On the slopes of Civetta ski resort

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Another ski season coming to a close

Even though my friends keep posting photos and videos of their recent ski adventures, spring is definitely coming to town. It might take a while for all that snow to melt high up in the mountains but at lower altitudes spring flowers are already blooming.

Despite of all that, my next few posts are not going to be about spring. Instead they will feature a report from our annual skiing vacation in Italian Dolomites (you can find previous reports if you follow the Dolomites label in the right column).

We enjoyed another great week in the snowy mountains of northern Italy. We had a few sunny days, then clouds rolled in and brought some snow. After that the skies cleared again for a while.

There was more than enough snow - we actually had to skip our last day of skiing due to massive amounts of fresh snow. It was so bad they did not even start the lifts for a couple of days.

Since we obviously were not able to ski throughout the last day, we decided to leave a day early. Well... as it turned out instead of leaving a day early, we left a day and a half later.

The end of our week was marked with constant snowfall. On one particular morning a look out of the bedroom window revealed more than a metre of fresh snow. It has been a long time since I saw people shovelling snow from their rooftops.

You can see a morning photo of my car below. I was driving it the previous evening and yes, it was all clear of snow at that time.

In spite of everything, I can say we were quite lucky compared to thousands of people a few valleys to the north. In addition to heaps of snow, they were stuck in their homes without electricity.

Those snow avalanches can definitely cause a lot of trouble. Although power lines were not broken, avalanches blocked all roads going out of the valley we were staying in. In spite of some army troops helping with clearing the mess, roads were being blocked again as soon as they had managed to clear them.

In addition to all that the weather forecast did not look very promising either - it was more snow for the whole next week.

As luck would have it, during our second day of waiting it stopped snowing and in the afternoon when we were already making plans for the next day of waiting, the information about an open road arrived. In a matter of minutes we got our stuff together and left.

Since the road was almost clear of snow our ride was pretty smooth and uneventful. As we got home to Slovenia we saw the power of nature in another form.
It was sleet, which would cripple half of the country in the following days...

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Mountain hut details from Dolomites

If you are a regular visitor of this blog you have probably noticed I have been raving about these charming mountain huts in Italian Dolomites over the last few posts. Of the things that definitely add up to the charm of these rifugios, various details and decorations are amongst the more obvious.

Obviously these decorations are authentic and usually prepared in just the right style to fit the overall image. There is no place for cheap plastic chairs and tables in an environment like that. Instead products made of local wood can be seen everywhere. It seems traditional wood crafting is still very much alive in the Dolomites area.

I am very glad they are keeping very high standards even when building new such huts in this beautiful environment. I hope they keep it up for ever.

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Charming mountain huts on ski slopes

I can hardly imagine snowy white slopes without those charming mountain huts scattered around. I am not the kind to go "skiing" and then spend the whole day sunbathing in a deck chair - quite the opposite actually. I am whooshing around on skis all day usually taking up to three short stops per day to catch my breath and get a snack and something to drink. Nonetheless I would miss those few breaks if did not take them - even more so on cold, windy days.

A mountain hut is simply called rifugio in Italian, but these are often a mix between a ristorante and a rifugio. This does usually not effect their genuine look. Mostly they are made of wood - roof tiles and gutters included, and fit into the surroundings perfectly. In some cases you can actually ski directly up to a bar and order something to warm you up.
In some you can find many local delicacies usually home-made by the staff.

The always cozy atmosphere inside those mountain huts and breathtaking views of the Dolomites can make you quickly forget the cold and simply enjoy every moment of the experience.

On these photos there are of just some of many rifugios scattered around the Civetta ski resort. I did not make it to visit all of them in my all too short week there. Have to save some for another time I guess.

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Still not too late for a skiing vacation

As I have suggested in my previous post this year auntie winter has been very generous with snow. There will probably be enough snow on most European slopes for another few months from now. So if you have not spent any time on white plains you should probably hurry up and book a skiing vacation as soon as possible. There are some seriously good deals available out there this late in the season.

Even if you need more time to plan your skiing holiday there is still more than enough time to do it. And no, I am not talking about going south of the equator... you can find some great skiing options on Northern hemisphere even in June and July.

Places worth considering are definitely Whistler mountain resort in British Columbia, Canada and Vail ski resort in Colorado, USA. Your best chances are probably with Whistler, since sometimes skiing season in Vail can actually end "early" - at the end of May. You can get all the info you need on Vail from the cool infographics below.

Via: Expedia

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The end of ski season...

...or is it really?

It has been some time now since we have returned from our skiing week in the Italian Dolomites and I expected for all this snow to give way to spring by now. Winter however has something different in mind since we had some heavy snowfall the other day here in Slovenia. This also means the start of mountaineering higher in the Alps will probably be delayed a bit this year - I guess it might take a while for all this snow to melt.

I believe there is a similar situation in the Dolomites. Even when we were there a month ago, there was lots of snow and now there is well over 2 meters of it at higher altitudes. More then enough for the skiing season to last for a while I guess.

Like every year until now we had a great time in Civetta skiing resort. If you are interested in my previous skiing trips to the region you should look for the Dolomites label.

Weather was great and there was even some fresh snow for us to enjoy. It fell during the night which was pretty convenient. You can hardly beat a right amount of fresh powder in the morning.

I included a few photos taken this year and I think they nicely represent the beauty of the area. There is Mount Pelmo visible on all of them - just like on the one I published last Wednesday (you can check it out here). I hope you like them all.

If you feel a need for skiing after reading this post, you might still get to enjoy some great skiing conditions this season if you hurry up. Enjoy it where ever you might go!

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Wordless Wednesday: Magnificent Monte Pelmo

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Cross-country skiing class

Winter has been quite generous with snow so far in Slovenia and it looks like we are getting some more this week. Snow usually brings along some trouble but it also enables us snow sports enthusiasts to have lots of fun.

I have been lucky enough to spend quite a few really nice and fun days on skis so far this season and I do not intend to stop just yet.
Apart from alpine skiing I also like to go cross-country skiing from time to time. Last weekend I had a great opportunity to improve my skills at a training course. It was led by a friend of mine, so I knew pretty well what to expect.

We chose a great location - Vojsko cross-country skiing center. It is located near the town of Idrija in Slovenia (you can check out its location here). I posted about this great activity before - you can check out what I wrote about a great day I spent cross-country skiing on this same location roughly 3 years ago (you should probably click on the link if you like this post).

We were a group of eight and considering there were some first-timers amongst us, we all did great. We started with some warm-up exercises and continued with an introduction to skate skiing. After more than three hours of improving ours skills and doing quite a few kilometers of skating through a section of available tracks, we enjoyed a brief break.

Weather was quite nice. Apart from a foggy morning we had a nice and sunny day. Snow was still on trees, providing an idyllic setting for spending a day in the nature.

The afternoon was reserved for a cross-country trek. We changed from skate to classic style skis and ventured off the track into the forest. Wading through nearly meter and a half of snow wearing only boots would be almost impossible, but with skis on, it was quite easy.
It took us around two hours to do a ten kilometer track. Views and natural beauty were just breathtaking. Almost every one of us preferred this part to our morning skating exercises. There were however a few who had trouble with deep snow - I guess being overweight does not actually help with this activity.

Since we really enjoyed this day, we will try to repeat it as soon as possible. I also intend to go on a bit more serious cross country trek as soon as possible.

If you ever find yourself in Slovenia and would like to try a winter activity like this, do not hesitate. If you need an advice or help in organizing such an event feel free to contact me through email or simply leave a comment on this post. I will gladly help you out.

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Wordless Wednesday: Monte Pelmo in White

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Skiing vacation in Italy

I am back from Italy again! A week in the Italian Dolomites shot by way too fast again (like every time before). This year we had a little bit of sunshine, a bit of snowfall and lots of cold - freezing cold actually.


All week long we were listening to almost apocalyptic news on Italian TV programs. It was all about the Costa Concordia disaster and weather problems throughout the country. Titles like "Italia blocata" were all too common. Actually we got quite lucky with the weather. Dolomites were a part of Italy with surprisingly the nicest weather for all week long.

Also those reports were usually quite exaggerated. By my standards anyway... Italians seem to do this a lot. For instance there was about 2 centimeters (1 inch) of snow in Rome and reports of total chaos were aired on the evening news.
I agree any snowfall is quite unusual in those parts and it can lead to substantial traffic problems, but a couple centimeters of snow during the night is no end of the world in my book. Me being from a place where snow is quite an usual sight every winter also didn't help me understand the "catastrophic proportions" of events.


All of that did not influence our skiing enthusiasm. Despite of a couple of days of snowing and being pretty cold all the time, everything was fine. Mostly it was around -10°C (that is 14°F) or colder.
A few days were really beautiful and sunny but cold nonetheless. Mostly we were skiing in the Civetta ski area. Only for one day we decided to try out some new slopes and drove to Kronplatz, which is supposedly the most modern of the Dolomiti ski areas. That is probably true - almost all of the lifts are new cabins - some even with heated seats. All that is unfortunately a strong magnet for the crowds. Kronplatz gets pretty crowded throughout the whole season.

I did about 50 kilometers (31 miles) of skiing per day - for six days in a row. I must admit there were quite a few warming-up stops every day in many of those charming mountain huts placed just next to the slopes. Mostly they are made of wood - roof tiles and gutters included, and fit into the surroundings perfectly. In some cases you could actually ski directly up to a bar and order something to help you warm up.


All that together with the breathtaking views of the Dolomites can make you quickly forget the cold and simply enjoy every moment of the experience.

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Venetian pizza in Italian Dolomites

Once you see some places they are simply impossible to forget. Venice is definitely one of them.

It is strange how a small thing can trigger memories of such places. The last time this happened to me was just a few weeks ago in a skiing resort deep in Italian Dolomites.
In my case it was a "Tronchetto Pizza" listed in a menu at a cute local trattoria/pizzeria. For those of you who don't know Venice all that well - Tronchetto is an artificial island in the Venetian lagoon and often a starting point for visitors to the city.


The pizza was actually shaped like a gondola and as delicious as it should be. Unfortunately I am not sure this is evident from the above photo. I guess you will just have to take my word for it.

The pizza brought back a lot of memories also because now is the most popular time to visit the city of Venice. It is Carnival time!
It actually officially started just a few days ago. This year (2012) it is scheduled to last from 11th to 21st of February so you can still make it if you hurry up.


I have published some useful advice for first time visitors on this blog before. If you are not interested in a good advice there are also some great photos (like the one above) worth checking out.
You can take a look at When to visit Venice, a post about Traditional Venetian masks, tips on how to do a cheap photo trip to Venice or simply click on the Venice label in the right column to check out everything I posted on this topic before.

Comments are more then welcome!

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Mobile report from a ski day trip

This post is mostly about trying new things, so if you are curious what's new with me, you should keep reading.

Those of you who regularly follow this blog have probably noticed a lack of live reporting. Hopefully this has come to an end. Well, at least I can't blame the lack of technical equipment for not publishing live anymore.
Until just recently this excuse was OK due to an outdated mobile phone I had been using. Since it has started to show signs of mutiny I have been thinking about giving in and retiring it.
The same day I got a replacement, the old phone's charger went to phone heaven - talk about perfect timing... Lucky me, I guess.

So this is a test post using my new Android gadget from snow covered slopes of Slovenia. I know it is a bit late for ski season opening, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I chose one of nearby Slovenian ski resorts for this event and since it was an ordinary work day, slopes were relatively empty.
The weather was nice and in the end it was a great day altogether. Check out the photo if you won't take my word for it.

With the ski season officially opened, it is now time to get ready for our annual ski holiday in Italian Dolomites. I can hardly wait!

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Wordless Wednesday: Freeride Skiing over Cortina

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A Perfect Week in the Dolomites

We did it again! Another winter skiing vacation in the Italian Dolomites is behind us.

It was a week of a clear blue sky, beautiful vistas and excellent skiing. The sun was shining like crazy and only on the last day we saw a couple of small white clouds somewhere on the horizon.


We stayed at our standard apartment we adopted over the years. Civetta has been the area of our choice for some time now and we are still not tired of it.

Nevertheless each year we go check out another nearby ski area. This year we voted for Cortina d'Ampezzo and tried most of the slopes. Cortina is also called "Queen of Dolomites", but I got an impression that this queen is getting a bit old and many "princesses" in the neighborhood are trying hard to take the crown away from her.


Some facilities already seem a bit out of date and it looks like the old glory has faded a little over the years.
Despite all that we had a great time there. Especially those slopes at higher altitudes are truly stunning.

The two photos published in this post are from Civetta ski area.

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Cross-country skiing center Vojsko

Cross-country skiing is gaining popularity again in Slovenia. It was already quite popular over a decade ago, but then lost many supporters due to a rise of alpine skiing. In my opinion it happened because of better and better equipped ski slopes. Modern and fast ski-lifts were being installed on almost every ski slope.
Besides all that, Slovenian professional skiers are some of the most popular public figures in the country. They have been continuously achieving good results in the World Cup series for many decades.

Nowadays both sports are very popular again. Cross-country skiing is gaining supporters by the day.
Excellent results of Tina Maze (Slovenian alpine skier) and Petra Majdič (Slovenian cross-country skier) have a great deal to do with that. They were both also among this year's Vancouver Olympic medal winners.
Petra was also awarded the Terry Fox foundation award for incredible courage and determination after breaking several ribs and puncturing her lungs and still finishing third.


All that made us think and after a couple of years long break, M. and I finally decided to go cross-country skiing again. We are both beginners in this sport. Three years ago we attended a beginner level training and have not been practicing very often since then.

That is a pity, because there is an excellent cross-country skiing facility nearby. It is called Cross-country skiing center Vojsko.
I have to say I like this sport - it is really cheap. Once you get your hands on some equipment you can do it literary for free. The equipment itself is also relatively cheap.


Besides the financial side, getting in touch with nature is not to be ignored as well. It is also not very time consuming - I can feel every muscle of my body (usually on the next day I tend to find even a few new ones I didn't know I had) after an hour of exercise and if I may add... I think I am not in such a bad shape at all.
We chose a really beautiful day for doing this. It was sunny and quite warm.


As we had expected, after 8 kilometers we were pretty exhausted. We saw a few people on the track but mostly there was just nature and the two of us.

I stopped from time to time to take a photo or two. It was just the right day for a photo session but this time it was only on the second place. A good quality exercise came first this time.


In the end I found time for both and we were pleased with the results. We were both glad we finally did it. We really got to enjoy a great Saturday morning!

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Wordless Wednesday: I say Jump!

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Local Ski-jumping Event

Many people travel to Slovenia to witness the annual ski flying event which this year will take place form 18th to 21st of March in Planica.
Ski jumping is a relatively popular sport in Slovenia. I guess that is due to the world famous Planica K-185, where a first ever jump over 200 meters was made in 1994. The current world record stands at 239 meters (that's 784 feet!).

That is by far the largest ski jumping facility in Slovenia, but there are also many smaller ones. Recently a group of local enthusiasts in a village nearby where I live, decided to build their own ski jump. They went for a smaller one (K-30), but it came out quite impressive nonetheless.

As I learned there is quite regularly an amateur ski jumping contest held on various locations around Slovenia -  simmilar to this one in Pancala near Idrijske Krnice. Contestants usually don't use ski-jumping gear. They mostly do it with ski-boots and old skis originally meant for alpine skiing.

I am quite good at alpine skiing but still I am not sure if I would find enough courage to participate in such an event. Well, never say never...

This time I attended just as a spectator but it was still fun to watch what can be done in a relatively short period of time. As far as I know it was all done with voluntary work local enthusiasts were willing to put into this project. I think something like that can hardly be found anywhere these days.
The event was definitely a success. Quite a crowd of spectators came to see what was going on. The participants were young and old. I even captured one of the local jumpers in a video - you can check it out here.

Even an official mascot was there to entertain the crowd. He was equiped with some really old wooden skis and even attempted a couple of jumps. He had skis attached to his shoes with simple leather straps.
As he said dogs also developed a strange attraction to his skis. He suspected his home made ski wax had something to do with it. As people did in the old times he also used some genuine, home made lard. It looked like the old recipe still works.

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From Marmolada to La Villa and back

On one of the seven days in Dolomiti when weather forecast looked the most promising, we decided to do a skiing tour from Marmolada to La Villa and back.

Such a trip takes a whole day and we would be most unfortunate to get stuck in the wrong valley, away from our car, when all the ski lifts stop operating. No such thing happened and we had a really nice trip full of spectacular vistas. Sunny weather also helped us to enjoy the day even more.


We started in Malga Ciapela where we took a cableway to the top of Marmolada. It is also known as The Queen of the Dolomites. With 3.342 meters it is the highest mountain in the Dolomites. Just the cableway ride itself is a breathtaking experience but when you get to the top it seems like someone has put all of the surrounding mountains on a tray before you. That view really is stunning!


From there we went over hills through Arabba to La Villa and back via Corvara and again Arabba to Malga Ciapela.
When we got to La Villa we just had to try the Gran Risa slope where one of the Giant slalom World cup races are held every year. I must say it is quite steep and very long.


When we returned back to our starting point there was just enough time to take another ride with the cableway to the top of Marmolada. This time we skied all of the 12 kilometers down in one piece. My thighs were really pleased when we reached the end of the last slope.
I must say it was quite a ride!

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Made it back from the Dolomites

We went skiing to Civetta again. I guess it is becoming sort of a tradition, since we have been there for the sixth winter in a row.

We just never seem to get tired of going there. The vistas of the Italian Dolomites are simply stunning.


Apart from lots of skiing, eating and drinking, nothing special happened there. Well on another thought - it would really be a shock if we would not have done all of those things.

When I packed my bags I used this check list I prepared some time ago. It is still quite handy.

For the last couple of years I have been posting a summary of my skiing report from the official Dolomiti Superski web page at the end of each year's trip. Unfortunately this year it is unavailable due to some issues regarding disclosure of personal information. They are supposedly getting some 40 complaints over email every day but it does not really seem to help all that much.
This is a classical example of a bad outcome when some people are too concerned about personal data. On the other hand we are monitored by I don't know how many surveillance cameras every day and tracking our mobile phones is also not too hard to imagine. Well, sadly that is supposed to be OK I guess...


If I had to guess I would say we made at least as many kilometers on skis as the last year. If you are curious how my last year's skiing summary looks like, you can check it out on this link.

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Wordless Wednesday: Italian Dolomites

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