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

Where the Matterhorn Lives – Cervinia Italy

Where it is cold, barren, and unforgiving, that is where the Matterhorn lives.  Where massive vertical peaks assault the sky in a snow covered moon-scape far above the tree line, that is where the Matterhorn lives.  Where the Matterhorn lives is in the Alps of north-western Italy, on the Italian-Swiss border.  Towering among the highest of all Alpine peaks at 4480 meters, it looks down upon the towns of Cervinia, Valtournenche, and on the Swiss side, Zermatt.  One of the more familiar views of the Matterhorn is well represented in this stock pic taken by Consani in 2001 of the northwestern corner from the Swiss side:

It has been climbed, trekked, camped on, and even had a cable car attached to it, but the Matterhorn has never been conquered.  Since 1865 it has required the souls of more than 500 adventurers to prove that point.  It does not suffer fools. 

Fortunately I was not in Cervinia to tangle with the Matterhorn, I was there for the skiing.  The skiing of course is not done on the sheer vertical slopes of the Matterhorn itself, many of the ski runs are across the faces of the massive seven kilometer-long alpine ridge at Furggsattel that connects the Matterhorn to Plateau Rosa.  The picture below shows the Matterhorn from the south (Italian) side, and where the ridge that connects to it starts.  On one side of the ridge is Italy, on the other Switzerland:

After 4 weeks of Italian school I was ready to go skiing.  I was up early Tuesday morning, the first in for breakfast and the first one out the hotel door with skis in hand.  Standing in the backyard of the Hotel Meuble Furggen, I clicked into my ski bindings and shoved off the lip of the yard and skied down to the trail, and then on down to the Cretaz lift.  I was pumped to be skiing for the first time in Cervinia, and the early start meant hardly any skiers on the mountain.

I had traveled in the day before, and after a 6 hour marathon of 4 trains, a bus, and a shuttle bus, I finally had arrived at my hotel.  Although I only had two days to ski, I was resolved to take it a bit easy the first day, partly because it was my first time skiing here and partly due to the altitude.  When I finally arrived Monday afternoon I had put my time to good use, walking around Cervinia not only to see the restaurants, shops and sights, but to accelerate the altitude acclimatization process as much as possible. The moment I arrived I began using my inhaler at regular intervals, doing my utmost to ward off altitude sickness.  If ever I would find myself in a place needing such precautions, it is here – the simple facts are the town of Cervinia lies at 6,600 feet above sea level, and the highest ski runs top out upwards of 3,900 meters (almost 12,700 ft. at Gobba di Rollin).  Since my lungs are pretty much at their limit above 3,200 meters (a little over 10,000 feet) I would need to choose my ski runs carefully.  At the highest peaks the air is thin, cold, and the oxygen scarce.

The early morning brought light snow, but by 9:30 the bluebird skies opened up and bathed the mountains in sunshine.  The Italian side of the ridge at Furggsattel faces south, and all the slopes on that vast ridge catch the sun beautifully. 

The temps warmed up but after my first few runs I found I was not warming up to the Solomon skis I had rented – they were stable enough but were reluctant to turn and certainly not very sporty.  I skied back down to town, handed them back to the rental shop and asked for something better.  

They gave me a pair of titanium reinforced Volkl racing skis.  It was like trading in a mini-van for a Maserati.  The Volkls were lively and carved like surgeons’ scalpels, and managed to keep a grin plastered on my face for the next two days – that, and skiing in the shadow of the Matterhorn.  

The glorious sunshine and clear, thin air made it possible to see all the way to the horizon, and the view was pure Alps regardless of the direction you looked.

And talk about snow covered moonscapes –much of the higher elevation ski areas look otherworldly.  If the moon were covered in snow and had Alps, it would probably look something like this:

The altitude and rocky soil has a lot to do with why upper portions of the Cervinia slopes are so barren.  The trees can grow up the mountain side only so far, as best shown is this this picture:

When I wasn’t carving trenches on pistes I was riding back to the top on a fast, efficient lift system, and as usual would I try to strike up conversations with my chair mates (when I had some).  In Italy this is easier said than done because my Italian is not very good yet, however, I met people from all over Europe, many of whom spoke some English.  I met Italians, British, French, Swedes, Finns, Russians, Germans, and Swiss, and (when we could) would exchange information about which of the mountains we had just skied over from and what the snow conditions were like.  Of particular interest to me was where people were from and how they got here – which led to a rather depressing exchange with a Swiss couple:

“Yas, it vass easy to get here frum Svitzerland.  Ve get on der train und vun hour thirty minutes later, or possibly thirty five minutes later, ve get off und ve are here, no problum.”  Meanwhile my trip to Cervinia Italy reads like a scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and I live in Italy! Go figure :-/

Anyway, after spending the afternoon thoroughly exhausting myself on all the slopes between the Matterhorn and Theodulpass,  I skied back down to my hotel room and retired to the balcony with a beer to enjoy the scenery of what passes for the backyard of the Hotel Meuble Furggen.  

After showering and catching some dinner in town, I returned to the balcony to catch the twinkle of lights from the ski town of Cervinia below. 

Wednesday, March 20th

I was up at 6:15am to finish the last of the packing, grab some breakfast and again be the first out the door.  I again rode up the Cretaz and Pancheron lifts, and then skied over to Plan Maison.  My plan was simple but frankly a bit aggressive – I would catch the Laghi Cime Bianche gondola, then transfer to the tram that would take me to the summit at Plateau Rosa.  Plateau Rosa is the massive peak at the opposite end of the ridge from the Matterhorn, and tops  out at an elevation of 3,480 meters, almost 1,000 feet above my safety zone.  Still, I had ridden (briefly) up to Theodulpass the day before and skied down and been fine - this was only 180 meters higher. 

The tram ride up was the most pleasant I’ve ever had – and much appreciated given my proclivity to get tram sick.  Almost as long as a school bus and twice as wide, the sleek modern tram was very stable, had plenty of extra standing room, had digital monitors overhead to update skiers about mountain conditions, and even played soothing music over the speakers.  It was a quiet, peaceful ride up, the other skiers talking in low tones and patiently waiting to get off.  For them it was just another ride up to the tops of the best ski mountains in the world – the Italian Alps. 

It was COLD and windy at the summit, but well worth the trip up!  Plateau Rosa is the high altitude intersection that can take you to (on the Italian side) Grand Sainetta, Salette, and down to the town of Valtournenche.  It is also the jumping off point for the tremendous Gobbadi Rollin peak, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, and down to the town of Zermatt far below (on the Swiss side).

At this altitude I didn’t loiter long – I leaned over for a look down into Switzerland and snapped a few pix, then shoved off for the long decent down the Italian side.

What a trip down!!  

From Plateau Rosa a mix of red and some black trails (advanced and expert) drop 1430 meters (4,650 feet) all the way down to the town of Cervinia without interruption.  The weaving in and out of the mountain peaks during the decent, and the magnificent vistas are inspiring all the way down!!

However, if you are walking your 4-5 miles each day and pumping iron in the gym 3 days per week, you may think you are in shape – skiing straight down 4,650 feet may change your mind about that (it did for me!)

I moved over to Plan Torrette to ski out the remainder of the morning, marveling at how close the lifts gets you to the Matterhorn.  Had I a pair of snowshoes I could have trekked over what appears to be just a few hundred meters and touched the base of the mountain.  

By noon it was time to head back to the hotel to gather up the last of my things, catch the shuttle into town to return my skis, grab some lunch and catch the bus that would take me to the first of my trains back home.  It had been a wonderful trip!!

Reflections on skiing Cervinia:

- The mountains at the Matterhorn offer a magnificent ski experience.  Per the ski map there are a dozen named peaks that are skiable, but that doesn’t even begin to account for the outstanding slopes found on the tremendous ridges that connect many of the peaks.  I don’t know how many Vail’s would fit inside the collection of Alps that surround the Matterhorn, but the size of this complex is staggering.

 - If I had more time I definitely would have skied over the ridge at Theodulpass or Plateau Rosa and skied down into Zermatt Switzerland.  I also would have skied the south facing slopes above the town of Valtournenche, Italy as well.

- The “town” of Cervinia is really little more than a very large ski village, but it has all the hotels, bars restaurants, shopping, and ski rentals you need for a week of skiing. 

- Traveling to the Alps by train is really getting to be quite a bore.  Only in Italy can you travel on a 300 kilometer per hour train (185mph, no kidding!) and still get to the station late and miss your connecting train (no kidding!)

- The Hotel Meuble Furggen worked out well for me.  It is true ski-in/ski-out to the Plan Torrette lifts, making it perfect for skiers.  Staff was friendly and spoke some English.  Because the hotel is up on the mountain they offer a free shuttle van into the center of town, and it is much quieter than staying in town. The complimentary breakfast was good, and although the room was small (the shower was smaller than a phone booth) and plain, it was very clean, room/bed service was very prompt, and my balcony had a great view.  The hotel is a good value for the money and I would probably stay there again when skiing in Cervinia.

- Two days of skiing doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what this immense range of mountains has to offer.  I will definitely be back next year.

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. 

Skiing in Abetone

This week I went skiing at Abetone ski resort.  It was my first day skiing in two years, my first time skiing in my new Fischer ski boots (bought 2 years ago) and it was my first time skiing in Italy.  Abetone (abba-TONE-a) is not in the Alps, it’s in the Apennine (appa-NEEN-a) mountains but it’s a lot closer to Florence than the Alps are, a 2 ½ hour train/bus combination trip (and a lot less than that by car if I had mine right now!).   

 The weather wasn’t the best and the snow was a bit sparse as you can see from the photos, but it was soft and my high performance Rossignol rental skis were fast.  And my new ski boots worked perfectly, 10 times better than my old worn out, beaten to death Nordica’s.

Abetone is one of the biggest non-Alp ski areas in Italy.  With 4 major peaks, a bowl between two of the peaks, and almost 1,800 vertical feet of long skiable trails, it has a big mountain feel.  And during weekdays there are few skiers on the slopes.  After not having skied for 2 years it was a good tune up in preparation for skiing the Alps later this month.

I am tentatively making plans to ski Cortina in the Dolomites, and I have finally figured out the necessary train transportation.  I will keep you posted on how it turns out!