Unexcused Absences

Second half of February, 2018 — Italian Dolomites. After checking out of Val Gardena, we drove our rental car to Arabba and skied the Marmolada section of the resort, to the south of the town. Marmolada has several things to offer, including the largest vertical drop of any single ski run in the Dolomites (almost 6,000 vertical feet in 5.3 miles), plus an on-mountain museum devoted to the WW I fighting between Austria and Italy. It was conveniently on the route from Val Gardena to Cortina d’Ampezzo, the final stop of our European ski vacation.

Cortina d’Ampezzo as seen from our room

When we were planning this trip, I imagined skiing in northern Italy in late February under sunny skies, warm weather, and long lunches on sun decks of the countless on-mountain restaurants. Mother Nature, though, didn’t process that request, and we had some of the coldest ski conditions we’ve experienced. It was still exciting to ski at world-famous Cortina, we just missed out on the sun decks.

Cold weather rime ice

Cold afternoon in Cortina

Top station at Col Drusciè

A clear but very cold dawn

We were told several things by friends who had skied here previously; first, that people were more likely to walk around town showing off their fur coats than to actually saddle up for skiing (true), and second, that the town was expensive (also true). But Heather found us a nice top-floor apartment at a reasonable price, and the lift tickets were the same “Dolomiti Super-Ski Pass” that we used in Val Gardena, so the total cost for lift tickets were under 30 euros per day. That, plus our place had a kitchen, and there were a couple very nice supermarkets walking distance from our apartment.

The main church in Cortina

Cortina is actually three (or four, or six, depending on how you count) separate ski areas, and you can sort of move between them by bus. I say “sort of”, because while we did see buses out circulating around, it wasn’t clear at all from the published schedule when, or even where, to catch a particular bus. Sort of like Val Gardena, where every bus, whether local or regional, and whether eastbound or westbound, displayed the number “352”.

Fortunately, with our rental car we could go when and where we pleased. We spent most of our days in the Tofana area, which is home to the annual Women’s World Cup races. We visited the Lagazuoi section twice (or maybe it was three times), and the Faloria section twice.

At the Lagazuoi summit

Lagazuoi is home to possibly the single most beautiful ski run in the world. First you drive about 25 minutes west of town, then take a long, steep cable car to the 2800 meter high summit. After a few hundred meters, the slope splits to the right (back to the cable car) or to the left, which then winds down a long hidden valley, passes a couple restaurants (it is Italy, after all), and comes out at the “horse lift”. There is actually a place where, for a couple euros, you and 38 of your closest friends grab onto a long rope and get pulled, by a horse and sled, maybe half a mile along the valley floor, out to where you either take a chairlift to Alta Badia, or a bus back to the Lagazuoi cable car.

The cable car to Lagazuoi

The “horse lift” at the bottom

Part-way down the Lagazuoi piste

This area was also on the front lines in WW I, like Arabba and Marmolada that we skied previously, and the soldiers carved intricate galleries in the mountains that can be seen from the cable car. It is tragically ironic that the direct descendants of the soldiers who fought and died in brutal winter conditions 100 years ago are now likely sharing chairlift rides over the very same terrain. Lagazuoi also has, like most good European ski resorts, a proscribed circuit (in this case, the “Super 8), where you ski clockwise from the cable car summit down to the road, then across the road and clockwise through the “five towers” (also a battlefield) area.

World War I hardware

A chairlift on the Super 8 circuit

The Cinque Torri (five towers)

Unfortunately I was out of action for a couple days with a sinus infection, but Heather wasted no time in picking up three Italian boyfriends on the chairlift. They are all retired, and their daily routine is to catch first chair at Tofana, lap the steep runs near the summit until 10:30 sharp (“I hate skiing once the children come out”), then stop for their special hot chocolate at Bar Ristorante Col Taron. I say “special” because it is possibly the thickest, richest hot chocolate on the planet. It’s more like hot fudge in a mug. You can stand the spoon straight up and it won’t fall over.

Heather’s Italian “boyfriends”

The “special” chocolate at Col Taron

The upper track for the Women’s World Cup

Our next-to-last day had some rare mild weather, so we skied the Lagazuoi and Cinque Torre areas under sunny skies, then stopped for a long lunch on the deck at the Scotoni Hutte on the hidden valley trail. We had a perfect seat in the sun, and enjoyed a deer-meat ragu main course with Kaiserschmarrn (literally, “the emperor’s mess”) for desert, plus as a bonus they served Andechs beer (!) on draft.

Scotoni Hutte in the hidden valley

Kaiserschmarrn for dessert

Andechs on tap!

The hidden valley behind Lagazuoi

This wraps up our 6-week European ski vacation. Everything has been wonderful; getting pummeled by the German language in Austria, taking a ski lift that is pulled by horses, skiing all the circuits (the Weisse Ring in Lech, the Sella Ronda in Val Gardena, the Super 8 in Cortina), sampling the on-mountain restaurants in Italy, learning to queue (or I guess “un-queue”) in lift lines like the Italians. From here it’s a quick visit to Venice, followed by our flight home and a rapid turnaround before beginning our 2018 Bahamas cruise onboard our trawler, Miss Adventure.

Below the Tofana summit

Dusk as seen from our balcony

The afternoon scene at Scotoni Hutte