Italy

Italy ’98

SFO -> EWR

EWR -> MXP

MXP -> VCE

VCE -> Cortina

Cortina d'Ampezzo

Hotel Royal

breakfast

stadia

around town

Carnival

Mangia!

Tavernetta

Faloria

Refugio d' Faloria

Freccia Nel Cielo

Lagazuoi

Monte Cristallo

Socrepes

Socrepes skiing

Venezia

Because of El Niño the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny, and by the end of February much of the lower mountain had only a thin cover of snow. We noticed this when we took the bus from the airport to to Cortina. For a while we were pretty worried, until we realized that Cortina is still much lower than most of the mountain slopes on which we'd be skiing.

This is where I learned to snowboard. The snow was thick, slushy, and very, very, very wet. Thanks be for mountaineering gear and GoreTex, or I would have been soaked through and through. I can't believe how many hundreds of times I fell down, even when I was sure that I had the rythm down. Bam! Near the halfway point there was a thin path which I just couldn't figure out. Blam! Snowboarding was much more fun than I expected, although I was sore for a few days. Boom!

I know I've mentioned people in costume in the town, but here's a picture of Emil on a chairlift with a pair dressed up as Mickey Mouse (as the Sorcer's Aprentice). It was a grand adventure to be sking with witches, wizards, and warlocks.

And of course we had to stop for lunch...

After lunch we went outside; what did we see? Synchronized sking?

There was a midday exhibition, with the local ski patrol on telemark skis and snowmobiles, folks in costumes (bulls and wizards), and synchronized skiing in the traditional style. All very impressive.

Then the entire cadre of ski patrol skis over the crest, like the calvary in a spaghetti western.

And spectators and skiiers of all ages watch the goings-on:

Sadly, not everyone got to use the bus to get back home. Luckily it wasn't anyone in our group.