Skiing the Dolomites Part 1

When Tony and I moved to London, we put our condo in Mammoth on a rental program full time. I remember our last ski trip to Mammoth, and thinking to myself about what I was getting myself into with this move as we both loved going to Mammoth in both the winter and summer time. In fact, we'd just ordered our season passes for the next year when we agreed to go. We shipped all of our ski stuff with the hope that we'd get to do some skiing, as it is one of the few things that we like doing together.

In February, Tony and I made plans to go skiing in the Dolomites in Italy with our friends Alan and Wendy. Alan had done some research and found this amazing resort, Piz Seteur, located in Val Gardena, Italy. It looked wonderful on the internet, and though a touch pricey, we all needed a really nice vacation.

Friday morning, we got up early, did our last minute packing, took the dogs for a walk, and walked up to the bus stop carrying all of our ski equipment. We took the bus to St. Pancras station to catch the 8:45 train to Gatwick Airport.

This was where we were originally going to be meeting Alan and Wendy, and right up to the last second, I was hoping that they would surprise and meet us there. But no. . . It is about a 45 minute train ride, and proved be a very no hassle way to get there.

Unfortunately, the week before the trip, Alan lost his Passport. He discovered that he could get a replacement passport pretty easily from the American Embassy, but the Visa was going to cost £500 if he needed to have it in time for the trip. On the Thursday before the trip, it became official that neither Alan nor Wendy would be going with us. We quickly reorganized and set up a rental car in our name as the resort is about 2 hours south of Innsbruck Austria.

Our friend, David, is going to watch Bentley and Pepper while we are on our adventure, and he came over the night before we left to get acquainted with them, and to ease the transition for the dogs. We've learned that this is the best way for them to get used to someone new. They are great dogs, and will be fine.

We flew Easy Jet from London to Innsbruck, Austria where we were treated to some amazing vistas as the airport is located in a stunning valley. It was a bumpy and abrupt landing due to its short runway.

Aside from getting some Euros and picking up the car, the first thing we did in Austria was get an Apple Strudel. Ummm. . .

It was strange to be driving for the first time in Europe after 6 months of not having driven a car. It was also strange to be driving on the right side of the road (normal American style) after having ridden my bike on the left hand side of the road (Brittish style) for the past 8 months.

We drove up into the mountains and after one wrong turn, were on our way out to the resort. It was fun to see the signs change from German to Italian as we crossed the border. It was also amazing to see how clean it was everywhere. Even by the airport, it was clean compared to London!

It took about 2 hours to get to Val Gardena, and thank God for the iPhone and it's onboard navigation system, or we never would have made it. The town is beautiful. It has that Chalet quality about it, and it is an artist commune with lots of studios and galleries. It turns out the town is famous for woodcarving.

We got to the parking lot at the base of the mountain as close to Hotel Pis Seteur as we could with a car. The hotel is located about halfway up the mountain and during the winter, it is only accessible by snowmobile and ski lift. We were met by a Snow Mobile and loaded our luggage into a trailer it was hauling. We climbed on and were wisked up the side of the mountain to the hotel. It was freezing cold, and a little scary in the dark night.

We arrived at the hotel, and it is beautiful. It is the 3rd version of the hotel built on this location. It is run by the 3rd generation of the family that has always owned this resort. The newest version of the hotel is only 3 months old. Did I say it is beautiful? It is all light colored pine on the inside, and has this wonderful european ski chalet quality about it. The bathroom has a heated slate floor, and the bed has a canopy. I love this place.

We dropped off our luggage, relaxed for a moment, and went down to dinner. It was a fantastic gourmet dinner, and everything was delicious. The menu is printed in German and Italian, but with the help of the owner's wife, we were able to translate it to know what we were going to be eating that evening. A nice bottle of wine and a leisurely European dinner later, and we were fully in vacation mode.

It had been a long day of travel, and we were exhausted. I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings when we see the slopes. As this will be our only ski trip this year, I hope it will satiate our need to get out and ski.