Skiing in Italy- Part 2
Despite the driving adventure I wrote about in Part 1 of our Ski trip - everything has been great so far. We've had two days of skiing so far and they were completely different - but both excellent.
The first day of skiing was a snow day! There is no better feeling than waking up during your ski vacation, looking out the window and seeing fresh snow fall. It brings a smile to my face like few other things in this world. With the fresh snow falling, R and I had a great breakfast and were one of the first people on the mountain. I'm kind of anal like that. If it is snowing outside, I don't want to miss a second of skiing.
The next day was just the opposite. There was a beautiful blue sky and the sun was shining bright. This is not a bad thing. The snow season in the Alps is one of the best in many years - everything is covered meters and meters of snow. A few days of sun is not going to hurt anything. In fact, just the opposite. We got to ski in great weather while still having a fresh layer of powder from all of the snow fall a few days before. R and I completed a run known as the Sellronda - it's a series of trails that circles one of the impressive mountain peaks. It takes about 5 hours to compete. You can read about it at www.DolomitiSuperSki.com
Not only were the ski conditions perfect, but the mountain is probably the most beautiful I have had the pleasure of skiing on so far. Instead of snow capped mountains that are typical in the Rockies, the Dolomiti mountain range is a bit different. They have about a dozen huge rock formations that stick out above the ski mountains. These are far too steep to ski, but they create a fantastic background when skiing. We haven't brought our camera to the mountain yet - but plan on brining it out one day this week. The only thing I have to show off right now are pics from my BlackBerry camera. Trust me, they don't do the mountain justice.
Now, despite all of this great news, I do have a few complaints.
First and foremost, the skiing is a bit too easy for my liking. There are no runs here that would even rank in the top 10 most difficult at Vail. That's a bit disappointing for me - but R loves it. I'm the kind of guy that loves to stand at the top of the mountain and look down and say to myself "How the F*&% am I going to get down that?!?!?"Then I just jump down and figure a way to get down - working up a great sweat along the way. Here, everything is very doable and I'm trying everything in my power to find the most difficult runs off-piste. Which brings me to my second complaint...
European skiers arepussies wimps compared to Americans. Sorry, there is no better way to say it. Everyone, and I mean everyone, stays on the runs here. There are hundreds and hundreds of acres of fresh snow covering the mountains but no one ever goes and explores. In the Rockies, I'm always seeing people trying to get off-piste and find the most difficult route down the mountain. Not here.
If my cousin John is reading this - I REALLY wish you were here right now. There are so many side routes that I wanted to take today but had no one to go with (Sorry R - that's not really your strong suit). Going off in the tress by yourself is never a smart idea, so I would usually chicken out every time I contemplated doing it. If you were here right now, I know I'd be the one chasing you down impossible routes and we've had a great time doing it. Maybe next year...
Anyway, despite those two complaints, I'm still having a great time. I had the guts to do an impossible off-piste route by myself on my last run today. The run went right below one of the major gondalas, so I knew if I had a Sonny Bono incident there would be many witnesses that could point the ski patrol in the right direction. Still, in the 30 minutes it took me to get down the run (it was VERY hard), I didn't see a single other skier attempt the run.Pussies Wimps.
The final run beat me up good but it was well worth it. If the best feeling is waking up and seeing snow falling, a close second is the feeling of relaxation after a solid 8 hours of skiing. I'm thoroughly exhausted, happy, relaxed and living off the kind of natural high that only skiing can bring. Well, skiing and a quality German beer. Life is good.
The first day of skiing was a snow day! There is no better feeling than waking up during your ski vacation, looking out the window and seeing fresh snow fall. It brings a smile to my face like few other things in this world. With the fresh snow falling, R and I had a great breakfast and were one of the first people on the mountain. I'm kind of anal like that. If it is snowing outside, I don't want to miss a second of skiing.
The next day was just the opposite. There was a beautiful blue sky and the sun was shining bright. This is not a bad thing. The snow season in the Alps is one of the best in many years - everything is covered meters and meters of snow. A few days of sun is not going to hurt anything. In fact, just the opposite. We got to ski in great weather while still having a fresh layer of powder from all of the snow fall a few days before. R and I completed a run known as the Sellronda - it's a series of trails that circles one of the impressive mountain peaks. It takes about 5 hours to compete. You can read about it at www.DolomitiSuperSki.com
Not only were the ski conditions perfect, but the mountain is probably the most beautiful I have had the pleasure of skiing on so far. Instead of snow capped mountains that are typical in the Rockies, the Dolomiti mountain range is a bit different. They have about a dozen huge rock formations that stick out above the ski mountains. These are far too steep to ski, but they create a fantastic background when skiing. We haven't brought our camera to the mountain yet - but plan on brining it out one day this week. The only thing I have to show off right now are pics from my BlackBerry camera. Trust me, they don't do the mountain justice.
Now, despite all of this great news, I do have a few complaints.
First and foremost, the skiing is a bit too easy for my liking. There are no runs here that would even rank in the top 10 most difficult at Vail. That's a bit disappointing for me - but R loves it. I'm the kind of guy that loves to stand at the top of the mountain and look down and say to myself "How the F*&% am I going to get down that?!?!?"Then I just jump down and figure a way to get down - working up a great sweat along the way. Here, everything is very doable and I'm trying everything in my power to find the most difficult runs off-piste. Which brings me to my second complaint...
European skiers are
If my cousin John is reading this - I REALLY wish you were here right now. There are so many side routes that I wanted to take today but had no one to go with (Sorry R - that's not really your strong suit). Going off in the tress by yourself is never a smart idea, so I would usually chicken out every time I contemplated doing it. If you were here right now, I know I'd be the one chasing you down impossible routes and we've had a great time doing it. Maybe next year...
Anyway, despite those two complaints, I'm still having a great time. I had the guts to do an impossible off-piste route by myself on my last run today. The run went right below one of the major gondalas, so I knew if I had a Sonny Bono incident there would be many witnesses that could point the ski patrol in the right direction. Still, in the 30 minutes it took me to get down the run (it was VERY hard), I didn't see a single other skier attempt the run.
The final run beat me up good but it was well worth it. If the best feeling is waking up and seeing snow falling, a close second is the feeling of relaxation after a solid 8 hours of skiing. I'm thoroughly exhausted, happy, relaxed and living off the kind of natural high that only skiing can bring. Well, skiing and a quality German beer. Life is good.
posted by N at
9:55 AM
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