Cortina d’Ampezzo – August 2-5 2013

Back in February I traveled north for my first ski adventure ever in the Italian Alps (see blog post, “Have Ski Boots, Will Travel” Feb-10, 2013).  I wanted to ski the majestic Dolomiti (a.k.a “Dolomites”), the most savagely beautiful Alps in the world.  Although there were a number of towns I could have selected for that trip, I chose to go to Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the heart of some of the most scenic skiing Italy has to offer.  I was so impressed and inspired during my time there that I resolved I would return in the summer with Angie to see the town and hike the mountains.

On Friday we drove 5 hours north up into the Italian Alps in search of some relief from the region now being thoroughly fried to a crisp under the Tuscan Sun.  Far from being a backwater town lost in the shadows of the massive Dolomiti, Cortina is a thriving, bustling community whose restaurants, hotels, and upscale shops trade heavily on the influx of tourists, both winter and summer.  
 Yet you need look no further than the edge of town to understand exactly what this part of Italy is all about. 

On Saturday we awoke to reasonable temperatures, a welcome relief from the broiler our town at home has become the last several weeks.  We rented bikes and rode the path leading out of town and up into the mountains.  

Although mostly uphill, we rode for hours and the trail took us to some pretty interesting places, including old tunnels that had been repurposed for public use.  Our ride back was mostly downhill and decidedly faster than our ride up!

Glacier at Marmolada

When you are feeling wilted from the oppressive heat of summer, simply trek over to your local glacier for some cool, refreshing hiking.  On Sunday we took a drive to the glacier at Marmolada.














The glacier at Marmolada lies at 10,000 feet, high in the Dolomiti just an hour southwest of Cortina.  From the base area we took 3 cable trams up to the foot of the glacier and to the peaks that rise above it. 

Even under the withering July sun the glacier is frigid and expansive.  The cool, thin air mixes with the powerful radiant energy of the Italian sun overhead, and with the frosty chill of snow underfoot, providing us a much needed revitalization from the dog days of Tuscany.

Beautiful vistas abound in every direction.  From this vantage you actually look down on some of the alpine peaks.  





Beautiful though it may be, sliding off the edge of the glacier is considered bad form is not recommended…. 

Monday was our day to checkout and drive home, but not without first getting in some morning hiking.  After packing the car we hoofed over to the north end of town and caught the two cable trams up to Faloria.  It’s always a treat for me to hike through a ski area that has been wrapped up and put away for summer, and to see the exposed undulation of the mountains and trails.  It was also great to be exploring the peaks on the opposite side of the valley, from where I had previously skied the Pomedes and Col Druscie areas in February.

We hiked ski trails and narrow paths through quiet forests, crossing streams as we encountered them.  When the long trail down finally played out at the bottom of the ski area, we picked up another for the last 4 miles back to town, at times trekking across open meadows where at any moment I expected Julie Andrews to pop out from behind a tree and start singing.

Our trip to Cortina was an immersion into a different type of Italian picture postcard than the one in which we currently live.  The town proudly wears it’s Olympic and World Cup heritage on its sleeve; its an edgy town that takes more pride in physical achievement than in knowing which artist is buried in which church.  It is home to the towering peaks of the mighty Dolomiti, whose thin air and gravity will challenge you and test you at every turn.  Its northern Italian culture is shaped by these challenges, and by it's proximity to Austria and Switzerland as well.  It is reflected in the dialects you hear in the restaurants, and by the fare that is offered on the menus.  The raw, wild beauty that surrounds Cortina is its soul, and it’s spirit resonates with you, winter or summer.

Ciao for now.
  - Doug

Have ski boots, will travel. To Cortina d’Ampezzo

Wednesday Feb-6 I began my much anticipated trip to Cortina d’Ampezzo to ski the Dolomites (dolo-ME-tas), the cream of the Italian Alps.  I had skied the Alps in eastern Switzerland some years ago at Davos and Klosters, and was looking forward to my first ski adventure in northern Italy.  My plan was to leave very early in the morning, arrive and ski all day, stay overnight, ski the next day through mid-afternoon then travel home.  Since I was traveling by myself and didn’t want the expense of a 4wd rental car I would use public transportation entirely.  My first of 3 trains left at 1:47am Wednesday morning and the second of two buses delivered me to the front door of the hotel at 10:00am.

Needless to say, when the bus let me off, Hotel Villa Argentina was a welcome sight!! The large Tyrolean styled hotel is reputable, inexpensive, clean, and entirely self-contained; it is also one of the few hotels servicing the Cortina slopes that is ski in/ski out.  

Villa Argentina has their own ski rental shop, a good restaurant, a small bar, and a very helpful and accommodating attitude.  And they always have someone around who speaks English.  Once I got my early room check-in, changed into my ski clothes, collected my excellent Atomic skis from the rental shop downstairs, I headed out the door – and was promptly stopped dead in my tracks by the staggering view of what passes for the backyard of Villa Argentina:

The Dolomites are not “pretty mountains” - they are awe inspiring. Their sharply chiseled peaks claw at the sky like battle axes.  They are beautiful in a raw, rugged way that no camera can capture or words can express.  When you stand before them in the shadow of their grandeur, you will understand what I mean.

Yet they are skiable too – the tram and the chairlifts go right up to the bases of their sheerest cliffs, providing all you can handle and then some.

I definitely wanted some of that and promptly clicked into my bindings and shoved off for the lift down below.  A few chair rides later and I was well up the first peak.  The weather was great, the snow was soft, the skis were fast, and very quickly I was testing the limits of my knee brace and my asthma; I was just totally stoked to be skiing the Dolomites!!

That’s pretty much how the whole morning went, punctuated with a tram ride to Ra Valles where I broke for lunch.  It was my only tram ride of the trip – I don’t get car sick, sea sick or even roller coaster sick but I must confess I do get tram sick. Being crammed into a swaying, yawing, seatless school bus, standing squished together nose to nose and being breathed on by dozens of sweaty European skiers doesn’t agree with me so much…. Fortunately much of the mountain range is accessible by conventional chairlifts, many of which are modern, high-speed detachable units.

I was nearing the end of lunch when I ran into a bit of an episode.  I suddenly felt dizzy, nauseated, and a little disoriented, and immediately recognized these symptoms as the on-set of altitude sickness.  The restaurant was at about 8,000 and I had been riding the Bus Tofana lift, servicing the trails of Busc, Aquila and Camosci that lie above the Tram discharge.  These cover an altitude range of up to about 9,900 feet.  The average skier (even without acclimatization) can usually tolerate those altitudes without too much drama, but asthma reduces this threshold for me, particularly if I’m not acclimatized.  I can ski up to 10,000 feet but I cannot loiter; if I exit the chairlift and immediately ski down to 7,000 feet I’m fine, but hanging out at an 8,000 foot restaurant after skiing the higher ranges turned out to be not such a good idea.  I hastily paid my bill and bolted for the tram back down – I did not want to risk skiing down in this condition.  Fortunately the tram was empty and let me off at Col Druscie, well below 6,000 feet where the oxygen was much more to my liking.

I spent the balance of the afternoon skiing in the Pomedes which top out at about 7,500 before heading back to the hotel, just as some of the lifts were starting to shut down. 

Dinner is served at 7:30pm at the Argentina, I had an outstanding mushroom Tagliatelle and a tall draft of Dolomite Birra for 13€ (that’s right, the entire dinner was only 13 Euros) – after which I went straight to my room and passed out for 9 hours before getting up to do it all over again. 

Thursday morning dawned bright and clear on the craggy faces of Cortina’s peaks, the clear blue sky holding the promise of a great day of skiing.

After the complementary continental breakfast I spent the morning exploring new trails over in Colfiere and Socrepes, following the sun where I could to stay in soft snow.  The modern Cortina lift system (unlike some of the lifts I used at Davos) made it easy to charge down the mountain, catch a chair for a quick ride back up to a different trail and head off in a new direction.

By 11:00 I was ready for my coffee break at the caffe bar near Socrepes “Ra Freza”.  It was the typical on-mountain coffee, drink and snack shack with an open outdoor sun deck facing a terrific view.  In all directions.  Life is good when you have your caffe Americana latte and apple strudel in the backdrop of the magnificent Dolomites, while German folk music plays over the speakers and all the cooks, waitresses and baristas are all clapping, dancing, and singing along to the tunes. 

I finished the day out at Rumerlo, returning to the hotel at about 2:00 to return my skis, collect my gear and grab a quick burger before catching my first bus back for the trip home. 

The train ride home was enjoyable because it was still daylight when I left and I could take in the panoramic views.  It had a feel of what you might imagine old time European travel must have been like; a single ribbon of track winding over a narrow path etched into the sides of snowcapped Alps, the train crossing over steep gorges and rivers below, then disappearing into long tunnels blasted deep into the heart of mountains.  Leaving the Alps by train felt like going back in time. And I lucked out as my return trip only required 2 trains, the last one being a sleek aero high speed model with few stops.  Several times I noticed the monitors indicated 179kmh (about 110mph), which helped shorten the trip home considerably to only 7 hours.

My trip to Cortina d’Ampezzo was truly outstanding!!  I could easily have spent another 2 days skiing the remainder of the resort, or used some of that time for a bus ride to other peaks 20-30 minutes away.  Good snow, good weather, good lift system, and an unbelievable setting!!

Reflections on skiing Cortina d’Ampezzo:

- I have skied all over the Rockies in Colorado, all over the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, skied every mountain at Lake Tahoe, and skied the eastern Swiss Alps – I have never skied a place as beautiful as Cortina; I’ve never skied mountains before that even look like the Dolomites.

 - Renting a 4wd SUV and driving to Cortina is much faster than public transportation from Florence.  I could easily have saved 3 or more hours each way, however, costs go up considerably.  SUV rental costs are 50€+ per day, plus tolls (probably 40€ round trip), plus fuel (diesel is $8.80 US per gallon, gas is $9.15 US).  For a minimum of 500 mile round trip, fuel costs alone are at least $250 US.  In contrast, my all in round trip costs for public transportation (5 trains, 4 buses) was about $105€ ($141 US).

- I need to round up some ski buddies – my current acquaintances were all met at the local pub while watching NFL football.  None of them ski (none of them ride motorcycles either…) so I need to make some more friends.   This makes skiing more fun – and splits the cost of driving too.

- Hotel Villa Argentina was the perfect choice for me.  65€ bought me a small, clean single-bed room, complimentary breakfast, and ski slopes in the backyard.  

My short trip did not allow time for the attractions of the town of Cortina – my sole mission was to ski, eat, sleep, and ski (a pretty good plan btw…).  However, had I stayed a couple of more days (without having a car to get to town) I would have made different plans to stay in town and bus it to the mountains.

- Angie and I will definitely go to Cortina in the spring or summer to stay in the town and to hike the Dolomites.  I can only imagine how magnificent that will be for us.