La Thuile (It) and La Rosiere (Fr); New Adventures

Here is Carol's Thursday report. Be sure to read on as we also have a post with photos from Claudeen. The good news is that by reading the reports we can share most of the experience without the calories.

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Thursday in Espace San Bernard, which encompasses La Thuile (IT) and La Rosiere (F), completely unknown treasures! Claudeen got a tip from our hotel owner’s sons that we should NOT miss this ski area less than 30 minutes from Courmayeur; La Thuile, translated by French-speaking Michelle as “The Tile”, as in roofing tiles, which are huge slate slabs hereabouts. We began the morning with a dead battery as Dietmar, our Austrian bus driver, intended to warm the bus for us. The Italian version of AAA drove up in his mini-Fiat with two batteries and jumper cables and we were off. Dietmar made up for the delay with heroic hairpin curve driving skills, getting us to the gondola through what we concluded was a pedestrians-only passageway just inches wider than the coach. Bravo, Dietmar!

The group split into a half-dozen crews heading in every direction from the tramway exit, with everyone deciding independently to lunch over the border in Le Rosier, France. It seems that we were all thinking “French Fries”, but not until we were able to comprehend and enjoy the size and scope of this gigantic open area that wasn’t on anyone’s list of Must Ski. In fact, we liked it so much that most SkiMasters will go back tomorrow on the public bus, since Dietmar has his formal “day off”” on Friday. As we are staying in an actual town with hotels, he
doesn’t have to spend his off-time in the slide-out mortician-style drawer accommodation which his default sag wagon. He is a gentleman of substantial stature, so it cannot be his favorite option.

This bus driver gig is interesting, and as Dietmar speaks idiomatic English, your reporter was able to pump him for details. He drives for weeks at a time all over Europe, with his customers providing his accommodations wherever they stop. He has driven for rock bands (the name he dropped was Madonna) and ski exhibitions, various special interest tours (geologists, anthropologists, WWII vets from all armies, some of them traveling together to their former battle sites) and groups like ours who want to go into impossible places to park. The good news is that we can always get onto the bus if we come down from skiing early, as he is sitting at the wheel with his laptop or his book. He always has enough cold water and beer for us when we board after skiing, and so far, hasn’t lost patience with any of us. Yet. OK,
should anyone think we are enchanted by our bus driver, think again. But it COULD be an interesting retirement job!

Tonight is the first time we have figured out how to work the SKY television system in our room, and we are surprised to discover that, apparently, nothing has happened in our week away from the USA. CNN featured an interminable Rose Garden daily news conference in which the current mouthpiece (uh, spokesperson) said Nothing over and over. The lead item on FOX TV was a mother and child missing in WA with the Thurston County police phone number listed. We’ll be on the outlook for them; the kid has a Mohawk so he should be easy to spot. MSNBC is blathering on about CEO compensation. BBC reported that the US Medicare system will be bankrupt by 2017 so we are all considering having our hips and knees replaced soon.

The local Italian news channel had an amazing report on a blind skiier’s downhill race in Vancouver, with Guides leading Racers down the course, shouting directions over their shoulders as they flew down the course. No kidding. It was all in Italian, and we wondered if it is being reported in Seattle. There was a big US contingent at the bottom with flags (not seen by the skiers, for certain) where the racers finish. The blind skiers look better than many of us on the slopes.
Really.

Another TV news item reports that a cruise ship departing from the east coast of the US was forced to return to port after a breakout of Norovirus, and we have had a mini-version of our own. Two of our compadres have missed ski days, Larry and Robin, with symptoms of some sort of GI distress followed by fever and exhaustion. They were together the first day on a trip with a guide in Courmayeur, but another of our group who skiied with them is unaffected, and so far, no one else has any signs. May it be so!

Images are promised to the group by various photographers at the Italy/France border, all of our lunch stops, which, miraculously, happened to be simultaneously reached by most of the SkiMaster Variable Speed Cells that depart from the bus with unlimited destinations. We think that there may be some special SkiMasters magnetism at work!

Tonight's dinner started with "Local dried meat, oil and walnuts" which, though unappetizing in description, was a paper-thin arrangement of air-dried beef drizzled with virgin olive oil and dusted with ground walnut meat. There is no way to duplicate this back home, unless Mario Battali's father, ex-Boeing engineer Armandino Battali makes it at his Salumi in Seattle. AMAZING. Two soups and a light version of lasagne followed with main courses of lamb, veal and ham, served with winter vegetables (potato and turnip slices, sauteed nicely) and an improving
cheese trolley preceding the dessert selections. A bright green pistachio torte would have been more appropriate last night (St. Paddy's Day) when we were more likely to voluntarily ingest unnaturally green food.

The spoon passed from Ed to Linda, who apparently commented in public that she very much enjoyed her ride on The World's Longest Poma Lift. No protests were heard from the other Spoon Contenders, who were mostly in the ranks of Forgot Gloves, Trolling for Women with Unzipped Pants...random normal stuff. Thus our week in Italy winds down; tomorrow, we expect increasing clouds and the specter of packing to
leave for Solden. Ciao from Courmayeur!

Skiing and St. Paddy's Day; Claudine Captures the Spirit

NOTE: CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM.



Hi Blogsters From Claudeen,
We had a great day at another new area, well, two areas: La Thuile and La Rosiere. They had great off-piste skiing and on - with wonderful slopes for any level. We had the troublesome task of deciding whether we wanted French or Italian food for lunch... French won. Tomorrow, many of us are returning to the area, and to an Italian lunch.


Attached are a few pictures of our day at Chamonix yesterday, today at La Thuile and La Rosiere, and the traditional St Patty's Day party. Of course, the party was dedicated to Tom and Jay.

Tomorrow, many in the group are hiring guides to ski the Valley Blanche from Courmayeur in to Chamonix.

It's so great to know people are checking the blog. Love sharing this with everyone.

Claudeen

Courmayeur, Cervinia and Zermatt; And All Returned

Evening #3 in Courmayeur. Ciao from your SkiMaster friends, who had a terrific day in Cervinia, with weather that ranged from frost-bite white out to lunch in the sun on the terrace at the Hotel Astoria. Bob cDonald assumed the Great Mountain Guide role and led 25+ of us across the border from Italy to Switzerland, where the salad and pasta and pizza and Chianti warmed us for the trek back. People who love to pole
were in their glory as we trekked for miles, and rode the longest vertical t-bar in anyone's memory. But the hour-plus bus ride back to Corumayeur was unnaturally quiet as everyone napped following the harrowing return. No lives were lost and no arrests were made.

Ed Koehle graciously received the Spoon from Robb Rough, deservedly, as three friends had to help him retrieve the family heirloom flask he’d dropped from the chair. He was the hands-down winner, and could hardly protest with so many witnesses. In fact, he and Vickie volunteered to change their family name to O’Koehl for tomorrow night’s St. Paddy’s Day party, to be held in their room.

The last report of the mysterious loss (and even more mysterious re-appearance) of a boot bag was incorrect; Robin Calderon got all of her luggage, and though Terry Behme was the one without her boots for a day, she’d rented and fallen in love with the replacement pair, so all’s well and Hal gets to haul three pairs of boots back home.

Dinner back at the Pavillion Hotel was an improvement over last night. We all enjoyed a Caprese Salad (mozzarella on tomato slices with a basil dressing) before choosing between oglio/olio (thin spaghetti with olive oil, garlic and pepper flakes) or two soups. The main courses were beef, veal and lamb dishes, with the dessert trolly featured a chocolate crème cake, a flaky Napoleon and other delicacies. Claudeen must have lit a fire under the chef, as the offerings are much improved over our past two dinners.

Off tomorrow to Chamonix for skiing for most and shopping (for some) with a reminder to wear something green in honor of the day. Without Tom and Jay, it seems a hollow exercise!

Caio!

Here ya go: Day 1 in Courmayeur

Hallo to SkiMasters everywhere from beautiful, sunny Courmayeur. Thestory in brief on the journey here: not much to report, other than the remarkable surprise of a case of lovely red Italian wine hauled on our bus by DiAnne and Bob McDonald, bought at the growing restauarant enroute to Bormio where we stopped for a 3 hour lunch not long ago. Bob wishes to repeat that the Italian restaurant owners are cousins of proprieters of a favorite Glacier, WA Italian restaurant, and NOT relatives of the McDonalds, much to the regret of all! Bob reports that the restaurant has added a number of rooms to the enterprise so that diners can sleep off the amazing menu, and that the son of the owners still talks about our lunch with them as if it were their personal high point of history.

Various members of the group arrived in Milan early on several airlines and spent the extra time in random activites. Some took a train up to view Alpine glaciers, while others toured LaScala and caught a choral mass in the Duomo. But the good news was that Claudeen had all of her ducks together and on the bus within an hour of the Seattle group’s arrival, and with the sun shining down , we did the 2 hour trip in
comfort and red-wine induced euphoria.

Arrival at the Hotel Pavillion went smoothly, with the exception of one lost boot bag. Several people remember seeing it in the hotel lobby with our mountain of bags, so it is surely safe (and pretty useless) tucked into someone’s closet or forgotten under a bed. Robin Calderon is skiing with a guide and three SkiMasters compadres, in expectation that her missing bag will find it’s way back to her by dinner tonight.

We seem to be sharing the hotel with a group from Japan, a cheerful lot with tanned faces who may have been in the Alps for a while. One woman encountered on the elevator was clutching six bottles of Coke, saying “for gas”, leaving with and apologetic smile and mini bow, making me wonder if I was to return the gesture. I said Ciao instead.

As promised, the Menu Maven has comments on the first dinner, not all entirely positive. Several people seemed surprised by what they’d selected from the menu card, including an undercooked slightly crunchy risotto (al dente is not crunchy) a plate of veal that was NOT cooked at all, as expected. Well, Carpaccio isn’t cooked, but that was not indicated on the menu translation. I guess that we’ll need menu
consults for the rest of the week. Salads are not self-selected at a bar, but offered from a trolley, but the trolley did not make it to all tables. Dessert was a selection of indifferent slices of indeterminate composition, one in un-natural colors. Well, the cheese tray was nice!

Breakfast offerings were scanty, with scrambled eggs disappearing early and not replenished. This is always a learning experience!

Your reporter decided to skip the first day’s skiing, as a former Rotary exchange student (Vincent Mercy, Bellevue High, Class of 1988, coincidentally a classmate of Larina Davis!) is visiting for the day with his fiancé, Minh Trang, from Lausanne, Switzerland, which is equidistant to Courmayeur from Milan. Vincent went skiing with the group, while I decided to stay in town with Minh Trang, to hear the story about her horrific snowmobile accident three years ago in Quebec. Let’s just say that skiing is still my choice of winter sport, so you can keep your SkiDoo.

Not being able to describe the on-hill experience, I’ll say that it is a gorgeous Alpine view from our hotel on the valley floor, with the skiers’ choice of three cable cars and gondolas headed up to the broad open slopes of Plan de Gabba, or the yet higher point of Cresta D’Arp. Mont Bianco (Mont Blanc) is Door Number 3, with the chance to ski over the top to Chamonix at Punta Hellbronner. There seem to be many opportunities to get lost, so surely there will be serious competition for the first Spoon Award of 2010.

A light breeze and 34º temps on the valley floor promises interesting snow
conditions. The north side had to be Styrofoam hard in the morning, and with several of our group renting skis, we’ll certainly hear reports of equipment challenges. All-day sun may make snow chunky as the hours pass, and we’ll get the viewpoint of the group who hired a mountain guide, as well as commentary from those intrepid souls who venture out with Robb Rough’s declared walkie-talkie channel written in
ballpoint on their wrist.

More tomorrow, with Spoon News, weather and snow conditions from Those Who Dared! Ciao from Carol Mast

Courmayeur; The Facts About the Resort

Is Courmayeur a new area for you. Well, here is what a reporter from Britain's "Telegraph" newspaper thinks of the place.

Courmayeur is a traditional old Italian mountaineering village that has retained much of its character. Pila, La Thuile and Chamonix are an easy drive or bus ride and Cervinia is reachable.

WE LIKE
• Charming old village, with car-free centre and stylish shops and bars
• Stunning views of Mont Blanc
• Access to the famous Vallée Blanche run to Chamonix (day trips there are possible by road, too)
• Heli-skiing available
• Comprehensive snowmaking
• Some good mountain restaurants
WE DON'T LIKE
• Relatively small area, with mainly short runs; high-mileage piste-bashers should stay away
• Lack of nursery slopes and easy runs for confidence-building
• No tough pistes
• No pistes back to the village, only to Dolonne (where you catch a bus)
• Crowded at weekends
VILLAGE CHARM
Attractive and sophisticated
The village has a charming traffic-free centre of attractive shops, cobbled streets and well-preserved buildings. An Alpine museum and a statue of a long-dead mountain rescue hero add to the historical feel.
The centre has a great evening atmosphere, focused around the Via Roma.
As the lifts close, people pile into the many bars, some of which are very civilised. Others wander in and out of the many small shops, which include lots of smart clothes shops, nice delis and a good bookshop.
At weekends people-watching is part of the scene, when the fur coats of the Milanese and Torinese take over
CONVENIENCE
Buses to the lifts
You cannot ski back to the village itself. But a huge cable car on the southern edge will take you to and from Plan Checrouit, at the heart of the slopes.A gondola from Dolonne (a few minutes’ bus ride away) offers a popular alternative way up and you can ski back there. Both the cable car and the gondola are bus-served, and while parking at the cable car is very limited, there’s a big car park at Dolonne. Many hotels run shuttles to and from Dolonne.
Drivers can also go to Entrèves, up the valley, where there is a large car park at the cable car. Most people leave skis or boards and boots in lockers up the mountain or at the lift base. Buses, infrequent but timetabled (though a 2009 visitor could not get a timetable to take away), go to La Palud, just beyond Entrèves, for the Monte Bianco cable car to Punta Helbronner (for Vallée Blanche). Taxis are easily arranged for evening excursions to valley restaurants.
SCENERY
Mont Blanc rules
The high glacial slopes of Mont Blanc’s massif overlook Courmayeur’s slopes. The views from the high points at Cresta d’Arp and Cresta Youla are stunning.
SNOW RELIABILITY
Good for most of the season
Courmayeur’s slopes are not high – mostly between 1700m and 2250m.
Those above Val Veny face north or north-west, so they keep their snow well, but the Plan Checrouit side is too sunny for comfort in late season.
There is snowmaking on most main runs, including the red run to Dolonne in the valley.
So good coverage in early and mid-season is virtually assured – we’ve been there in a snow drought and enjoyed decent skiing entirely on man-made snow.
SCHOOLS AND GUIDES
Good reports
The Monte Bianco ski school gets good reviews: ‘the best instructor for ages – possibly ever’.
There is a thriving guides’ association ready to help you explore the area’s off-piste; it has produced a helpful booklet showing the main possibilities.
The Courmayeur school has ‘a more snowboardy and young funky image’.
FOR FAMILIES
Some facilities
There are children’s playgrounds at Dolonne and Val Veny and a nursery at Plan Checrouit.

Courmayeur, Italy and Soelden, Austria: Ski Masters Are on the Way

Welcome to the 2010 Ski Masters Euro trip blog. In 2009 I initiated a daily trip report from Europe so that friends and families could follow the skier's antics without enduring a nine hour flight. I suspect the three readers enjoyed the reports. Since I'm staying home this year Carol Mast has agreed to apply her considerable talent with words to keep us informed as to the progress of our skiing and traveling friends

She is so anxious to begin that she has written a sample report to give you a hint of things to come. Enjoy the sample. More is on the way. Check back. She will try to send frequent reports and I will try to post them frequently.

Carol Writes: Well, it's started already! We drove back from Ketchum recently and arrived to find an email saying that our BA Europe flight COULD be cancelled due to a possible cabin staff strike. TERRIFIC! I think that Bob and Dianne McDonald fly BA also, so there could be some Ski Master MIAs from the get-go.

I'm going to be doing a blog for the SkiMasters back in Seattle and will begin when we reach Soelden. In the past, people have done reports after returning, but now with laptops, we'll be able to keep the Folks Back Home in touch. Normally, there is a blow-by-blow from the ski instructors that details numbers of runs, vertical feet skied, narrowness of chutes...who biffed said chute. My entries will probably be like this:

"Skiing OK with overcast skies, zillions of out-of-control Stem Christie people from Innsbruck swarming the mountainside. Moguls formed by 9:25am, knee deep Cascade Concrete off piste. Ice at the bottom, bare spots...had to ski through farmer's yards to get down in cow poop.

Rode 32 T-bars for a total of 4 minute downhill run to next T-bar.

FABULOUS lunch at AlpenHut with a really terrific beer. Spaetzle (mac and cheese but hand-made) and schweinhax'n (roast pork with crackling skin) so the cholesterol levels are higher than Mont Blanc! Two of our skiiers got lost and had to spend $106 each to get back to the hotel by taxi. Their leader got The Spoon, (explained below) as he insisted that they turn right instead of left at a Y on the trail at 4:35pm. They missed dinner, but appeared in time to get The Spoon.

Dinner at the ParkHotel in Soelden, as usual was 5 Stars. First course was a wild mushroom strudel with a brown butter sauce. To die for. Main course was duck, grilled with peaches preserved from the hotel's orchard, in a demi-glace reduction over garlic-studded creamed potato gratin, with sauted baby green beans the size of toothpicks, sweet and tender. The ParkHotel salad bar is open before and during dinner, and one could live on this feature alone. Lobster salad, freshest baby lettuces and grilled vegetables sit alongside every kind of arranged fruit and smoked fish, sausage platter and cheese.

Tonight's dessert bar features frozen treats, with 14 sorbets and ice creams on offer, all made in house. Fresh berries and three chocolate sauces were in silver bowls and Schlagobers (whipped cream) stood in a crystal urn with a 3' diameter. Larry likes the wine list here and between him and John Anderson, we're working our way through it."

I am not kidding. Not one little bit. And THAT is Austria...can you imagine Italy? Well, I am not just joking when I say that I go on this trip to eat.

The Spoon is an ancient (1947) award for the big FUBAR of the day. You can get it for getting lost, breaking a bone, leaving your heirloom family jewelry in the public bathroom...and then get it AGAIN when it is TURNED IN to the desk three days later. Larry got on our last trip for lighting a match in the bathroom (he is soooo considerate) which set off a smoke alarm, which in turn, closed and locked all the fire doors on the floor. Some people were locked into their rooms/hallways for over an hour. They called him "The Ring of Fire".

So, this is the kind of reporting your can expect from this trip! My next posting could be from the BA lounge at Heathrow...on March 22nd!

Carol

Whistler 2010: Bring Your Travel Pass and Money

The Whistler Resort is ready for the 2010 Olympics. Information kiosks are spotted throughout the village, TV anchor booths are being readied for the arrival of the broadcasters, the medals stage is nearly finished and you can sense an air of anticipation.

At this point, eight days before the games begin, the crowd is noticeably younger because many of them are event workers and volunteers, not media execs and notables. Some of the athletes have arrived but the real flood will take place next week.

And, yes, there is plenty of snow at Whistler. While it may be thin for events near Vancouver the coverage at Whistler is not a risk. The down hillers will be able to blast downhill.

For those of us that drive, the road to the resort is new and improved. Legendary curves have been removed and much of the route has been widened. But there are still choke points and a system of reversible lanes will be in force during the Olympics to speed traffic north in the am and south in the pm.

To further control congestion a pass is required to travel the last 40 miles from Squamish to Whistler between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm daily during the games. Regular folks will need to arrange for a pass when arranging their lodging in Whistler. A Squamish roadblock is set to go into effect and they will not let you pass.

In addition to a pass you should bring money; lots and lots of money. First there are “must have” souvenirs everywhere. You can’t leave Whistler without some sort of gadget. Second, be prepared for “special Olympic pricing” at the restaurants. We stopped by one of our favorite haunts and the price rise was very discernable.

“Yes, I was a little surprised by the new menu prices,” our server commented. “But everyone’s doing it.”

With the Canadian dollar trading near par with the U.S. the price you see is very near the price in U.S. dollars that you will pay.

But, hey, the Olympics are a once in a lifetime event. There still may be tickets available to some events. We will find out today. In the meantime we came here to ski and ski we will. More Olympics news later.