This is a partly eaten (sorry, forgot about wanting a photo!) Tortelli di Zucca alla crema di pecorino e pepe verdi or pumpkin-filled ravioli with a goats-cheese and green peppercorn sauce. The wine is a bright and fruity Gewürztraminer from the Kelleri Tramin - perfectly refreshing in the warm sunshine. The pasta is 9 euros and the wine 3.80 euros a glass or 23 euros a bottle. Coffee and a grappa makes a great skiing dessert - but ask for grappa morbida if you don't want the real hair-on-your-chest-paint-stripper experience. Hopefully you'll get something that's been aged in a barrel and somewhat smoother.
The Witch's Castle If you're coming to Val di Fassa with kids and you can get to the Alpe de Luisa ski area (it's between Moena and Passo San Pelligrino), then you must take them to the Baita Ciamp de le Strie ('the Witch's Castle'), which is done out like an enchanted castle and has the greatest pizzas. The ancient dough mixer in the picture is used every day! You can even get a skidoo ride up here at night and have dinner under the stars. The kids will also love the huskies in the pen out the back.
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Exploring the Dolomiti Superski - 25/1/2011 22:58Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - January 25, 2011
As you can see, the village fountain is struggling to run - which will tell you that it's cold again. It seemed that January had finally arrived with temperatures around -13˚C at 8.00am here in the village. Quite a relief really after the worrying slush last week, although I think only the local doctors will have been pleased at how hard the pistes have become. Some of the more exposed runs around the tops of the peaks resembled the cheeks of Michelangelo's David by the end of the day. But what days! Deep blue, clear skies above sharp white rock faces, wonderfully contrasted by the scorched red sunburnt faces of the Eastern Europeans and Danes, fresh from their cloudy homelands.
So, no powder? Jumps a bit too unforgiving? What to do? This is when the full beauty of a Dolomiti Superski pass becomes apparent. For those who don't know, this means that more than 1220km of pistes are available to you, spread over 12 ski maps and all set in stunning scenery. Despite being here for 12 years now, until this week I still hadn't put booted foot on two of them - now it's just one left!
Plose, as it's Germanic name might indicate, is high up in Alto Adige (the 'high' Adige, which is the name of the river that runs down to Verona from the Brenner Pass) and just to the side of the ancient town of Bressanone (or 'Brixen' to give it's German name), which was first mentioned in historical documents in AD 901. They claim to have 'the longest groomed slope in the South Tyrol' here - the Trametsch - which is 9km long and drops 1,400m.
Unfortunately it wasn't in the greatest condition the day I went, but would be superb on a good day. Much more interesting were the tracks down a fantastic wall lying just a seemingly short hike away from the piste and with a chairlift conveniently situated near the bottom of the run-out. Yet another spot to return to 'when it snows'.
The same could be said for my other new experience of the week. My car had to go to the main Renault dealer (it's a company car - you don't think I'd choose a French car do you?!) which is in Cavalese in the Val di Fiemme, which lies left and lower than Val di Fassa. Cavalese is another old town but this time much more Italian in aspect. It's unfortunately notorious for being where, in 1998, an American jet pilot decided to be clever and buzz the gondola, but clipped the cable with a wing, cutting it. All 20 on board were killed. Somehow the pilot and navigator were found 'not guilty' of manslaughter and negligent homicide. My mechanic saw the plane flying low (it is considered to have been between 260 and 330 feet above the ground, despite a restriction of 2,000!) above the trees that day. Americans are usually warmly welcomed in Italy - not too much here! It's actually the second time this gondola fell as in 1976, in the worst gondola accident ever, the cables crossed in the wind and cut each other. They finally learned something and now the gondola runs low to the ground down from Cavalese, across the road and up the other side to another area with long, long runs.
Alpe de Cermis has stunning views, lots of wide, empty pistes and lots of interesting looking tree-runs for 'when it snows'. The clouds have been threatening, then teasing, then... no happy ending.
But oh look, once again as I write this late on a Tuesday night the snow starts falling! Great - it's day off tomorrow! Click here for our Canazei resort report.
Sky like a stick of rock Sky like a stick of rock - 18/1/2011 13:13Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - January 18, 2011
Well it's been a game of two halves this week with conditions going from the best I've ever experienced in 12 years of riding the Dolomites, to the kind of sloppy goo more normally found at the bottom of the home run in April than at 2000m, mid-Jan. A few days after the last snow fell (Tuesday 11th) the freezing level went up over 3000m and there was summer in the valley - 12 degrees in Selva last Saturday! Happily things then turned back again and it's started firming up again, with a promise of more snow coming over the next few days and the freezing level is set to drop dramatically and sit at around 0m for a while.
A serious team After the white-out, snowy conditions of last Tuesday the forecasters were predicting a sunny start to Wednesday - our Day Off - so plans were made over a beer in the Rosengarten pub in Canazei and those involved took themselves off home to bed nice and early. You know you've got a serious team when alarm clocks are ringing earlier on Day Off then on a work day. Breakfast was eaten, transceivers checked and cars loaded and rolling by 7.45am, heading for the top of the Fedaia Pass.
Early morning Lake Fedaia Here we dropped one vehicle at one side of frozen lake Fedaia, piled everything and everyone into the other, and drove it to the piste at the other side. This allowed us the whole expanse of the Marmolada glacier to ride, unlike those relying on the lift-system who have to traverse the lower sections in order to get back to the piste. The ride from the car parking area at the top of the pass down to the bottom cable-car at 8.05am was a great warm-up and gave us the first inkling about the great quality of the powder as we cut the first lines through the fresh at the side of the piste. We were first into the first cable-car and first out of the third one, excitement mounting as we headed straight off the side and found that even this highest section, usually the first to get wind-blown and choppy, was soft and floaty. We had been joined by some off-piste skiers at this point but they soon had to peel off to the right and head back towards the piste, leaving acres of untracked, rolling snow for us to fly across.
Going through the canyon We were heading for a canyon we've been through a few times in previous years, as our aim had been to get to it before anyone else and get fresh lines. Today was that day! Even though cutting the path up and out was a real killer in the deep, fresh snow we just had to do the run again... and the second was even better than the first as we now knew that the snowpack was firm enough and the powder perfect. After a second climb and walk we were ready for lunch. Happily, just down from Passo Fedaia on the left-hand side of the piste is a refugio, La Cianel, which serves one of the best pizzas to be found anywhere - a tall claim I know, but try and see. It's cooked by a pizzaiolo who looks like a cross between Super Mario and a serial killer. The pizza saporita is the one to have - gorgonzola, spicy salami, mushrooms, onions and lots of garlic. Not the choice if you're intending to kiss anyone later!
After lunch we met a grizzled powderhound in the cable-car with some of the fattest skis I've ever seen - handmade by some Swiss guy apparently. Our new friend, Marco, was intrigued to hear about our two-car set-up, so we took him with us. A fantastic off-piste skier, he told us afterwards that he's been all over chasing powder and that the powder this day was even better than he'd experienced in Alaska. The day ended with the sky looking like a stick of rock with all kinds of coloured stripes through it - a dramatic end to a dramatic day. Click here for our Canazei resort report.
Sky like a stick of rock Yo-yo weather in Canazei - 10/1/2011 21:14Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - January 11, 2011
Chairlift to heaven? I know there's talk of a weak Gulf Stream causing chaos with this winter's weather, but I actually think that the low-hanging grey clouds that spat a weird kind of slushy goo over my car and driveway this morning were only doing it to match my mood. Sadly, my lovely Danish girl went home to Copenhagen yesterday. It was a miserable, English-winter kind of an afternoon too (although that just doesn't seem to ring true anymore does it?). Strange days indeed when us European mountain dwellers are looking enviously at the Scottish weather reports. Glenshee has 7cm of snow forecast tonight at 1060m, while the best we can do at 1465m is 2cm... Perhaps I'm just feeling sorry for myself. While we have another 2000m above 1465m to go play on, 1060m is as high as it gets in Glenshee. In fact, I had to put snowchains on my car for the first time this winter to get across the Sella Pass tonight at 19.00 - and it's been snowing harder since then.
Full moon It is, nonetheless, a particularly strange winter. This is now the third time that we've gone from around -8˚C to -12˚C before rocketing to +1˚C, with low cloud and that clammy kind of warm that you associate with late March. One minute it's all thermals and layering, and the next you're ringing out your socks (and yes, I do need to buy new boots!). The worst part is the sudden whiteouts - there's not much fun to be had sliding around in the middle of a cloud is there? At least each time the sun has returned we've had a reasonable snowfall, as is the case this evening.
Full moon We made our own little contribution to local legends last Wednesday. One of the chalet girls turned 20, so to commemorate the occasion she requested a visit to Sottoguda Gorge with the whole team dressed as.... gnomes. As you do. Rosy cheeks, pointy hats, flowing white beards; you get the idea. It's amazing what an impact a fairly big group of people in silly outfits can have - I think we're starring in many a Russian home movie now.
The gorge itself never fails to please and those in the team who'd never visited it before were suitably lost for words. This was while the last freeze was still on and some of the natural ice shapes thrown up by the spray of the small waterfalls were truly amazing.
Full moon As for the week ahead, it looks like tomorrow might be a good day for powder, and the sun is supposed to be making an appearance. After that it seems that it's going to be clear and we should have some sunny days but with worryingly high temperatures. The freezing level is apparently going to be above 3000m at the weekend before plummeting back down to 600m by Tuesday. It's January fergawdsake! What's going on?!
Full moon Click here for our Canazei resort report. Busy New Year's pistes in Canazei as Mad Hatter goes powder hunting - 3/1/2011 12:17Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - January 3, 2011
Happy New Year snow lovers! Now that the hangovers have worn off we can look back on a fantastic festive week here in the Dolomites. It's been just as promised - sun, sun and more sun - perfectly combined with fantastic snow conditions. Even though it's been a week since the last snow fell on Dec 26th there hasn't been any wind to speak of, so nothing has been blown away. And, as the temperature has stayed way below zero, there's been little lost to the sun either.
It was fantastic to see the grey clouds lift and reveal a real winter wonderland. Blue skies and snow-laden trees are always a great post-Christmas present. On the downside, it's been very busy with the Italians arriving in force immediately after Christmas for their 'settimana bianca' or 'white week', leaving the pistes filled with icy patches where the snow has been scraped off. The easy answer to this problem? Get off the piste! Snow shoes, 'sci alpinismo' (skis and skins) or old fashioned hiking - it's all been great. The snow pack has settled in nicely and the avalanche danger has dropped from a high of four on Boxing Day to a much more sensible two by the arrival of 2011.
The snow coverage seems to be much more even this season than in previous years, allowing easy access to areas which are usually unusable. We spent a fantastic afternoon off the back of the Ciampac ski area above Alba (the next village up from Canazei) last Thursday, just riding off the side of the piste following tracks laid by earlier intrepid skiers, before walking for ten minutes to work our way higher and higher to get fresh lines each time. One of the guys with us has only done seasons in France before, and was amazed that such high-quality, fresh tracks could still be had this easily several days after the last snow fell.
We had a nice New Year's present as well, with the opening of the Canazei Snowpark - complete with airbag! The jumps seem better shaped this season so once the fresh stuff has finally run out I guess it'll be time for some park days. Although it does look like we're in for a classic clear, cold and sunny January, there's already a hit of cloud gathering to the south so maybe there'll be some more snow before too long.
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Advertisement Winter solstice in Sassolungo - 26/12/2010 16:25Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on life in Canazei - December 26, 2010
Full moon It doesn't seem to matter how many years I've done this job, the beginning of the season is always a mad blur of sorting, talking, training, driving and, unfortunately, very little riding. In some ways I wish the same could be said for the staff, as one of the girls fractured one of the tiny bones in her wrist two days before the arrival of the first guests - not particularly great timing, nor a particularly great break as these little bones are reputed to be a bugger to heal. It's D-Day for her on Wednesday when she's back under the x-ray machine to see how it's progressed. For the rest it's meant lots of unexpected shuffling around. For one lucky girl this meant an early-morning drive over Passo Sella - the morning of the lunar eclipse, which occurred on the Winter Solstice for the first time since 1638.
Lunar eclipse Advertisement Low cloud sat just above the valley floor, but after a few twists and turns up the road to Pordoi we were suddenly above it, looking at a searchlight-bright full moon, hanging between the vertical fingers of the Sassolungo massif. Without serious camera equipment it would've been impossible to capture it properly, but I tried and think I've just about caught the rainbow-coloured halo which surrounded the moon. It was a seriously beautiful start to the day and quite a special experience. This was then followed by perfect evidence of the effect there have now been days of icy rain below 1600m (just above village level) and quite wet, with heavy snow above. Visability has been pretty poor with low cloud hanging around the mountaintops but, for those hardy enough to have ignored the conditions at village level, there were some fantastic runs to be had off-piste. Consumermass Day - sorry, Christmas Day - has been a blast. Temperatures dropped overnight and the result this morning was a good 20cm of light fluffy powder, sitting on the more solid and more considerable build-up of the last few days.
Powder! The luckier ones among us got to make the most of it this morning and then we all met up for a midday drink or two, including our one-armed associate, as we'd chosen a bar just one lift from a car-park. Then it was out for more powder runs, between the trees. Unfortunately, by the end of the day with the light failing I had my goggles off and didn't duck a branch quite as low as I should have. Now it looks like eyeshadow...
Black eye Wonderful! Tomorrow there's supposed to be yet more snow and from Monday on there's nothing but sunshine and blue skies forecast - and my lovely Danish girlfriend arrives for a few week's holiday. Buon feste indeed. Click here for our Canazei resort report. Turbulent conditions in Trentino - 15/12/2010 20:26Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei - December 15, 2010 Well this has been a crazy week weather-wise. It was raining last time I checked in here, and the rain continued for another couple of days with low-lying cloud hiding the mountains. Needless to say, things were pretty miserable. When I woke up on Friday morning it was still raining. Happily, by the time I'd had my breakfast and driven down into the village the rain had turned into the finest of powdery flakes which soon turned into huge swirling pieces of snow tumbling to the ground. It really was an amazing transformation (although this was perhaps lost on the frustrated-looking delivery driver I was meeting). In previous seasons we've had lots of trouble getting his lorry up the final steep hill to its destination, so this year we'd attempted to time proceedings with a close eye on weather reports. He'd called me less than 30 minutes before to check that the roads were clear, which they had been, and now we were touch and go getting the goods unloaded. Thankfully it only took a couple of runs at the hill and we didn't need to grit the road as we've done in the past.
The sudden snowstorm carried on for about two hours (which just happened to be about the time it took to unload the truck) and then - as soon as the lorry left for its journey back down the valley - things began to change again. The cloud took on that kind of translucent glow where you just know there's blue sky just on the other side of it, and then the breaks started to appear and we were hurrying to get our gear on and get to the lift. It was great to be back on the mountain, but although there was a decent covering of fresh snow it was easy to feel that the warm spell had done some damage. Just under the piste was a firm, dense layer of almost soggy snow and the off-piste was an assault course which was quickly abandoned. Mother Nature wasn't finished with us yet though as the wind began to pick up, taking the fresh snow with it. Things got very surreal as riding the pistes suddenly felt like surfing. Unfortunately it also brought an early end to our afternoon as the lifts started closing and conditions - although still blue and sunny - became seriously inhospitable. The following day all the lifts stayed closed and wind speeds were 100kph +. We went back out a day or two later to find conditions now very hard with patches of pure ice ready to catch the unwary. Temperatures have plummeted and it's not been higher than -10 C for a few days and it's currently -19 C outside my door. So if you are coming to the Dolomites over Christmas, you better get your edges done! Click here for our Canazei resort report. Traditional events in Canazei: Conscriti & Krampus - 8/12/2010 13:27Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei - December 8, 2010 Hello again to all you powder-hounds, slick-stickers, off-piste monkeys and all associated snow-sport lovers - The Mad Hatter is back, reporting from 'The World's Most Beautiful Mountains' (that's a quote from Conde Nast, which has my full agreement!). Unfortunately they're not looking so beautiful today (Dec 8th) as the valleys are full of low-lying white cloud and it's raining. There's been a sudden lift in temperature since the weekend with showers yesterday and today. Happily the forecast is a return to serious cold by next weekend so hopefully the pistes, which were sooooooo good on opening day (last Saturday) won't have suffered too much and will, equally hopefully, have had snow and not rain above 2000m.
There's been some really heavy snowfalls throughout November - even down at village level - and despite there being mutterings about it coming too early by some local doom-mongers, by the time the opening weekend came there was a great base layer covering the pistes and a good half metre of powder sitting just off them. Our little gang were there by the doors to the Belvedere gondola, ready and waiting at 08.30. After cloud and light snow all week we were overjoyed to see the sun poking through the morning cloud and before long it was bluebird and the snow just perfect. Our earlier discussions about taking it easy and starting off slowly didn't amount to much as we realised that our favourite bits of off-piste around the Canazei Bowl were untouched, perfect and begging to be hit.
Bouncing through the powder underneath the six-man covered chair, getting blinded by the powder-spray, dodging the rocks and jumping the little gullies with Liam Gallagher screaming 'Hello, hello, it's good to be back, good to back...' in my ears was a great way to start the season. Added to that is the fact that our favourite bar, the Refugio Sass Becé (at the top of the aforementioned six-man chair), has been completely rebuilt this autumn and has gone from being dated and a bit tacky to being a great example of 'modern rustic' with huge new windows looking out onto the Sella massif. It has always been our sunset stop before the last run home - now it'll be even more of a joy!
Of course there was a price to pay and by mid afternoon our legs were finished and starting to cramp up so we took ourselves down to the village and with the rocks above town turning a wonderful red, headed for 'Apres Ski Paradis' - an old converted barn in the old centre of Canazei. The local woodcrafting skills are evident here when you look at the work that was done to restore it (three years ago now). Also on display was the local penchant for having a good time. This happened to be the day that all the kids born in 1992 celebrate their coming of age, so the bar was full of soon-to-be-very-drunken 18 year olds. Guys and girls alike dress in felt hats with flowers and ribbons to indicate that they are 'conscriti' - the Ladino word which binds each generation to one another. They will continue to have annual get-togethers and dinners and are expected to look after each other - a source of strength to the Ladino community.
On Monday night we enjoyed another traditional event as there were strange, wild, devil-like creatures roaming the streets of Canazei. These are the Krampus - hairy beasts that wear leather belts adorned with bells whilst carrying chains and staves - that accompany St Nicholas to punish naughty children while St. Nick gives presents to the good ones. Showing the Austrian heritage of the Dolomites, the Krampus certainly scared plenty of Italians that night!
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Another excellent start to April - 4/4/2010 19:18Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei - April 4, 2010 For those wondering if a late trip to the Italian Dolomites is a worthwhile proposition here's the news - nearly every year the Spring dumps are amazing. We had had a week or more of sunshine and high temperatures, resulting in sugary snow up top and serious slush at village level. Things might've looked grim to those looking ahead to the rest of the season but, as usual, there came the expected drop in temperature, grey clouds and snow, snow and more snow. Last Tuesday morning (the 30th March) my car looked like this:
Wednesday was the first day off with fresh snow and I took the time to teach my lovely Danish friend how to ride her new snowboard in fresh powder. Apart from a few floundering, frustrated moments as she struggled to get up from a tumble or two, things went really well and she really started to understand why us 'boarders really crave these kind of conditions. They went so well in fact that on Friday, after another day of snow on Thursday and a re-scheduled shopping day, we went up onto the off-piste playground of the Marmolada glacier. The snow was getting tracked out with amazing speed - no wonder given how many fat skis, transceivers and grizzled powder house we saw on the lifts. But we still found some fresh lines, and even the tracked sections were soft enough to be enjoyable. We just battered our way through the crud...
It's snowing as I write but with the sun forecast to shine again on Wednesday and Thursday so we're hoping for at least one more perfect day before the lifts close next Sunday! Click here for our Canazei resort report. The White War Tour - 20/3/2010 13:51Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei - March 20, 2010 It seemed like a last ditch attempt when my company e-mailed, asking if I knew anything about the 'White War Tour'. Why they didn't just start with me is a mystery - I have done the 'Giro della Grande Guerra', or 'First World War Tour', a few times over the years so it was no problem for me to agree to guide a journalist around this near-on 100km circuit.
Now for those who don't know (and I'd imagine lots don't), this area was witness to some of the worst battle conditions of the First World War. Hundreds of Southern Italian conscripts found themselves in these inhospitable mountains in sub-zero temperatures without suitable equipment or clothing, facing the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who were far more used to the environment. There were great hardship on both sides, as the many small museums around the Dolomites clearly illustrate. It was the first time that strategic importance had been placed on these beautiful mountains and the arrival of war in 1915 changed forever the isolated, rural life of the Ladin Valleys. Before 1914-1918 the local people didn't have any real allegiances - they were simply Ladin and proud of it. The First World War was the first time that the identity of the inhabitants had been questioned since the invasions of marauding Huns, Goths and Vandals way back in the Dark Ages. Of course, history was to repeat itself later with the arrival of Mussolini, the great Italian patriot, who tried to stamp out the Austrian/Germanic heritage of the area during his reign. Although one the most well-known circuits around the area is the 28km 'Sella Ronda' which circles the Sella massif and takes in the ski areas of Canazei, Selva, Corvara and Arabba, the WW1 tour is a much more adventurous proposition. It requires a good level of skiing ability and fitness as not making it all the way round leaves you at the mercy of very mercenary taxi drivers who, it seems, survive the entire year on the profits of taking slow/ lost/ tired skiers who have missed the last lift from one valley to another. Don't try it at the weekend and do start early - it's best if you can get to the Marmolada bright and early.
Colin, the journalist, was well-warned, knew that we'd not be messing about and was keen to take it on. As he was staying in the Lagació Mountain Residence in San Cassiano in Alta Badia, we agreed to be on the first lift - me from Canazei and him from Corvara - and meet up at Arabba. It's quite rare for me to be able to get up at that time but this particular morning was incredible - clear, blue, no wind and great snow conditions.From Arabba we took the two-stage gondola, exiting at the first stop and taking the first of two, two-man chair to Passo Padon. The views from here of the Marmolada glacier are amazing. It's a long run down from Passo Padon to Malga Ciapela where three cable cars take you up to the glacier. Unfortunately, the queue was already substantial so rather than risk not getting around our route, we headed down into the Sottoguda Gorge which, as always, did not disappoint.
Once out of the gorge (and after the traditional stop for cumin-flavoured grappa at Hotel Montenara) we didn't have too long to wait for the bus to Alleghe. It takes about 20 minutes but is kind of surreal as it's a normal, suburban bus filled with people clutching skis and dripping melt-water from their clothes and boots. At Alleghe it was straight up the main gondola, a short scoot across to a four-man chair and then down beside the seriously impressive board park before taking the most beautiful ski-lift ever - the views from this chair down onto frozen Lake Alleghe are amazing. The run down to Pescul is a nice long curving red and it was in fantastic condition.
Here we waited for our second bus of the day which we'd timed pretty well - there was just enough time to eat a couple of rolls, thoughtfully provided by the chalet staff, before it came. This journey is another 20 minute ride, with amazing views as we climbed Passo Giau. The ski area at Passo Giau leads over onto that of Cinque Torri (five towers) - although after the earthquake of a few years back it's more like quattro mezzo (four and a half)!
Here was the first surprise of the day - they've put in a new lift and an undulating piste (note that word, boarders!) to take you from the top of Passo Giau to Laguzuoi (the famed 'Hidden Valley') removing a third bus transfer. Aside from the pushing sections, this is obviously a great improvement. However, as we had run down to the bottom of Cinque Torri before finding this out, we did have to go back up to the top which meant Colin got to experience Passo Giau's ancient one-man chair which is then followed by a cable-tow... Quite hilarious!
By the time we got to the top of the Hidden Valley, I was starting to fret about the time. Colin was more or less 'home' from here as his hotel was just after the end of the Hidden Valley in San Cassiano, but I still had to negotiate La Villa, Corvara and then either around the Sella Ronda via Selva or via Arabba. Although I knew I could get my hands on a vehicle in Selva if I did get stuck, I decided to go via Arabba. There were some worrying queues, particularly at La Villa, but some seriously fast runs down put me back on track by the time I reached Porto Vescovo (the top, above the village of Arabba) only to be held up again by the lift up to Passo Pordoi. It had been closed for 20 minutes when a helicopter had had to land and the constant stream of skiers arriving at this potential bottleneck meant it was never going to catch up.
In any event, I was enjoying a beer in the Refugio Sass Bece (pronounced Beh-chay) at 16.10, watching the mountains turn golden, happy to have had yet another amazing day in the Dolomites and thinking back to the ice-waterfalls in the Sottoguda Gorge and Hidden Valley, the amazing moonscapes of Passo Giau and the horse-drawn sledges which tow you out from the Hidden Valley (well, if you're a skier - the 'boarders get to ride in the sledge!)
For anyone interested in the history of the region, you should look out for The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919M by Mark Thompson. Click here for our Trentino resort report. The best rifugio in the Dolomites? - 15/3/2010 19:28Our Dolomites snogger, The Mad Hatter, reports on snow conditions Canazei, and a superb dinner near Moena - March 15, 2010
I'm afraid my blogging skills have been somewhat curtailed after last week's argument with a tree (see my previous blog); but at least the swelling has gone, and I'm typing two-handed again! It's been another mixed up week here in the Dolomites, with one day a total white-out, the next a cloudless blue one and then back to low cloud and flat light. Happily we've also had a decent amount of fresh snow (last Wednesday and Thursday) so those blue days have been perfect, with some outstanding sunsets too!
Highlight of last week was a visit to one of the area's best mountain refugio restaurants, Restuarante Fuciade (pronounced Foo-char-day), high up in the mountains surrounding Passo San Pellegrino, accompanied by two lovely young Danish girls. I'd already invited one of these, who is working this winter as a Rep for one of the many Danish companies in Canazei, and then extended the invitation to her good friend who had arrived for a week's holiday as I knew it would be a memorable highlight of her holiday. I didn't give them any details, just told them to wear ski jackets, gloves and hats over their party frocks before collecting them and driving the half hour or so which brought us to....a snowy car park at the end of a rutted, narrow track, off the road just over the top of the San Pellegrino Pass.
At least there were some other people seemingly standing about in the cold for no reason so the girls didn't get too freaked out, at least not until there came the sound of an engine and some floodlights appeared through the trees. This was the arrival of the gatto de neve (snowcat) which was to drive us up to the restaurant. Happily it was easy for me to get the girls stood in the right place so as to get into the front cab with the driver, while the majority of the other guests got into the rear section where visibility is greatly reduced. It's a great experience this one - the track ahead twisting and turning through the trees, clinging to the side of the mountain and passing deserted mountain huts and barns before the welcoming, twinkling lights of Restaurante Fuciade come into view.
Fuciade is one of a group of four restaurants around the Moena area (Moena being one of the larger towns in Val di Fassa) which are noted for their gastronomic skills, these being Fuciade (www.fuciade.it), Foresta (www.hotelforesta.it), Malga Panna (www.malgapanna.it) and Tyrol (www.posthotelmoena.it). Every year they organise two special weeks, one in summer and one in winter, when they each have a set menu connected to a theme. In winter this week has been known as 'The Feast of King Laurin' (see earlier snog for an explanation of who he was) for many years but this year it has been re-named "A tavola con la Fata delle Dolomiti" which translates as something like 'Dinner with the Fairies of the Dolomites' and takes place between the 21st and 26th of March. Anyone coming at that time and having a reasonably adventurous palate would be mad to miss this. Our dinner was amazing, as always. A glass of prosecco to start, then a little amuse-bouche, compliments of the kitchen, before an antipasto of classic cold cuts (including wild boar sausage) accompanied by a bottle of Hofstatter's Pinot Nero Riserva and then the most beautifully cooked lamb. Of course the girls then did the usual play-acting about dessert before ordering one between them but eating most of mine as well! Unfortunately we mis-timed our exit slightly as we ended up leaving with another twelve or so people, which meant another journey in the snowcat, rather than sitting on the open sledges pulled by skidoos which also do the run between restaurant and car-park. I think the girls were actually quite pleased as it was snowing pretty heavily by this time so it might have been quite a cold ride. Unfortunately the photos didn't come out too well - must have been the vino, sorry... (Mad Hatter has got one of our editors reminiscing about his own visit to the Fuciade in March 2009: fig ravioli, vension with juniper berries and cream, and the pungent local cheese, puzzone, dipped in spicey mustard-seed chutney. Superb. What's more, the prices aren't astronomical either, with main courses starting from 13 euros. You'd pay twice as much to get food of the same quality in the French Alps. ) Click on the link for our Canazei resort report, and on the following link for our Moena resort report for our Nature bites back - 8/3/2010 08:41Our Dolomites snogger, The Mad Hatter, reports on a big day out in Canazei, and a swollen hand - March 8, 2010
Last week I went up the Marmolada Glacier with some of the local boys (all boarding instructors - even if one was one skis on this particular afternoon).
We rode the 'bidonvia' which is an ancient, stand-up lift which looks like a shopping trolley on a wire. It doesn't stop - you have to run along and jump into it. Actually this lift is at the Fedaia dam, on the Fedaia Pass. It had just opened as they don't run it all season - just in the Spring.
We did two trips around the lift, one just off the piste and the next off around the back of the mountain, requiring a serious hike up and out. It was just after the hike that I had my accident - I was crashing through some small trees and having to slap them out of the way, but speared myself in the process! Not good timing as we had a much more serious run to do after - down a chute which dropped us out way down below the lifts and in the middle of the forest floor. It took us an hour and a half to get out as there were no previous tracks. I did most of it crawling on my knees with two hands on the board in front of me, trying not to drop through the powder. Not easy with a hand swollen to twice its size. The powder at the top was sensational though.
One of the guys was riding a Burton split board. The ease with which he switched around his bindings, slipped on his skins and walked out of the forest makes me want one sooo bad! Him and the one on skis had endless fun watching me and the other 'boarder struggle through the woods. Click here for our Canazei resort report. Having a ball - 25/2/2010 09:52Our Dolomites snogger, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei (and Carnivale conditions in Venice) - February 24, 2010
Once again the weather seems to be all over the place. It started snowing last Thursday (February 18) and carried on through until Saturday, causing chaos on the roads for Transfer Day. Why is it that people don't stop at the bottom of mountain passes, where there are laybys for the purpose, and put on their snow chains? No, they think they'll make it and just carry on until they just can't get any traction, then stop and fumble about (apparently having never had a trial fit before leaving home), blocking the road for those of us with jobs to do.... Oops, another rant! Back to the weather... Sunday was a beautiful day - deep blue skies, deep white powder. Perfect. We made the most of it by going back to Latemar (see earlier Snog) and getting some directions from a local, which put us onto an amazing descent off the back of the highest point in the area which brought us out down miles of forest track with just a short walk out at the end, into Obereggan.
Since then it's clouded over and the temperature's on the rise, causing the snow to get quite heavy up the hill and turning it to water down in the village. Everyone's been over-dressed, thinking it's going to be cold, making for some seriously smelly après-skiing! It was one of the things we noticed most back in January of 2003 (yes, it was that long ago - surprising isn't it?) when the Italians banned smoking in public places - the stink of cigarette smoke was replaced by BO!! Still, it's a worthwhile price to pay for not having to suffer the stench of fag smoke hanging onto your riding gear long after you've left the pub. I feel sorry for those choosing Austria as a destination as smoking in bars is still allowed there... Still, it's snowing again tonight with more forecast for tomorrow night and especially Friday morning - the best news being an immediate drop in temperature with -15 expected that night. This being one of the busiest weeks of the season, queues have been long and the moguls high as the fresh, heavy snow gets lumped up with all the traffic. These two weeks have been holiday weeks in Denmark, the U.K., Germany and especially Italy as it has been Carnivale, resulting in lots of Fancy Dress nonsense and strange local customs, the best example of which was the wooden mill built in Canazei's main square. Here, on Monday 15th, was where old ladies were grabbed by various devils, hoisted on a rope to the top of the mill where they were were unceremoniously dumped into the inner workings of the mill (accompanied by explosions and dry ice) which then spat out....beautiful young maidens. Not very P.C. but very entertaining in a mapcap kind of a way.
There is a strong tradition of Carnivale among the Ladino people (the Ladinos being the traditional inhabitants of the Dolomites, complete with their own ancient language which is alive and well) and their mask-making is a serious craft (see pic of local display 3148 & 49)
This made it a great week to escape the mountains and get all the staff down to Venice for Martedi Grasso, 'fat' Tuesday - known to the English as Shrove Tuesday. This is the final day of Carnivale in Venice and it's at it's busiest and best. Nothing quite like walking around this beautiful, ancient city surrounded by all kinds of costumes, from the classic, 17th century dandy-wear sported by many of the Venetians...
....to the most ridiculous outfits worn by...well, mostly chalet staff if I'm honest!
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Fresh snow in the Dolomites! - 15/2/2010 10:19Our Dolomites snogger, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei - February 15, 2010
It's always good to start the week with fresh snow and that's exactly what happened last week as it snowed on Saturday (February 6). It was unusual too as it's seems that Saturdays (our Transfer Day) are nearly always clear, blue and sunny, especially if the preceeding week has been mostly cloudy! This week has been a bit of a mixture with sunshine on the fresh stuff for a few days, some broken cloud mid-week then joy, oh joy, a half-decent dump on Thursday and Thursday night. Again this caused a few mutterings of 'typical' from the chalet staff as Friday morning is the weekly shopping trip, so the best of the powder was already ravaged by the time anyone could get up that afternoon. It must be said, however, that anyone visiting who is used to the speed at which powder gets tracked out in France is always impressed with how long after a snowfall fresh lines can still be drawn here. It does seem that the Italians are happier cutting fine shapes on the piste than floundering around in powder - although it's a wonder how they can ever imagine that they cut such a dash while dressed in the worst one-pieces ever. We have a competition to see who can get in a photo with the best/worst examples - here's an example!
So, it was up and out early last Sunday (Feb 7) with a couple of warm-up runs down the freshly-bashed black run at Ciampac (pronounced 'champach') in Alba. Alba's the next village up from Canazei itself and the ski area is pretty much on my doorstep so not too hard to be there for the first lift. However, with the new snow lying on the piste, it didn't take long before the snow started getting lumped up so after three fast descents we jumped in the cars and headed up to Passo Fedaia to see how the snow had fallen up on the Marmolada Glacier. The wind blowing where we parked up was already a sign that this wasn't going to be a Marmolada Classic and, sure enough, even the first of the three cable cars was moving and swaying as we rose up the South face. At the top we did pause to consider if it was even worth venturing out into the off-piste, fearing a wind-blown crust, but in the end, seeing as we'd already gone to the trouble of positioning the two cars so we could get to the 'wrong' side of the lake, we headed off. As expected the first 300m was fairly crusty and needed a firm press on the turns, but lower down it was nice and soft. The few hairy moments were on the rises where the wind had blown the snow off, revealing the rocks.
Given that conditions weren't ideal, and we'd heard that the queues were building around the Sella Ronda-linked areas, we decided to leave it at that and head a bit off the beaten track and visit the small, but beautiful ski area of Carezza (above). This meant a 20 minute drive down Val di Fassa (Fassa Valley), before turning off at Pozza di Fassa and climbing the Costalunga Pass, which eventually leads down to Bolzano. We didn't need to do much more than cross the top of the pass (after climbing for 10 minutes or so), then turn off onto the Nigra Pass and wind our way around the base of the Catinaccio group. This massif is also known by the German name of the Rosengarten. The name is connected to the legend of King Laurin, the dwarf-King, who had a beautiful rose garden high in the mountains. One version of his legend is that, having fallen in love at first sight with Similde, the beautiful daughter of the River King , Laurin stole her away and hid in his rose garden - but the swaying roses gave him away and the knights of the River King took Similde back. King Laurin then cursed his Rose Garden saying "neither by day nor by night shall anyone again glimpse this lovely sight". But he forgot about the time between day and night so to this day the rocks of Catinaccio glow an amazing pink at dawn and dusk. The Italians even have a special word for this - the L'enrosadira - literally 'the turning pink'. To be up among any of the Dolomite massifs at sunset, especially in the right company, can be a truely romantic experience...
While romance wasn't exactly in the air for us on this particular day, we did have some ecstatic, tree-lined powder runs under blue skies. This area is really off the beaten track and even though this was a Sunday - the busiest day of the week - there were no queues and no competition for the snow. The views from the highest bar at the end of the day were simply stunning.
This week's Day Off Adventure was a great success. We hired a 19-seater minibus to take us down to Predazzo, a town some 40 minutes away from Canazei, down the Val di Fassa. The bus actually dropped us at the main parking area for the 'Stalimen' lift, just beside the ski jumping arena where international competitions take place each year. This lift dropped us at Refugio Gardone, beside which is the two-year old "Alpine Coaster" or rollercoaster ride built on the side of the mountain. Although it's nothing compared to the full-on, serious rollercoasters in theme parks around the world this one is certainly a laugh for just ?4 a ride. The track is nearly 1000m and includes some pretty fast bends - especaily if you ignore the 'brake here' signs!
The rest of the day was spent exploring the whole 'Latemar' area, going from Predazzo to Pampeago and across to Obereggan - basically three valleys with a wide variety of runs to choose from, very short lift queues as the area, while popular in itself, is not connected to the 'Sella Ronda' so doesn't get the same concentration of people, and a great selection of refugios (mountain huts/restaurants) serving great local delicacies like canerdeli in brodo - speck (a cured ham found only in the Tyrol) and cheese dumplings, served in a clear broth, which makes a great skier's lunch.
We ended our afternoon at Obereggan, enjoying some well-earned beers served by the friendly staff of the Red Indian Teepee bar (who also, quite bizarrely, kept a log fire burning outside the teepee) before eating a pizza and then getting ready for more skiing as the 'Ochsenweide' cable car reopened at 19.00, serving the now-illuminated run back down to it. They illuminate the slope here every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 19.00 to 22.00. They also illuminate the sled run which runs down beside the piste (but well seperated!). We had all intended to have a go at sledging but somehow never got around to it as the piste itself was lots of fun. These are the days to remember when working a winter season! Click here for our Canazei resort report. Skiing the panetone - 6/2/2010 22:46Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Kronplatz - February 6, 2010 I had to go down to Flat Land earlier this week and was happy to see signs of snow as far down as Lake Garda - despite the fact that there'd been no snow worth speaking of for quite a while. Happily, that's changed now as it snowed lightly for most of yesterday (Friday) and through the night. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what the pistes are like tonight though as I've not been on them since Wednesday - hey, got to work sometime you know! At least that last time was a bit special because from Garda I drove straight up the A22 towards the Brenner Pass, past Trento and Bolzano and then turned off onto the E66, towards Brunico/ Bruneck, heading for Plan de Corones/ Kronplatz. Everything in this area of the Dolomites has names in both Italian and German (or should that be 'Austrian'?). Anyway, things are very much more Austrian here than further south, which means better organisation on the one hand and more control on the other. What it means for snowsport-ers is a seriously well-equipped ski area with very few chair lifts, just long and fast cable cars.
The car parking on the Brunico side of the mountain is at 950m altitude. Two fast 'bubble' cable cars, side by side, leave from here and have you quickly up to the top at 2275m. Although Kronplatz gets called a 'Panetone' by the Italians (because its shape is reminiscent of the flat-topped, vaguely-pyramid shaped Christmas cake the Italians have), these lifts are rather unimaginatively called Kronplatz 1&2 (which is one lift in two stages, though you don't have to change) and Kronplatz 2000. One of those wonderful and completely maddening idiosyncrasies you come across every now and then is that one of these two lifts will close for lunch for an hour, and then the other. This was ok this week as it wasn't particularly busy but it can be pretty vexing when it is - the queues end up twice the size they need be during 'lunchtime'. Still, any frustration can be quickly worked out on the two black runs which come back down this side of the 'panetone'. One has the perfectly Italian name of 'Herrnegg' and the other 'Sylvester'. Herrnegg is 100m over 5km and descends a fraction under 1300m (1298m) while Sylvester is 50m under the 5km mark and drops just 2m less. Sylvester is the better of the two but they're both awesome. One day I'll be there for first lifts and get them both freshly groomed! Part of the reason for going was to catch up with an old Dutch friend who's worked in one of the ski-hire shops at the very top for a few years. In fact, he was introduced to me a couple of years ago by some of the chalet girls and, as they wanted to see him too, they'd ridden over to Kronplatz from Canazei the day before, knowing that I'd be driving and could give them a lift back in time to cook dinner. It took them close to four hours to do it and involved going around the Sella Ronda as far as Corvara, then heading off towards La Villa and then Predaces where there's a (free) bus link for the 20 minute drive to Piculin where the lifts start again. How many other ski areas can have you travelling for this distance on just the one pass?? Another reason for going is that last year they built a new park at Kronplatz and I didn't get to see it. It's now one of the best in Italy and has some seriously BIG jumps. Now, when you normally visit this kind of place there's people going off the little jumps and you're left wondering if the big ones ever get used but we got pretty lucky I guess as the local squad of colourful kids (they're always in eye-searing colours aren't they - certainly in Italy they are!) were out doing their thing for a pro-photographer. Watching videos is one thing but seeing people launching themselves that high in 'Real Life' is something else. Even better is the fact that the 'Belvedere' lift runs right over the park, so if you time it right you get to see the jumping from a helicopter-eye view. Click here for our Kronplatz resort report. Click here for our Canazei resort report. Ill met by moonlight - 29/1/2010 14:43 Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei -
This has been a hard week in the Dolomites, in more ways than one. The cold January temperatures and lack of serious snowfall means hard-packed pistes and icy corners - much to the Doctor's delight. The local 'ambulatorio traumatologico' has been a war-zone and, unfortunately, our team has been involved with one dislocated shoulder and another KO'd right at the end of his first really successful (up to that point) day's snowboarding. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet - I don't want to think what might have been the result if not. If you don't ride/ski with one then you need your head examining - and you may find just that happening to you!
We've also been affected by what might be Novovirus and a couple of us have had the classic 24 hour 'don't stray far from the toilet' symptoms. It seems to be rife in the UK and no doubt ours was brought out here by a guest? Hey, we'd rather you just brought the vegemite y' know! Tell you what - if you're coming to the mountains this winter and you think you might be infected or have been near anyone who has, then PLEASE can you do us all a favour? Cancel, stay home and claim on your insurance. If you're not among those, and are coming, then please remember the golden rules about washing, rewashing and washing again those hands - help us to help you stay healthy... Sorry, rant over, back to the snow. As you might have realised it's been a stressy week so there was no better way to end it than a clear night, a full moon, a few good mates and enough vehicles to arrange another of those magical events that make you happy to be alive and here in the world's most beautiful mountains. There are really no words to describe just how amazing it is sit on the top of a freshly bashed piste at midnight, surrounded by the fabulous, craggy outcrops which makes up the Sella Massif, passing a hip-flask of absinthe in preparation for a mellow, swooping, carving run down to the village.
Conditions were amazing last night as, although it was cold (-13 in the village so, hmm, maybe -20 at the top?), it was really clear. The walk up the drag-lift soon warmed us up anyway, especially those in the bravado race of 'who could keep up the fastest pace'. Of course it was no race back down. What's the point of all the effort involved in getting up there (which included: two cars up, one left at the bottom to take the drivers back up to collect them after; the walk up the drag-lift; the pain of getting up the following morning to serve breakfast and do the shopping run...) if you're just going to charge back down? It was a one-run situation so we took our time. It's great to be at the front knowing you can carve as wide, as fast and as floaty as you want coz no-one's gonna run into you. It's hilarious to be at the back as well, watching the black shapes flit across the moonlit snow in front of you like the Nazgul searching for a dropped ring. We had to make a couple of stops to enjoy the changing views and to get our breath back from laughing so much. Awesome!
Click here for our Canazei resort report. Gorge-ous view of Sottoguda - 20/1/2010 13:27Our snogger in Trentino, The Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei and a trip through the Sottoguda serai - January 17, 2010
One of the chalet girls had the unfortunate luck to have her birthday last Saturday (january 16). As this is the dreaded Change-Over Day, we postponed celebrating until Sunday, when the entire team gathered to ride to - and then through - the 'serai' at Sottoguda.
This is a hidden gem which never fails to please. Basically it's a walking track through the bottom of a narrow gorge with a cascading stream running down, surrounded by frozen waterfalls and pillow-fields of snow. It's a bit like going to Narnia for half an hour and always a pleasure to see the faces of those who have never seen it before. Happily the ice-climbers were out in force, giving a sense of perspective to the vast frozen waterfalls. The gorge ends up in the rustic, tiny village of Sottoguda itself where the Hotel Montanara serves their amazing home-made flavoured grappas. Have to say that cumin flavour gets my vote!
Click here for our Trentino resort report. Blue skies and blazing sun in Canazei - 19/1/2010 08:52Our new snogger in Trentino, Mad Hatter, reports on the snow conditions in Canazei - January 18, 2010 After what has seemed like endless weeks of heavy, overcast skies, the Italian Dolomites have this past week finally reverted to their usual January conditions of deep blue skies and blazing sunshine. Although there hasn't been one serious dump of snow for some time, nearly every night of the past few weeks has seen some snow falling. In the village of Canazei this meant a faint, fine dusting but evidently it was adding up to much more up on the peaks.
A visit to the 'Queen of the Dolomites', the Marmolada Glacier, seemed in order, so after getting the day's jobs done we drove three cars up to (frozen) Lake Fedaia and looked up at the more or less untracked glacier. Leaving two cars at the near side of the lake, we all squeezed into one and set off through frozen galleries, marvelling at the breathtaking views. The run down from the lake to Malga Ciapela is a perfect warm up - a red which gets narrow in places, and often with moguls, leading onto a tree-lined cruisey blue. On Thursday the queue for the first of the three cable cars which lift you to the top had been almost non-existent, but this wasn't the case on Friday. There had still been some clouds around on Thursday but Friday was crystal clear and everyone seemed to have realised that this was going to be one of those near-perfect Marmolada days.... which it was! Once out of the top lift and away from the hoards of snappers taking in the breathtaking views, there was fresh powder to be had everywhere.
As the avalanche risk was high we stayed away from anything overly steep, even though we all had transceivers, probes and shovels. However, given that time was short and were hoping to get a few runs in we decided to take a line down towards the lake first and then traverse the lower slope to get us back as far along towards the piste as possible. It's been a few years since I've done this traverse but it hasn't got any better in the meantime! For the next runs we used the cars to shuttle everyone from one end of the lake to the other - a much better option, especially as it gave us acres more untracked powder to play in (nearly everyone who does this route has to traverse to get back.) Conditions were pretty much perfect from about half way down - the top section was just a little crusty but nothing that couldn't be broken through with a little weight on your edges. This wasn't necessary lower down and you really could just lean back and fly for as long as your back leg could take it. Two afternoons of powder-hounding was a fantastic end to the week. Click here for our Trentino resort report. | ||
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A little snow on December 13.
Not downhearted...
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