Skiing part 2
The Southern Tyrol is both a historical, geological and geographical wonder. It is currently Italian in status, Austrian in historically and out of time for the present. I like it's confused nature, this is how I think Europe used to be before someone rubber stamped national stereotypes across the continent. Nominally Italian, really Austrian. I'll not start on a rant on nation-states, i'm sure you can put your own in here if you want.
Hotel Tschurtschenthaler and some of Dobbiaco have those building pictures prevalent in Bavaria, and I assume in Austria. A tourist town built around outdoor activities with many 'wellness' centres for your delectation.
Day 1
Having acquired ski's we spent the morning puttering around a field learning to ski. There isn't too much to mention about this day; morning in the field, afternoon in the Dobbiaco Nordic Arena
Breakfast, lunch and dinner were in the Austrian/German style; large platters of meat, eggs, potatoes, etc. Not much in the way of vegetables. Much wheat beer was consumed.
Fourteen people in the group, mostly older (40+) and male. The group was generally good natured and I think it helped the dynamic that most of us were here on our own, rather than couples or small groups, and of a similar level. Most of us could only muster a few hours of experience but all had at least some fitness and outdoor knowledge.
Day 2
We got the bus to Passo Cimabanche and practised some basic techniques before a coffee break. The pace was definitely leisurely, while I felt like I could keep going it was nice to have enforced rest, generally involving quality Italian coffee and plentiful food. The first coffee stop, not picture, was a small shack run by an old man. On the walls hung many skull and antler trophies as well as climbing and skiing gear. What made it exceptional is the world war one debris; old Italian and Austrian helments, a rusty trench spade, an old hand grenade... The entire place was steeped in history of the area. A picture on the wall showed the hotel that once stood in it's place, destroyed so that neither could have it post WW1.
Our ski down to Dobbiaco was nominally downhill. The downhill gradient is such that you still have to work but enough not to make it a huge struggle. We passed the Lago di Landro to stop for lunch. The clouds remained low and we could see little of the mountains around us. For the most part we went through forested areas following the route of an old Dobbiaco-Cortina railway.
By the second day we had settled in a standard skiing order, with me being being the leader followed by Katie and Viv. It feels strange leaping in to the front, I felt like I was taking advantage. It's completely unbritish to leap to the front of a queue! Being at the front did allow me to get the pictures in. This is looking over the Toblacher See to the South where we'd skied from.
We entered the nordic arena a while later for more coffee/gluhwien.
Day 3
Due to the lack of snow we headed up to higher heights to try and get some good conditions. A valley called the Fischleintal. So more drills to get the skills in before heading up the valley for coffee. Again the weather was a little over-cast to start with, but the scenery was still amazing. Stopped for coffee and the clouds began to clear, leaving us with some views from the Talschulsshutte and their weird wood sculptures.
The rest of the day was skiing down from there towards San Candido/Innichen. The track was in fairly good condition and rolled along down the valley. I love the way the cross country tracks can roll; some momentum is needed to keep you going but there is enough ups and downs to keep it interesting. Eventually came to a stop outside the Hotel Paradiso as the light faded and the track finished.
Day 4
So continued lack of snow and warm day time temperatures caused the snow to melt and at times become icy, both of which aren't particularly good for beginners. This led our instructor and guide, Albert, to take us to higher ground again. So after getting a bus to Moos (I love that name), a cable car most of the way up the mountain followed by a walk and a ski to get us to the start of a 'unlisted' track. So far our tracks had followed a similar rating system to that of downhill skiing; green, blue, red and black. This was technically a walking path but also used as a connecting path by downhill skiers.
At this point I met the limitations of my ability and what i'd learned. I went through amused, frustrated, calm and back again through them all as we worked our way down the path. I don't like trying to ski something when I can't control myself, it's a simple rule I like to keep to. If I can understand and influence where i'm going it's all fine but I found I was engaging in beginner habits of using my ski poles to push me in the right direction as my snow-plough position didn't appear to work.
Scenery was still stunning and when I finally finished the first descent, I was happy. Eventually we finished at a small downhill area and hotel of the Kreuzbergpass. A large posh lunch followed with the waiters not being impressed with our cheap, badly dressed British beginner cross country attitude. After lunch we briefly attempted to continue down the slope across the road but having made some brief negative comments Albert decided to call it quits. I assume there would be tricky technical areas that influenced his decision, but none of us felt what we were doing was completely out of our depth. But instructor know'se best! We caught a bus down some of the hill and restarted on part of yesterday's path, but you could see how the conditions had deteriorated with the entire place like an ice sheet.
Day 5
This was the long day to Cortina. Bussed up to the pass from day 2, we skied down into Cortina, with further amazing views. At the point of that picture, we would ski through a tunnel, across a bridge and then through another tunnel, along the route of the old railway line.
I found my progress was slowed on this path by the tracks we skied in not being wide enough. My boots would rub and slow me down (this had become an unofficial way for some of us to brake). Down to Cortina, lunch and bus back up the hill to ski down the other side back to Dobbiaco. Now some of you may be questioning how it is we got to ski downhill in both directions if this is cross country. I'd ask the same question but to be honest, I think the extra effort to ski 21km uphill would have somewhat reduced the enjoyment of the week for most people. Next time ;)
Day 6
Final day of skiing. By now we are all beginning to feel the strain of 6 days of effort. We'd arranged mini-buses to take us up to the Prato Piazza, a plateau at 2000m. Now Italian taxi drivers, combined with a bus full of people and a narrow high alpine road covered with snow... Quite impressive! Enjoyable and slightly worrying at the same time, certainly didn't take too long to get there! The last day and conditions were spot on, I was more worried about sunburn than anything else!
Groomed trails curved around the plateau. Clear blue sky and mountains around us it was quintessential dolomites/alpine landscape. After a couple of hours of meandering around the trails we stopped for lunch at the Durrenstein Hutte overlooking an old Italian barracks from the 19th century and the Hohe Gaisl peak. If you look at the original size picture of the hotel you might just be able to make out the positions covering the old barracks to the top right of the hotel...
Following a leisurely lunch we had a 6km descent back to the valley floor down an old military road. I was actually concerned about this due to previous skiing in icy conditions not going so well, or me having confidence in my snow plough to keep my descent under control.* I skied some, walked some. Further on though I found the confidence to keep skiing as I finally, after 6 days, realised how to do the snow plough properly! I moved my weight back a small amount and suddenly it all came together and the descent was fun. Except for one part where an avalanche had reduced the track to under a foot wide, with uneven ground.
We finished, eventually, as we'd began at the Nordic centre. I'd fallen quite a few times by the point we arrived at Dobbiaco. Tiredness more than anything else.
Oh, and there were balloons
I'll leave it there :o)
*Note for downhill skiers: Snow plough seems to be the standard way of controlling speed on descents for cross country skis. I think skate skiing is more akin to downhill as you actually get some edge on your skis.
Hotel Tschurtschenthaler and some of Dobbiaco have those building pictures prevalent in Bavaria, and I assume in Austria. A tourist town built around outdoor activities with many 'wellness' centres for your delectation.
Day 1
Having acquired ski's we spent the morning puttering around a field learning to ski. There isn't too much to mention about this day; morning in the field, afternoon in the Dobbiaco Nordic Arena
Breakfast, lunch and dinner were in the Austrian/German style; large platters of meat, eggs, potatoes, etc. Not much in the way of vegetables. Much wheat beer was consumed.
Fourteen people in the group, mostly older (40+) and male. The group was generally good natured and I think it helped the dynamic that most of us were here on our own, rather than couples or small groups, and of a similar level. Most of us could only muster a few hours of experience but all had at least some fitness and outdoor knowledge.
Day 2
We got the bus to Passo Cimabanche and practised some basic techniques before a coffee break. The pace was definitely leisurely, while I felt like I could keep going it was nice to have enforced rest, generally involving quality Italian coffee and plentiful food. The first coffee stop, not picture, was a small shack run by an old man. On the walls hung many skull and antler trophies as well as climbing and skiing gear. What made it exceptional is the world war one debris; old Italian and Austrian helments, a rusty trench spade, an old hand grenade... The entire place was steeped in history of the area. A picture on the wall showed the hotel that once stood in it's place, destroyed so that neither could have it post WW1.
Our ski down to Dobbiaco was nominally downhill. The downhill gradient is such that you still have to work but enough not to make it a huge struggle. We passed the Lago di Landro to stop for lunch. The clouds remained low and we could see little of the mountains around us. For the most part we went through forested areas following the route of an old Dobbiaco-Cortina railway.
By the second day we had settled in a standard skiing order, with me being being the leader followed by Katie and Viv. It feels strange leaping in to the front, I felt like I was taking advantage. It's completely unbritish to leap to the front of a queue! Being at the front did allow me to get the pictures in. This is looking over the Toblacher See to the South where we'd skied from.
We entered the nordic arena a while later for more coffee/gluhwien.
Day 3
Due to the lack of snow we headed up to higher heights to try and get some good conditions. A valley called the Fischleintal. So more drills to get the skills in before heading up the valley for coffee. Again the weather was a little over-cast to start with, but the scenery was still amazing. Stopped for coffee and the clouds began to clear, leaving us with some views from the Talschulsshutte and their weird wood sculptures.
The rest of the day was skiing down from there towards San Candido/Innichen. The track was in fairly good condition and rolled along down the valley. I love the way the cross country tracks can roll; some momentum is needed to keep you going but there is enough ups and downs to keep it interesting. Eventually came to a stop outside the Hotel Paradiso as the light faded and the track finished.
Day 4
So continued lack of snow and warm day time temperatures caused the snow to melt and at times become icy, both of which aren't particularly good for beginners. This led our instructor and guide, Albert, to take us to higher ground again. So after getting a bus to Moos (I love that name), a cable car most of the way up the mountain followed by a walk and a ski to get us to the start of a 'unlisted' track. So far our tracks had followed a similar rating system to that of downhill skiing; green, blue, red and black. This was technically a walking path but also used as a connecting path by downhill skiers.
At this point I met the limitations of my ability and what i'd learned. I went through amused, frustrated, calm and back again through them all as we worked our way down the path. I don't like trying to ski something when I can't control myself, it's a simple rule I like to keep to. If I can understand and influence where i'm going it's all fine but I found I was engaging in beginner habits of using my ski poles to push me in the right direction as my snow-plough position didn't appear to work.
Scenery was still stunning and when I finally finished the first descent, I was happy. Eventually we finished at a small downhill area and hotel of the Kreuzbergpass. A large posh lunch followed with the waiters not being impressed with our cheap, badly dressed British beginner cross country attitude. After lunch we briefly attempted to continue down the slope across the road but having made some brief negative comments Albert decided to call it quits. I assume there would be tricky technical areas that influenced his decision, but none of us felt what we were doing was completely out of our depth. But instructor know'se best! We caught a bus down some of the hill and restarted on part of yesterday's path, but you could see how the conditions had deteriorated with the entire place like an ice sheet.
Day 5
This was the long day to Cortina. Bussed up to the pass from day 2, we skied down into Cortina, with further amazing views. At the point of that picture, we would ski through a tunnel, across a bridge and then through another tunnel, along the route of the old railway line.
I found my progress was slowed on this path by the tracks we skied in not being wide enough. My boots would rub and slow me down (this had become an unofficial way for some of us to brake). Down to Cortina, lunch and bus back up the hill to ski down the other side back to Dobbiaco. Now some of you may be questioning how it is we got to ski downhill in both directions if this is cross country. I'd ask the same question but to be honest, I think the extra effort to ski 21km uphill would have somewhat reduced the enjoyment of the week for most people. Next time ;)
Day 6
Final day of skiing. By now we are all beginning to feel the strain of 6 days of effort. We'd arranged mini-buses to take us up to the Prato Piazza, a plateau at 2000m. Now Italian taxi drivers, combined with a bus full of people and a narrow high alpine road covered with snow... Quite impressive! Enjoyable and slightly worrying at the same time, certainly didn't take too long to get there! The last day and conditions were spot on, I was more worried about sunburn than anything else!
Groomed trails curved around the plateau. Clear blue sky and mountains around us it was quintessential dolomites/alpine landscape. After a couple of hours of meandering around the trails we stopped for lunch at the Durrenstein Hutte overlooking an old Italian barracks from the 19th century and the Hohe Gaisl peak. If you look at the original size picture of the hotel you might just be able to make out the positions covering the old barracks to the top right of the hotel...
Following a leisurely lunch we had a 6km descent back to the valley floor down an old military road. I was actually concerned about this due to previous skiing in icy conditions not going so well, or me having confidence in my snow plough to keep my descent under control.* I skied some, walked some. Further on though I found the confidence to keep skiing as I finally, after 6 days, realised how to do the snow plough properly! I moved my weight back a small amount and suddenly it all came together and the descent was fun. Except for one part where an avalanche had reduced the track to under a foot wide, with uneven ground.
We finished, eventually, as we'd began at the Nordic centre. I'd fallen quite a few times by the point we arrived at Dobbiaco. Tiredness more than anything else.
Oh, and there were balloons
I'll leave it there :o)
*Note for downhill skiers: Snow plough seems to be the standard way of controlling speed on descents for cross country skis. I think skate skiing is more akin to downhill as you actually get some edge on your skis.