Monday, February 27, 2012

Italia - Day 1 -- all about the food...

A backcountry ski trip has been on my leap list since reading about the Haute Route ten years ago.  Several things finally made this possible this year:

1.  AndyK is turning 50 and it's been on his bucket list
2.  I have the most amazing wife in the world and she was completely behind this.
3.  Lots of frequent flier miles needing to find a place to go to work
4.  A connection with an old friend - John Hamlin -- who connected us with a guide and his favorite area in the Alps.

So, an ice ax, carabiners, harness, avalung, skins and a variety of other great gear got crammed into a bulging bag and we headed for Milan on Saturday.

I've got a tradition of sorts when landing in Europe -- have a strong espresso and a chocolate croissant, then stay up all day (US nighttime) in order to sleep hard the first night.

After a little over two hours of transfer, I made it to Gressoney, Italy.  A very small mountain village, but one of the lifts serving the largest backcountry (off-piste) areas in Europe is right outside our door.

The bad news:  60 degrees at the base turned the snow to mush.  When it freezes at night, it becomes rock hard again.  The answer to such maladies is, of course, food once again.  A wonderful Pizza / Bar is next door.  So I settled in and waited for the guys.

Not a bad way to start the trip.  A relaxed afternoon in the sun.

Follow that with a dinner spread that looks like this and I'm gonna need to burn some calories!

More tomorrow!

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