Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

If you've been following the news across the pond lately, then you know that a good portion of Europe has been receiving snow for the past week.  While that has caused travel nightmares for many trying to get home for the holidays, it has also brought an early Christmas present for the skiers here!  Euro Shawn made the wise decision to stick around Italy for a few days after school ended for him in Milan and we had quite the weekend ski adventure.

Sorry your flight is delayed- the snow here is great!

The real adventure started Friday night here in the Vicenza area when the steady snow that had been falling throughout the afternoon began to accumulate.  The roads were a bit slick since the Italians out here in the countryside use tractors to plow and being that this is Italy...they got around to plowing when they felt like it.  We got a few inches of snow, which I find confusing.  They say that snow is not that common here, but this is the second time since Thanksgiving that we've had measurable snowfall.  No complaints here, I love the snow and it looked festive on the Christmas lights...and palm trees.


Our ski plan involved chasing the snow.  Whichever mountain had the most snow and open trails was where we were headed on Saturday.  We booked a hotel in the middle of the mountains so that we'd have easy access to any mountain in the Dolomites.  We rose early Saturday and piled into our trusty rear-wheel drive BMW 316i (Remember this...it will be important later).  The beemer was the only car choice we had since the backseat of H1 folds down in one piece and we needed three sets of skis and three people to fit in the car.  We reasoned that once we figured out how to cram  all of Shawn's luggage and toiletries in the car, we'd be all set.

To get to views like this...we had to scale the mountain in our car

Saturday at Alta Badia
We hit the road anticipating about a three hour drive to a Northern ski town.  The first few hours flew by as we cruised along the autostrada.  If you're familiar with the Dolomite mountain range, you know that there is no easy way to get there.  Unlike us good Americans, the Europeans typically don't blow up a mountain and build a highway through it.  Here, you must drive up and over the mountain.  At about hour three on our adventure, we found ourselves on uphill roads covered in snow with frequent signs reminding drivers to have snow chains.  (You'll be happy to know that we bought ourselves snow chains for Christmas today.)  And while I don't speak much Italian, I realized that our quest to go to Alta Badia probably meant we were headed up higher and higher into the mountains.


As we climbed, we noticed very few cars on the road.  What did all these people know that we didn't?  We quickly figured it out as that trusty, rear-wheel BMW 316i fishtailed all over the road on each turn up the hill at the blazing speed of 10 kph.  The car did its best Little Engine That Could impression as it sputtered, spun and slid up the mountain.  On the plus side, I didn't get car sick this week ...but I think that's because I was too busy fearing for my life.

We finally made it to Alta Badia and hit the slopes later than we would have liked, but got plenty of skiing in.  The place was massive and we did not wait in a lift line all day.  To be honest, I don't even think we took the same lift twice all day!  With the Dolomite Super Ski lift ticket (a bargain at 34 Euro/day), you can ski at any of the 12 associated mountains, many of which are interconnected.  Take that silly seven peaks of Sunday River (kidding...I <3 SR).

After a day of skiing, we headed back to that trusty real-wheel drive BMW 316i  for the trek to the hotel.  Since we were so high up in the mountains, the temperature dropped considerably after the sun went down.  Our skilled driver failed to mention that the heat in the car only works when you are at high speeds...which as you know, we were not as we descended the mountain like an out of control bobsled.  For almost an hour, Euro Shawn shivered in the backseat, still dressed in all his ski gear (well, almost all of it...ask him about this if you see him).  My internal body temperature must have dropped a few degrees and even the Eskimo driver needed gloves.  I would recommend the lovely hotel we stayed in and the delightful pizzeria we ate dinner at, but I can't even think of a reason you'd be anywhere near where we were....ever.  If you want to get off the beaten path in Italy, let me know.


Sunday at Cortina
We woke on Sunday to a balmy -27 degrees Celsius.  That post I had last week about it not being that cold skiing in Italy?  Definitely a lie.  Since Shawn "Bode Miller" Kelly was not challenged enough by Alta Badia's trails, he insisted we head to the posh town of Cortina to ski there.  It was only an hour away, so it seemed like a logical choice.  As mentioned, that trusty rear-wheel drive BMW 316i lacks heat unless she is at high speeds, so not only was it -27 outside, it was the same for about an hour in the car.  Awesome.

The drive to Cortina looked easy on the map and the roads had cleared a bit from the day before.  Unfortunately, our GPS decided that the most direct route from the middle of nowhere Italy to Cortina was over a mountain.  This time, we found ourselves on a mountain pass that is probably only suppose to be used in the summer.  There were no cars on the road and we found ourselves staring at feet of pristine,untouched snow looking at  mountain tops that seemed fake.  Shawn compared it to the epic old school computer game Ski Free where you try to out-ski the abominable snow monster that eventually eats you.

Something tells me we weren't suppose to be on this road...

The town of Cortina was easy to find (once we survived the mountain pass), but the skiing was not.  This sounds really stupid, but we made it to the most famous ski town in Italy and literally could not find the skiing. Thanks to a total lack of signs in the town, we drove in circles for a good half hour. Although we were all frozen, tempers started to heat up in the car....one person wanted to stop at the tourist information point, another wanted to search the GPS for an address and one threatened to drive home out of frustration.  Once we figured it all out, we got out a bit later than we would have liked, but enjoyed the amazing snow at Cortina.  After a good, but cold, day on the slopes, we finally had clear roads on the way home and were able to get enough speed in the car to generate heat.  Next time, we're taking the Honda.

Some of the Best Things About Skiing in Italy

No rules- while at Cortina, we came across the sign for a closed trail.  We actually really needed to go down the trail to get to where we wanted to be.  While we stood around and contemplated risking our temporary ability to live in Italy, a group of Italian skiers came upon the same trail.  In true Italian fashion, they saw the sign, looked at each other and headed down the slopes.  When in Cortina...

Lots of snow- Both days featured trails covered in snow...more snow than I've ever seen at home skiing.  The top of Tofana (a part of Cortina) is a big snow bowl where it's so white, you can't even tell where you are going.  Awesome conditions for mid-December.

Huttes and ski races- Unlike home, there are no "ski lodges" here.  Instead, there are several huttes, chalets, rifugios, snack bars, etc.  Most look like log cabins and serve a variety of food (very expensive food in some instances).  At Alta Badia, we ate at a very cute hutte that was packed with skiers watching a World Cup ski race...the irony!  Turns out Alta Badia hosted the Men's World Cup ski race this weekend, where an American won!  How we did not even realize this race was going on just shows how massive the mountain was.

Olympic History- Cortina hosted the 1958 Winter Olympics.  If you didn't know, I'm obsessed with the Olympics, a hobby I picked up as a kid when my sister and I would pretend to be athletes from the "Unified Team" (truly a sign of growing up in the early 1990s).  At Cortina, we actually skied the 1956 Olympic run!  Epic!  Unfortunately, I only took home the silver.  We also parked for free in the Olympic Stadium parking lot.  No big deal.

Gondolas- European skiers love gondolas!  They also seem to like lifts in general. Alta Badia and Cortina each probably had five different gondolas going to different parts of the mountain...followed by chair lifts bringing you further up the mountain. I never really ride gondolas at home...Loon's is too crowded, Cannon's might bring you to the top of a mountain without any snow and the Chondola at Sunday River turned my favorite part of the mountain into a traffic nightmare.

Crazy Trails- It was always an adventure on the slopes both days.  Trails seemed to go on forever in any direction.  One trail at Alta Badia featured two-way skiing...up and down hill!   At Cortina, we took one trail that required us to cross at least 5 streets and a small bridge over a river.  Yes, we crossed streets on skis...

 That's it from the slopes.  Until next time (which should be very soon!)...