(Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy)

Our final two days of skiing are now complete.  Yesterday, as promised, there was no strike and we were able to take the bus to Passo Falzarego and then ski to the Alta Badia ski region.  This is no ordinary transfer.  You begin by skiing many kilometres down the “Hidden Valley” to Armentarola.   I’m running out of words to describe our reactions to the scenery around here; how about “gobsmacked”?

We eventually ended up on an almost flat plain just outside Armentarola.  This normally means some tough skate-skiing, but in this case there was another option.  We could get pulled the final few minutes to Armentarola by a team of horses!  Together with about 20 of our similarly astonished ski brethren, we each grabbed the ropes trailing the horses and held on (while still on our skis).  I’ve never seen anything like it.  I had some apprehension due to a fairly serious horse allergy, but I was far enough behind the horses that this was not really an issue.

We spent the rest of the day skiing in Alta Badia.  This area is very famous in Europe for the fierce battles that were fought in World War I.  There are tours (including ski tours) where you can visit the front lines and installations of the Austrian and Italian armies.  As a result of Italy’s victory in this region, the Austrian province of Sud-Tirol became part of Italy and was renamed Alto Adige.  There has obviously been some “Italianization”, but German remains the primary language in much of Alto Adige.  In fact, a third language (Ladin) is also spoken around here.  Ladin is closely related to Rumantsch, a language spoken in the remote southeast corner of Switzerland.  To my ears, Ladin and Rumantsch are like Italian spoken with German sounds.  As the name suggests, Ladin is directly descended from Latin.   Considerable efforts are now being made to preserve this ancient language.

I mention this because we were essentially on the linguistic border for lunch.  I could order my pasta in German rather than my enthusiastic but almost non-existent Italian.  The servers carried the huge wallets that are so characteristic of the German-speaking countries, there was no coperto, many of the dishes had Ladin names, and Skiwasser appeared on the menu.  I remain fascinated by crossing borders like this, even though we were in Italy at all times.

For our last day of skiing, we revisited the “greatest hits” of the Tofana area.  The last day of skiing is often a little sad, as we realize that we are having our last mountain lunch, our last lift and eventually our final run.   I always feel very alive skiing in the Alps, as if I am reconnecting with a more natural way of life.  While it is always hard to see a ski week end, I am also always highly motivated to begin planning the next mountain adventure. It’s now time to return to Venice.

(Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy)

When we first looked at the piste map for the Passo Falzarego ski area, we didn’t have very high expectations for our third day on the slopes.  We knew that the view from the top of Lagazuoi was highly regarded, but otherwise the ski area looked a little lightweight.  There weren’t many lifts, nor were there a lot of pistes.  On the plus side, it looked like the weather would once again be sunny and warm.

We needn’t have worried.  It was another wonderful day on the slopes.   We went on some pistes more than once but that allowed us to ski them properly after taking photographs the first time down.

Unfortunately, the hockey game didn’t take place that evening.  It was supposed to be a playoff game between Cortina d’Ampezzo and Fassa…but Cortina had already eliminated Fassa and therefore the scheduled game didn’t need to be played.  We still wandered around the 1956 Olympic Arena and looked at the various Olympic-related exhibits inside.

Our 4th day of skiing was supposed to be in the Alta Badia region to the west of Cortina.   To get there, you need to take a bus to Passo Falzarego and then ski down the mysterious and isolated “Hidden Valley”.  We were a few minutes early for the scheduled 8:45 a.m. bus departure, along with a number of other skiers.  The minutes crept by until it was after 9:00 a.m., when somebody decided to ask the staff member at the bus station when the bus might arrive.

We then learned that there was no bus:  there was a rotating strike and our bus driver was not working. There was no sign and no announcement.  We were quite disappointed about this and also began to wonder about the wisdom of having purchased the (more expensive) ski pass that enabled us to also ski in Alta Badia.  We quickly decided to ski in the Faloria region again, as one of our group members arrived late on Sunday and hadn’t skied there yet. There was also one piste, high up in the rocks, that went through one of those impossibly rugged mountain-top canyons but was closed on Sunday due to high winds.  Maybe it would be open today?

This makeshift day turned out to be the best yet.  Faloria was even less crowded than on Sunday and the pistes were in excellent condition despite the continuing warm temperatures.   We skied the long black-rated piste from the top of Tondi several times because the conditions were so good and the layout of the piste enabled long, uninterrupted skiing.

We had lunch at the mountain restaurant pictured at the top of my previous Cortina post and then  turned our eyes to the nearby Forcella Staunies piste (also pictured in my previous post).   It wasn’t open in the morning but now there seemed to be some activity around it.

Yes!  It was now open!   And then, as we rode the chair lift up to the top of the piste, we fell silent.  You cannot help feeling completely awed when sheer cliffs abruptly rise hundreds of metres on either side of you.  You feel like an insect, a fragile piece of near-insignificance, fortunate to be there but also well-advised not to linger very long.

The rocks are so close to you that no photograph can really capture their immensity, although we tried our best!  We returned several times – when would we ever have such an opportunity again?

Another travel lesson learned – although the strike was inconvenient, it enabled an  alternative that was probably even better than what we missed.  We can always go to Alta Badia tomorrow, as we were assured that the striking bus driver would return.

(Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy)

Cortina d’Ampezzo, located in the Dolomite mountains, hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics.  It was a very proud moment for post-war Italy and Cortina remains a very fashionable Italian ski resort…although I would say that the majority of guests do not ski.  Many are here to relax, see, and be seen.  Furs are commonplace.

Normally, I would avoid places like that.  However, I’m here in Cortina because I had a very enjoyable ski week last year in Val Gardena, Italy.  In fact, on the balance, that was probably my favourite week of skiing ever.  The skiing, weather, food, accommodation and scenery were practically perfect.   My skiing friends felt the same way, so we decided that we would return to the same general area; moving only from Val Gardena on the western (German and Ladin speaking) edge of the Dolomite Ski Region to Cortina d’Ampezzo on the eastern (Italian speaking) edge for this year.

The Dolomites are like no other ski area.  Massive, tooth-shaped rocks crown the mountain ridges.  The rocks glow slightly red, especially as the sun goes down in the late afternoon.  There are just as many “Kodak Moments” as in Venice.  Mountain restaurants are everywhere and the food is excellent.

Happily, the first two days of skiing have lived up to expectations.  As it is relatively late in the season and many Cortina guests aren’t skiers anyway, there are practically no lift lines.  There is a lot of snow – Cortina being one of the few resorts in the Alps to have substantial snowfall this winter (which has been very mild in Europe).  However, the most important factor is the weather.  Today, the temperature reached 16’C in the early afternoon.  I was skiing in a t-shirt and a jacket; even such minimal layering was too warm.  The sun has been shining brilliantly for two straight days and we expect more of the same for at least the next two days.

Yesterday, we concentrated on skiing the Faloria and Forcella Staunies areas.  We had Forcella Staunies practically to ourselves.  There was one very interesting period of high winds.  Although it was perfectly sunny, the wind was strong enough to move me uphill (from a full stop) on my skis.

Today, we spent the day in the Tofana and Pomedes areas.  We ate lunch outside, high above Cortina at a place called Col Druscie.  Col Druscie hosted the slalom races in the 1956 Olympics; right before lunch, we were able to ski the actual Olympic slalom piste ourselves without any other skiers on the slope.

With three languages and a history of being shuffled around between various countries and empires, this part of Italy is also extremely interesting from a cultural perspective.  I hope to comment more on that in a future post.  Right now, I need to get some sleep so that I can fully appreciate tomorrow’s skiing in the Lagazuoi/Passo Falzarego area.   We also hope to go to a professional Italian hockey game in the evening.