Tag Archives: Sestriere

Posts from Base Camp

My top 10 European ski areas

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I won’t try to objectively rank the best ski areas in Europe… there are far too many for that! But why not try to rank the ones I know?

The question: in which resort would I most want to spend an entire week of skiing, without regard to cost? Everything else can be considered: the skiing, the town, the atmosphere, and the food are all fair game. I tried not to assign too much weight to the particular place I stayed: if I did, one otherwise fine Italian area wouldn’t have been on the list…as our hotel was located next to what seemed to be a sewage plant. Let’s start the countdown to #1!

The insane “Swiss Wall” starts at the French border, in the Portes du Soleil ski region. As you can see, some parts have a 90% gradient!

10. Morzine (Portes du Soleil), France. Full marks for the extent of this region: it’s the second biggest in the world, with 13 different resorts and 208 ski lifts! Some of the resorts are in Switzerland, and it is fun to ski back and forth between countries. I wasn’t as keen on the sheer numbers of skiers, and some of the resorts (Avoriaz in particular) are purpose-built with little or no character. The Swiss resorts are smaller and more inviting, but the skiing on the Swiss side is also relatively limited. But there’s always the Swiss Wall…

Believe it or not: this is on-piste in the afternoon above Borgata (Sestriere)

9. Sestriere (Via Lattea), Italy. Italian for “Milky Way”, the Via Lattea includes 5 Italian resorts and one French resort (and 70 lifts). But getting to the French resort is not easy, especially when conditions are less than ideal. Still, we found some spectacular pistes…that made us forget about the sewage plant beside our hotel. Fortunately, most hotels are located away from that plant. Sestriere is another purpose-built resort, but it is old enough to still be interesting (a cylindrical hotel, anyone?).

Lots of choices, high above Lenk and Adelboden (Switzerland)

8. Lenk, Switzerland. Linked to the resort of Adelboden, this is a sentimental choice. It’s my Heimatort (place of origin) in Switzerland, and I can ski with family members here. While not as extensive as the other places on my list, it still feels very Swiss and I didn’t find crowds to be a problem. It’s also a quick train ride away from St. Stephan, which is part of the separate Gstaad ski area (and home to more skiing relatives). I had one of my best powder days ever here.

Madonna di Campiglio

7. Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. Not as extensive as the Via Lattea area, but scores higher on things like atmosphere and food quality. Like Lenk, it caters more to a domestic crowd. Perhaps for that reason, I really felt like I was on vacation when I was skiing here. I don’t think I heard any English during the entire week. We also spent an entire morning at an outdoor cafe!

Stuben at night

6. Stuben (St. Anton/Arlberg), Austria. The Arlberg ski region is another vast area, including 7 different resorts (perhaps more by now!). I enjoyed tiny and remote Stuben, which retained some Tyrolean character, but still gave access to the larger areas such as St. Anton, Lech and Zurs. You really have to pick your base carefully: St. Anton, for example, is just too rowdy and “in your face” for me.

Our ski group passing through the rocks at Pomedes (Cortina d’Ampezzo)

5. Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Similar to Madonna di Campiglio, this is a major resort with a domestic focus. But I found the setting even more spectacular: skiing even closer to (and through!) the stunning Dolomites, and the legendary “Hidden Valley” actually lives up to the mystique of its name. With 12 distinct resorts in the Dolomiti SuperSki area, the options are endless even though there aren’t too many pistes in Cortina itself.

I’m enjoying the empty slopes at Piz Lagalb!

4. Celerina (St. Moritz), Switzerland. While St. Moritz is too posh for my taste, staying in nearby Celerina was the perfect way to experience this collection of five distinct resorts. Corvatsch had the best overall skiing, but the remote glacier areas of Diavolezza and Lagalb are unforgettable skiing experiences that few people bother to experience. The long-ish bus ride to Diavolezza and Lagalb is worth it: one day, there were only 10 other skiers on the slopes!

The jagged Dolomite peaks

3. Selva (Val Gardena), Italy. At the opposite end of the Dolomiti SuperSki area from Cortina d’Ampezzo, the town is perhaps not as elegant. But the combination of vast skiing options, unsurpassed food, and interesting culture made it one of my very best ski weeks ever (see the most recent post on this blog for proof!). This is the one resort that I keep wanting to revisit, and I would even like to return to the very same hotel. I never thought a hotel meal plan could be so amazing.

Me on the lower slopes of the mighty Eiger

2. Wengen, Switzerland. I have skied here (and the linked resort of Grindelwald) so often that I consider it my “home” ski area. So while it is partly a sentimental choice, I challenge anyone to find a more dramatic experience than skiing in front of (or on!) the legendary north face of the Eiger. I especially love the steep pistes (such as Black Rock or Oh God) just below the Eigergletscher, but there are challenges elsewhere too. One cannot forget the Schilthorn: despite being most famous for a James Bond movie, it’s a demanding and impossibly scenic mountain.

At the top of Klein Matterhorn, just before a wee bout of altitude sickness kicked in!

1. Zermatt, Switzerland. It’s huge, in every sense of the word. The resort spills over into Italy. You can ski a 20 km-long piste!! It even includes the Matterhorn (see photo at the top of this post)!!! But the best summary of Zermatt is a simple one: it is a resort that is unquestionably meant for skiers. If you are a serious skier and can only ski once in the Alps, you need to seriously consider Zermatt. Not every run is 20 km long, but many of them do seem to go on forever. There is an exceptional variety of terrain, with the Swiss side in particular having some very challenging on-piste skiing. Now, if only cost weren’t really an issue…

Posts from Base Camp

This Year’s Travel Plan

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

2016 ended up being a busy year for travel, with three major trips (Italy, Chile/Argentina, and Denmark/Sweden) and a number of shorter trips within Ontario.  So…what’s in the cards for 2017?

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised that another ski trip is coming up soon.  Last year, I spent some time in the Cinque Terre region of Italy before skiing for a week in the “Via Lattea” ski region surrounding Sestriere.

On piste madness! (Unheard-of mid-afternoon deep powder on an open piste at Sestriere, 2016)

This year, I will be skiing at a completely different resort in the Alps:  Madonna di Campiglio, in the beautiful Dolomite mountains.  This is the 4th time I will be skiing in Italy since 2013.  Why Italy again?  There are quite a few reasons for this.

Our lunch venue above the resort of Sansicario (Sestriere, 2016)

An important factor is the cost.  The other major alpine skiing countries of France, Austria and Switzerland are simply more expensive than Italy:  the lift tickets, the food, the hotels and even the ground transportation are presently all cheaper in Italy.   Switzerland suffers additionally from a very unfavourable exchange rate.  There are also many airports in northern Italy and the airfares to those airports are generally less expensive too. As a bonus, the on-slope food in the other major Dolomite resorts (Cortina d’Ampezzo, Val Gardena) was among the best I have ever had.  It may be cheaper, but it’s not because of a lack of quality!

Our ski group passing through the rocks at Pomedes (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 2014)

Another factor is that skiing in Italy is easily combined with something completely different.  This year, we will be spending a week in Italy before hitting the slopes.  There are many things to see and do in northern Italy that have nothing to do with mountains and skiing.  In addition to last year’s visit to the Cinque Terre region, I’ve previously acclimatized to Europe in places like Venice, Verona and Varenna.

Shocked and awed at Forcella Staunies (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 2014)

I have to create at least a little bit of suspense about the trip, so I’m not going to name the two main towns we plan to visit before arriving in Madonna di Campiglio.  However, I will say that our flight to Italy arrives in Rome (we’re returning from Bologna)…so that gives us a lot of options for our first week.  Regions such as Tuscany and Umbria are obviously very strong contenders!

Mountain restaurant at Son Forca (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 2014)

As for the rest of 2017, I have not made any definitive plans yet.  However, it might be time for a road trip and I really haven’t spent any time in the U.S.A. since my trip to Washington D.C. in April of 2014.

The main thing, however, is that I don’t want to overplan and commit to anything too far in advance.  One of the best parts about visiting Denmark last November was the immediacy:  I didn’t research it for months or years beforehand.  It just emerged out of an unexpected brief gap in my schedule and a frequent flyer plan point redemption offer. I still have a significant number of points in another frequent flyer program that may result in a similar opportunity in 2017.

The horses who “lifted” us to Armentarola (Cortina d’Ampezzo 2014)

The ski photos in today’s post are some of my favourite ones from Cortina d’Ampezzo (2014) and Sestriere (2016).  I will see if I can locate some Val Gardena photos for a “Travel Flashback” post on that resort before leaving for Italy.

Posts from the road

Arrivederci, Italia!

Leave a comment

(Torino, Italy)

My last two days in Italy were blessed by brilliant sunshine. The first, in Sestriere, was a rather unplanned day off the slopes…but I did enjoy exploring the town and indulging in some local pastries.

Sestriere is a “purpose-built” resort with an unusually high number of cylindrical buildings. Not much character, then, but looking up into the surrounding gleaming mountains does compensate somewhat for the lack of history.  There was an unexpected fireworks display on the last night:  although it is difficult to capture it on camera, it really was impressive to see the fireworks reflecting off the white snow.

One of Sestriere's cylindrical hotels. Note the spiraling windows!
One of Sestriere’s cylindrical hotels. Note the spiraling windows!

We traveled to Turin (Torino) for the final full day in Italy.  I was expecting a city similar to Milan, but I found Turin to be a little more accessible.  There were more affordable indulgences and more elegant architecture:  many streets had arcades to shield you from the sun…something I didn’t see much in the more commercial and hectic Milan.  In a nutshell:  there were lots of appealing opportunities for gelato, pastries and focaccia!  It was only March 19, but for lunch we were able to eat our pizza outdoors.

Dining al fresco in Turin
Dining al fresco in Turin

Dinner was a special treat.  We found a “locals only” restaurant a few streets away from our hotel.  It was family run:  the parents were running the show and the (adult) children were handling the customers.  After 12 days in Italy, I was feeling bold enough to do all of the ordering in Italian.  This was partially out of necessity:  there was no English menu here.  We also lived on the edge, as we didn’t necessarily know what we were ordering. I knew enough Italian to avoid trippa (tripe) and our appetizer of insalata verde (green salad) was obvious enough…but we didn’t truly know what would show up for our main courses.   No worries – our pasta dishes were delicious and we had lots of the real parmigiano reggiano cheese to go with them.

My pizza capricciosa; I was so hungry (and it was so good) that I ate it in about 30 seconds after taking this picture
My pizza capricciosa in Turin; I was so hungry (and it was so good) that I ate it in about 30 seconds after taking this picture

For dessert, we took an even more daring approach.  Reasoning that the most expensive dessert would also be the best, we threw caution to the wind and ordered the mysteriously-named (so mysterious that I cannot remember it) house specialty.  Great call:  we enjoyed a phenomenal dessert with hazelnut liqueur and dark chocolate in various forms.  How much did we enjoy dinner? I completely forgot to take pictures of the food!

Downtown Turin
Downtown Turin

While we were only there for about a day, we left with a very positive impression of Turin…even if that was based mostly on the food.  The only negative was that people seemed to smoke a lot here:  no smoking was permitted inside but some of the more crowded areas downtown were a little unpleasant after being in the fresh air of the Cinque Terre and the Italian Alps for nearly two weeks.

I didn't expect to come across a tango festival in Turin!
I didn’t expect to come across a tango festival in Turin!

Thus endeth another Italian ski adventure.  On our last night in Sestriere, we had a meeting and decided on the venues for next year’s ski camp.  I’ll keep it a secret for now…however, given how much we enjoyed Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val Gardena, I am reasonably certain that next year’s choices (in two different countries) will be great as well.

Stay tuned for some Canadian content!

Posts from the road

Skiing Italy’s Milky Way – Part 4 (The Final Chapter)

Leave a comment

(Sestriere, Italy)

The stage was set:  after exploring the Milky Way ski region for 4 days and confirming the logistics involved, our 5th day would be spent on an epic round-trip journey on skis to Montgenevre, France.

But it wasn’t.  We awoke to yet another snowstorm and made the difficult decision to stay closer to Sestriere.  It just didn’t make sense to ski all the way to France without being able to see anything.

Pausing mid-morning before resuming an attack on the "Kandahar" Olympic downhill slope
Pausing mid-morning at a plateau before resuming an attack on the “Kandahar” Olympic downhill slope

Instead, we returned to the nearby Borgata area and set about exploring some of the pistes that we hadn’t seen back on Day 1.  Something cool happened:  while the top of the mountain was shrouded in snow and had essentially no visibility, the bottom half (which could only be reached by skiing all the way down from the top) was actually relatively clear even though it also had been blanketed with tons of fresh snow.  Thus, if you were willing to endure some blind skiing up top, you were rewarded with amazing conditions at the bottom.

The Club Med village at Pragelato
The Club Med village at Pragelato

We stumbled upon the “Kandahar” (Banchetta Nasi) piste early and took the plunge.  This was the 2006 Olympic men’s downhill course and the buckets of snow made it an exhilarating ride.  We returned to it often, thoroughly enjoying conditions that are rarely associated with on-piste skiing.

We decided to ski to the village of Pragelato for lunch.  The lone piste to the village was a winter wonderland; nowhere near the Kandahar in terms of difficulty but nonetheless incredibly scenic as it slowly wound through the snow-blanketed forest to the valley.  Alas, Pragelato turned out to be a Club Med village…with very formally dressed staff and steep lunch prices for non-guests.  We ate instead at a more humble place back on the Borgata slopes.

My lunch: potatoes, bacon, cheese, egg...
My prototypical Alpine lunch: potatoes, bacon, cheese, egg…

While the Kandahar piste remained excellent for the rest of the day and we returned to it periodically,  the sun eventually emerged over the entire area and my posse found even more stunning deep powder conditions on pistes that had been marked as closed or had simply been overlooked by everybody else.   When looking at the next two pictures (as well as the photo at the very top of this post), remember that these pistes had been groomed overnight:  these photos were all taken in the afternoon!   As you can see, there was nobody else around.

Believe it or not: this is on-piste in the afternoon above Borgata
Believe it or not: this is on-piste in the afternoon above Borgata

Access to this kind of skiing is usually only by helicopter…and yet, we were able to have the same experience for the price of a simple lift ticket.  We were incredibly fortunate.

And then, on the last run of the day, shadows began to fall on the slopes.  I was within sight of Sestriere village when I planned a turn through what I thought was yet another stash of powder.  Alas, the low light was playing tricks on me and it was not powder at all.  I didn’t realize this until the last second and took an awkward stumble.  To make a long story short, I decided that I should not risk a more permanent injury by skiing the next day with a stiff shoulder and neck.

More on-piste (!) skiing in the sunny afternoon above Borgata...begging to be captured on film for posterity
More on-piste (!) skiing in the sunny afternoon above Borgata…begging to be captured on film for posterity

I was more than a little frustrated at the time.  However, as I type this, I realize that I did have a remarkable 5 days of skiing…and it was probably equivalent to 10 days of skiing in “normal” circumstances.  Taking it easy the next day also ensured that I could enjoy the last two days of my holiday.

Stay tuned for the final post from my trip to Italy!

Posts from the road

Skiing Italy’s Milky Way – Part 3 (Another Blizzard!)

Leave a comment

(Sestriere, Italy)

Day 4 on the Milky Way slopes was set aside for a journey by skis to the resort of Claviere on the French border.  It all made sense: we would speed through Sansicario (familiar to us from Day 3) and travel through Cesana Torinese on the way to Claviere, thus setting the stage for a trip to Montgenevre (in France) on our 5th day of skiing.  There was just one thing we did not count on:  another blizzard.

Old house near one of the lifts above Cesana Torinese
Old building near one of the lifts above Cesana Torinese

Everything looked good at first:  we roared down the familiar Olympica piste at Sansicario and at Cesana Torinese we enjoyed the novelty of taking a chair lift above both a major river and a highway.  However, by the time we got onto the 3rd (and final) chairlift above Cesana Torinese, we couldn’t even see the chair in front of us.   Amazingly, it got worse.

At the top of the Claviere area, several lifts (including the 3rd lift from Cesana Torinese) converge and several pistes branch off in various directions.  The problem:  we couldn’t see *any* of them.  We had to walk in a big circle to figure out where the pistes were located…and then figure out which one went down to the actual resort of Claviere.

This piste just above Cesana Torinese was easy enough that we could take pictures while skiing...but at least we could see!
This piste just above Cesana Torinese was so flat that we could take pictures while skiing…but at least we could see!

Skiing blind in whiteout conditions on slopes you’ve never seen is not ideal.  Presumably because my jacket’s colour is “creamsicle orange”, I was nominated to lead the way.   Well, skiing blind is a very good way to remember to bend your knees.  It is essential because you do not know if you are going to hit a mogul (or encounter any change in pitch) until after you’ve hit it.  If your knees are not bent for shock absorption, you will become involuntarily (and very ungracefully) airborne at the first unexpected bump.

This is about halfway up the mountain at Claviere...the visibility got worse at the top!
This was taken at lunchtime, about halfway up the mountain at Claviere.  Yes, this picture is in focus…and the visibility got worse at the top!

It wasn’t all bad.  As we descended the abandoned slopes toward the village, we naturally found lots of deep powder and even gained a tiny bit of visibility.  Despite skiing a number of pistes, however, we cannot truly say that we have *seen* the slopes of Claviere.  We only *felt* them.   We decided to take an early lunch, in the hopes that the blizzard might clear while we were eating.  No such luck…but we made an excellent choice for lunch!

Claviere's excellent La Coche restaurant
Claviere’s excellent Baita La Coche restaurant – nobody eating on the sun terrace today

We ate at Baita La Coche, a family-run restaurant approximately one-third of the way up the mountain from the base of Claviere.   I saw polenta e salsiccia on the menu, although I was skeptical that it would live up to my expectations.  Wrong!  It was even better than the one I had on the first day of skiing!  I had a cioccolato calda (hot chocolate) to go with it, as I had a bit of a chill from the blizzard.  It was deliciously dark chocolate and warmed me up very well, but it certainly couldn’t wash down my polenta:  it was more like hot pudding.  My spoon couldn’t reach the bottom because the chocolate was so thick!

Another delicious lunch of polenta e salsiccia...with some seriously thick cioccolato calda!
Another delicious lunch of polenta e salsiccia…with some seriously thick cioccolato calda!

Because the visibility at Claviere seemed to be getting even worse, we decided to be prudent and return to Sansicario (which kept us close to our base in Sestriere).  We didn’t want to miss the last lift home in conditions like these!

Back in Sansicario, the blizzard still raged but the visibility was a little better.  With the slopes here also being empty, we enjoyed some absolutely brilliant (and on-piste!) deep mid-afternoon powder.  This is unusual in itself, but almost unheard of in the latter half of March when ice and unwanted moguls can predominate.  Once again, we whooped and hollered like little kids as we sliced and bounded through the somewhat visible snow.  There’s nothing like fresh snow to keep you young!

My posse climbing over the pass from Sansicario to Sestriere at the end of the day
My posse climbing over the pass from Sansicario to Sestriere at the end of the day…it is still snowing heavily!

Stay tuned for more:  would the weather clear so that we could actually see Claviere and then finally make it to France on skis?

Posts from the road

Skiing Italy’s Milky Way – Part 2 (Here Comes the Sun!)

Leave a comment

(Sestriere, Italy)

After two days of snow, we awoke to a brilliantly sunny sky for our third day of skiing.  Today’s mission:  to thoroughly explore the Sansicario ski area, located to the northwest of Sestriere.

Isolated slopes above Sestriere
Isolated slopes above Sestriere

Looking at the piste map, the main attraction here was the Olympica – the women’s downhill course at the 2006 Olympics.  As we had hoped, this long piste was steep, straight and still covered with lots of fresh snow.   Even though it was the most direct route down to the actual resort of Sansicario, it was wide enough to accommodate substantial traffic and still retain abundant stashes of untracked powder.

Our lunch venue above the resort of Sansicario
Our lunch venue above the resort of Sansicario

While this was our favourite run today, the day was really devoted to enjoying the beauty of the snowy Alps under a brilliant March sun.  There were long pistes winding through the woods…where we would be the only skiers for 10 minutes or more.  It is hard to imagine this happening in North America:  we certainly did not expect sunny silence and isolation at a major resort that had recently hosted the Olympics.

Lunch al fresco under Monte Rotta, overlooking Sansicario
Lunch al fresco under Monte Rotta, overlooking Sansicario

Lunch was at a strategically situated restaurant about one-third of the way down from the top of the mountain.  We were able to get an outdoor table at the edge of the balcony, gleaming in the sun and overlooking the rest of the area.  The food was simple (“Milanese”, better known as Wienerschnitzel) but satisfying.  We ate at a very leisurely pace, thoroughly feeling as if we were living la dolce vita.

Taken before the last run of the day, just above Sestriere
Taken before the last run of the day, just above Sestriere

Despite the leisurely lunch, we must have skied on virtually every Sansicario piste by the end of the day.   While we cut loose a little bit when we skied on Olympica, we didn’t work too hard for the most part.  We did, however, manage to scope out the next day’s route:  in order to ski to France, we would have to ski beyond Sansicario through Cesane Torinese and then Claviere.  Given the distances involved (the French resort of Montgenevre lay beyond the Italian border town of Claviere), we would not be able to make any navigational mistakes if we were to ski to France and make it back to Sestriere before the lifts closed.

Stay tuned to see if we will achieve our goal!

Posts from the road

Skiing Italy’s Milky Way – Part 1

2 Comments

(Sestriere, Italy)

We will be spending six days on the slopes of Italy’s Via Lattea (literally, the Milky Way), a huge ski area connecting 6 resorts in Italy and France that hosted the skiing events of the 2006 Winter Olympics.  Our base is the purpose-built resort of Sestriere, located at the eastern end of the Milky Way.   The Sestriere/Borgata ski area is right above the resort; from the resort itself, you can also take a gondola to the top of the Sauze d’Oulx and Sansicario ski areas.

Continuing west from Sansicario are the Cesana Torinese and Claviere resorts in Italy and finally the Montgenèvre resort in France.  This is a huge interconnected ski area, all for a fraction of the cost of skiing at one of the major resorts in western Canada or the U.S.A.  Our challenge was to conquer the area and, conditions permitting, complete at least one international ski circuit.

Commemorating the 2006 Winter Olympics in Sestriere...still some fog!
Commemorating the 2006 Winter Olympics in Sestriere…still some fog!

Our first day was spent primarily in the Borgata area.   The weather conditions could best be described as “snowy and foggy”:  there was lots of powder on the slopes, but it was difficult to see much more than a few feet ahead.  Even more difficult was skiing with improperly fitted bindings!  I always bring my own ski boots to Europe, to prevent blisters and other discomforts, but I usually rent my skis for the week in the resort.  Unfortunately, as my boots kept sliding out of my bindings, I had to return to the rental shop after only a few minutes on the slopes.  The owner was very apologetic and recognized his staff’s error immediately.  It was a bit of a frustrating start but, on the other hand, skiing was extremely easy once the problem had been fixed!

Some of the apres-ski scene in the later afternoon at Sestriere
Some of the apres-ski scene in the later afternoon at Sestriere

The visibility was a little better on the lower slopes, where the fog was not quite as heavy, and I enjoyed a hearty lunch of polenta e salsiccia at a mountain restaurant.  I find ordinary polenta somewhat bland, but this dish combined polenta with a tasty tomato sauce and some local sausage.   The afternoon’s skiing was better, even though (or perhaps because) it continued to snow heavily, and we all looked forward to waking up the next day to deep fields of powder and brilliant Southern Alps sun.

Polenta e Salsiccia
Polenta e Salsiccia

Our second day of skiing took us to the Sauze d’Oulx ski region.  Alas, neither the snow nor the fog had lifted:  as a result, we struggled with visibility near the top of the resort but enjoyed some epic powder runs (on-piste!) at slightly lower elevations in the morning.  This was my kind of skiing:  snow flying with every turn but a complete absence of any scraping or skidding.   These definitely were not eastern Canadian ski conditions!  While we went off-piste a little bit, the conditions really were excellent on the pistes themselves and it wasn’t truly necessary to leave them.  As with many resorts, the Via Lattea slopes are less busy on weekdays…especially when the sun isn’t shining.

The fog starts to clear at the end of the day, above Sestriere
The fog starts to clear for the posse at the end of the day

Well, we did leave the officially open pistes once more in the late afternoon when the sun finally appeared.  As we were riding a lift to the top of the Sauze d’Oulx area, an allegedly closed piste emerged from the fog and demanded that we give it a try.  Try it we did…and we immediately declared Piste #25 (“Canale Colo”) the current holder of the Traumpiste (“dream run”) title.   There was joyous whooping and hollering as we attacked the deep, soft and virtually untracked snow.  It was an exhilarating late-day surprise and we resolved to return later in the week.  Surely the newly-emergent sun would return the next day, so we could enjoy these fabulous conditions from top to bottom with spectacular views as well?

Looking towards Sestriere - our hotel is at the top left of the village
Looking towards Sestriere – our “cruise ship” hotel is at the top left of the village

Stay tuned to find out what happens on our journey to Sansicario…and beyond!

Posts from the road

From Vernazza to Sestriere

Leave a comment

(Sestriere, Italy)

My last dinner in Vernazza was an adventure.  I went to a local restaurant called Antica Osteria il Baretto that specialized in traditional cuisine.  However, the traditional specialties here are seafood (particularly acciughe, or anchovies) and pesto.  Those of you who know me will appreciate that a garlic-laden sauce such as pesto is not something I typically enjoy.   While I will eat shrimp, fish and chips, and perhaps lobster or crab, I really don’t eat much seafood at all.

View of Vernazza, near the start of the trail to Corniglia
View of Vernazza, near the start of the trail to Corniglia

However, I was determined to eat local and decided to order a fritto mista (mixed fry) of local seafood.  This consisted of deep fried squid,  anchovies, and some kind of miniature octopus.  The sum total of my previous experience with those foods was having a couple of pieces of calamari on one occasion.  Before I could reconsider my choice, the plate was on my table.  Armed only with a large wedge of lemon, I dived in.

My bold adventure in Cinque Terre cuisine: fritto mista
My bold adventure in Cinque Terre cuisine: fritto mista

I felt like “Mikey” from those old TV commercials for Life Cereal.  As it turned out, the anchovies were not the harsh and salty ones to which North Americans have become accustomed.  They were actually quite mild and went well with the lemon.  I completely cleaned the plate, save for a couple of anchovy tails and a lemon rind.

Being somewhat proud of my achievement, I decided to try the Sciacchetrà dessert wine that had tasted so good in my gelato a couple of days before.  It was served with some biscotti (for dipping!) and was an absolutely delicious way to end my adventurous meal.  If you enjoy white port, you will almost certainly enjoy Sciacchetrà.

Grape harvesting "monorail" on the terraces high above Vernazza
Grape harvesting “monorail” on the terraces high above Vernazza

Evenings are quiet in the Cinque Terre, in the off-season at least, as relatively few tourists actually stay in the towns.  In order to capture the tranquility of this time of year, I took some photographs from the harbour as the sun went down:  there is one at the top of this post.

The next morning, I went to the local bakery and loaded up on pastries and focaccia.  It was going to be a long journey from Vernazza to Sestriere:  I would change trains in both La Spezia and Torino before transferring to a bus in Oulx.

Another view of the Cinque Terre coast, from the hiking trail between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza
Another view of the Cinque Terre coast, from the hiking trail between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza

I was expecting some drama on this odyssey, as my train into the Cinque Terre had been more than 2 hours late.  However, the train journeys ended up being uneventful and on time.  There was some mild excitement in Oulx as the bus ticket had to be bought from a coffee shop and there was no information on which bus was actually going to Sestriere…but it all worked out in the end and I enjoyed being the only passenger.

This is the first picture I took in Sestriere: it is from the balcony of my hotel room
This is the first picture I took in Sestriere: it is from the balcony of my hotel room

In Sestriere, I am staying in the Palace Residence 2:  I liken it to going on a week-long cruise on a very large ship.  There is entertainment every night, a bunch of social activity organizers, reserved tables for meals…the only thing differentiating it from a cruise is the fact that I will be skiing during the day instead of taking shore excursions.

This is also the point where I met up with my ski posse for the next week.  We’re all very happy to be skiing again in Italy and are all looking forward to some extensive slope time over the next six days.  Let’s hope the weather cooperates!