Italy:
March 13th, 2008:
Thursday night we left Geneva after work and headed down to the Aosta valley to get ready for what looked like a nice start to the vacation after reports of 60cm in the Monterosa. We stayed in St-Vincent a nice village at the bottom of the ski circus. The digs (Reasonably cheap and family run place):
…and a had a little ;-) Grappa too:
Travel Time: Geneva to Saint Vincent: 162 km – about 2 hours
March 14th, 2008:
After a nice nights rest we woke up to a bluebird sky
…but it was about 10c out at 1000M, so that being said we decided to go high and head to Cervinia/Zermatt for a little CH/IT ski day. Arriving it was like spring, no snow, sunny, a day that we probably should have had a few beers and relaxed in the sun instead of going to skiing…but come on this was the first day of vacation.
Once up on the slopes we found some slush, pow, and everything in between….including the always great scenery that is the Alps….hello Matterhorn!
..a little air?
The day ended up more like a warm-up/scenic tour day as the snow didn’t really meet expectations but we added 5251M to the vacation total vert.
As the snow wasn’t great on the western side we headed to the eastern side of IT and to Desenzano for our starting point to get around to Marmolada/Val Gardena crossing our fingers the temperature would start to fall again in Euroland.
Saint Vincent to Desenzano: 273 km – about 2 hours 49 mins
March 15th, 2008:
Warm again…screw it we’re off to Venice.
The train was the quick option:
For anyone who has not been to Venice…GO!
An unbelievable day of chilling in a great city….March is a great time to go..low tourist population, everything is still going on, etc.
March 16th, 2008:
OK time to get our ski on again? The weather continued to not cooperate and we headed into the Dolomites with little hope that we were going to ski. Warm, windy, cloudy, rainy…just poopy. We arrived at the highest point possible in the area (Marmolada) and it was just horrible. Windy and top lifts closed, so we made and executive decision….head to AT!
The muddy and rainy valley:
[Desenzano to Zillertal: 340 km – about 3 hours 34 mins
Austria:
Section Sponsored by:
March 17th, 2008:
After a little research of the radar and temps we decided to stop in the Zillertal. After two down days it was time to get it on….FINALLY! The temps had fallen and so did the snow. We got lucky here with 30+CM at 1800M and we had a little area picked to hit Hochfuegenski. Once up on the hill and through the gapper piste skiers it was on. We found a little shot off this 400M lift and just rocked marginal tracked for about 4 hours non-stop. KK and I liked it!
Daily Vert: 6,281M
The day ended with many Zillertal Beers and a feeling the vacation was getting on track….and the snow was returning…..our digs in Z:
March 18th, 2008:
Woke to snow at 600M and I knew it was on. Back to Hochfuegen….why not? I was getting this place dialed. No people, fast lifts, and tons of terrain…..did I mention that 40CM fell the night before? The AM was cloudy but with some spots of vis and knee deep pow!
KK first and second rip:
I wanted a little too!
So it was like someone was looking over us for the skunk on Sat/Sun and the skies opened up and from 1pm onwards it was like this:
A little hike out after the BC run:
Daily Vert: 7,886M
March 19th, 2008: (HAPPY B-DAY KK!!!!)
So could we repeat yesterday? Possibly…a little up the valley we found a few more pockets of pow on a bluebird day between storms in Tux: Our hotel for the night.
..and across from it our chariot!
G:
Daily Vert: 7,090M
After 3 days in Zillertal drinking great AT beer, skiing 3 days of pow, and eating killer Tirol food we were a little sad to leave Zillertal but excited for our next stop…Innsbruck!
Zillertal to Innsbruck: 64.7 km – about 53 mins
March 20th, 2008:
After a cool night of drink and food in Innsbruck it was off to meet Lea/Lea a TGR friend.in Kuhtai a small area about 40KM east of Innsbruck. KK and I showed up to a mix of sun and clouds with some good leftovers.
After a few runs Lea showed up with a big smile and ready to show us the goods.
Lea first rip down a little chute:
KK:
Lea showed us a 500M shot off the side with a 10 minute walk back to the lift that was all ours. A great time and nice to meet up with Lea finally.
Daily Vert: 4551M
Innsbruck to Kuhtai: 36.5 km – about 38 mins (x 2)
March 21st, 2008:
Another morning of clouds covered the landscape again but I knew with the little snow in Innsbruck there would some heavy flurries in the hills. Our hotel:
(the best B-fast of the trip!) and a great view:
..and right in DT:
Again we were to meet up with Lea for a little show around See an area about an hour west of Innsbruck. On the way the snow continued to pound down even in the lowlands. We arrived in See, parked across from the lift (about 10 cars there), tuned on the beacons, and got on it. Once up on this “smaller” AT area we found the goods off the backside.
Dumping!
After one lap we knew the day was going to be sick. Pow, inch and hour snow, and Lea for a guide (Thanks again!).
…and got it on in a wicked storm cycle
The trees rock in this place!
…and even some monoski steeze. (Crazy Fins!)
The late afternoon things got deep…Me (I need a brighter jacket)
4 o’clock rolled around to early but we were heading back into CH where we heard from Jay it had been pounding for 3 days. Said goodbye to AT and hello to CH!
Daily Vert: 4027M
Innsbruck to See: 84.3 km – about 58 mins
March 22nd, 2008:
The night before we drove about 3+ hours, mostly in the snow, to get into the little area of Disentis an area in CH that speaks Romansh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romansh_language . After a nice dinner and stay at a local lodge..this place is just perfect!
…… we headed to the hill early in the AM to get first tracks (45CM had fallen)….unlucky for us it snowed so much only 1 lift was open and the avi level was at 4!
Since it was the first time skiing the area we poked around carefully for the AM until the upper and side lifts opened. Again we got a little unlucky as I set off a slab and had to run out a little rip. After that we kinda were spooked and called it a day. Overall a very cool area that we need to go back to in better avi conditions:
Daily Vert: 3607M
See to Disentis: 284 km – about 3 hours 29 mins
Disentis to Sion: 163 km – about 2 hours 41 mins
CH:
March 23rd, 2008:
G3 was the call for Easter Sunday and it was the right one. We rolled into TeleAl’s in the AM ready to meet up with Al, Jay, and Tom. After a little catch up we headed to Reusch for the telecabin. Can you say pow, no peeps.
The crew!!!!!
The day was a mixed bag of sun, snow, pounding snow, no vis, some vis, whatever mother nature can throw at you….but the skiing was tight! We topped off the day with some beers at the Rooster bar and it was back to Geneve to answer the 278 emails I received over vacation and get worked by “the man”
Daily Vert: 7036M
Sion to Leysin: 71.4 km – about 54 mins
Leysin to Geneva: 124 km – about 1 hour 24 mins
As I look back writing this blog I cannot remember the last time I skied 7 days of pow in a row! Just a wonderful experience with friends, new languages, new countries, new foods, and a great companion to share it all with. I am truly blessed.
Stats:
10 Days Total
4 Countries
4 Languages
7 Powder days
1,639KM (1,018 Miles) traveled
45,729M (150,029 Feet) ripped
No comments:
Post a Comment