Helloooo Stelvio

So from the last post I left you in Val Senales when we headed to Stelvio. Let me tell you about Stelvio:

The road to get there is insane. There are 60 switch backs that take a car with a lot of guts and a driver with a lot of skill. Luckily, we had the latter... and a fully loaded car. We made it up the pass but it was quite the experience. I've never been on a road like this before. It is the highest paved road in the Eastern Alps at 2757m. We couldn't help but cheer a little bit when we made it to the top. The views were unreal...

We managed to see close to 10 days straight of sun between Val Senales and Stelvio. I think I've almost got my summer tan back, on my face, with a bit of the reverse raccoon happening. The skiing and layout of the loop might have been one of the best I've ever experienced. Somehow the track stayed balmer hard and the skating still firm late into the morning. Usually we see it all breakdown and become really mushy but it held up. It was a trek to get to the "real" xc and I was seriously skeptical of the t-bar we had to take (after 2 gondolas to reach the glacier). I think I insisted multiple times that we ask someone if we were to just ski on the two small loops at the base of the chairlift (turns out one was being used for an ice/snow driving course of some sort- yes there were cars driving up there at 3300m), but Eric insisted back that we take the t-bar to the top of the downhill runs. I managed to get a hold of a bar behind a few athletes from the Spanish team and followed their lead since they had been here already. Turns out I'm a natural! haha! We also got to ski down to the gondola at the end of each day. Our skis aren't made for the speed of a straight downhill run and the lack of edges made it tricky but it was so much fun. Here are a few pictures up top the glacier:

It's hard not to be happy up here

Waiting to take gondola one, I looked out the hole in the side of a building and thought it looked like it could be a picture on a wall...syke! It's the real deal.

Working on that infamous classical technique

Well looky here, look at us go.

A few shots from the day trip to Moreno:

Wasting time as the group reassembled to head to Stelvio. Look at that vetical!

My attempt to fit in in Italia land

More to come on Stelvio in the next days!

E.

Val Senales, Italy

Okay so I know I promised pictures about a week ago however they take forever to load so it wasn't as lickity-split to post them as usual. Past the excuses, here is the trip so far... in pictures!

Classic airplane wing shot on the long haul from Pearson to Munich. I love flying into the sun for only on reason, it's so pretty! I'm not a fan of the fact that it means we got jipped on a nights sleep and now have to stay awake for another 12 hours. I managed to stay healthy on the way over...something I've had trouble with in the past.

Arriving in Val Senales was great. We stayed at a great little hotel called Hotel Piccolo and we were spoiled with the food and facilities. Italian Mama took care of us with great cappuccinos, espressos and home made pasta. The gondola was 30 feet from our door step and mountains all around us made for great afternoon workouts. This scene got me, like this gate it really going to keep us out. Maybe in the winter with snow...

Making friends! They paint the goat's back here for whatever reason and they were so friendly haha

The guys getting in some extra upper-body on a warm up run before a strength workout

The ski site at Val Senales. We had to hike down to the 3km long trail, and then take the chair lift up. We stood out like soar thumbs with our "skinny skis" and backpacks on the way up. Not to mention the days when we had two pairs of skis... no one would ride the chair with us! For the most part we had the xc track to ourselves that week.

A lovely view from my balcony in Val Senales

Team shot! Showing off our Rudy Project helmets and glasses. We went down the hill a bit to Plaus for a little rollerski altitude break one afternoon and got in some sprints.

This might be my favourite shot of the whole trip so far... Goooooo Jimmy! Please click to enlarge.

Getting buff.

Well, That pretty much sums up Val Senales. Next we took a rest day and stopped in Moreno on our was to Passe del Stelvio. I have documented the day and drive and will update you on that soon. I've decided to break down the posts since there are days here in Stelvio that deserve a post all on their own... ooo the anticipation...

That's it for now!

Eeeeeeee.

...And by Austria I meant Italy

So here's the good news: I'm in Italy! A last minute change of plans found us in Val Senales, Italy, on the very northern border of Italy.  We were scheduled to go to the Dachstien Glacier in Austria however their lack of snow brought us to Italy for 3 weeks instead. The internet isn't great so I'm making this short and I'll try for a picture tomorrow... right now I'm in our hotel bar (where I'm paying 12euro for 3 hours of internet- crazy, I know- and making it last 7 days) and it is slowly filling with Italians as they watch the big screen that just dropped down for the soccer game. It's all very loud as they shout at the screens. Exciting! The food is insanely amazing and the sky has been blue from day one. It is very downhill oriented up on the glacier and we take the chairlift back up to the gondola which takes us down to the hotel. We get many bazar stares... which is weird since xc skiing is very popular on this side of the world. Anyways, I'll update again soon! We are moving to a different glacier on Monday for a week and then back here for the last week. Details to follow!

Cio! or Cia? or...? haha

Erin