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Giovedi 12.03.09
Working on only a few hours of sleep, I dragged myself to the bus leaving for the ESEG Snow Week in Bardonecchia. We had been to Magazzini Generali, a crazy warehouse club, the night before with Joey's sister who was here from New Jersey. She and Joey had spent a few days touring the typical Milanese sites before his twin brother, Bobby, got here and they left for Firenze, Venezia, and Roma.
And so it began, going from this wonderful friend-filled atmosphere down to nothing. I didn't know a soul when I boarded that bus because Anne, the only other person who skis well in our group, had bailed at the last minute. No need to be worried however, I just took a breath and proceeded to make friends with the first guy who had an empty seat next to him. I can pinpoint the moment our friendship solidified as when I fell asleep with my mouth open... no seriously, his name was Andrea and he asked me out at the end of the trip.
Anyway, the next hurdle was figuring out whom to room with and luckily, I had no trouble signing myself up to stay with three other girls. One was from Australia, one from Canada, and the other from Germany so we had quite the international experience. I also met a lot of people from Spain and Brazil at dinner the first night and then became really good friends two Norwegian guys who Laura, my German roommate, introduced me to. They had met studying in Sienna before coming to Milan and were great to ski with.
Venerdi 13.03.09
First order of business for Day 1: teach my other two roommates how to ski. I spent two hours skiing backwards, holding their hands and explaining how to shift their weight to make turns. I loved sharing knowledge of my favorite sport with them and after three days of solid practice, they were comfortable enough to go down the blue runs.
In the Alps, at least those of the Italian variety, they label runs on a scale of Green (easiest), Blue (medium), Red (difficult), and Black (most difficult).I was able to ski all of the above without too much difficulty depending on conditions and would therefore say that the blues, reds, and blacks directly compared to the American West's blues, double blues, and blacks.It was the first time in my life that I was able to just get on a chairlift without so much as a glance at the map and not have to worry about how I would get down.I challenged the mountain to challenge me.
In fact, as you can see from the videos, my new friends and I skied as hard and as fast as we could.The first morning had been dedicated to education and the rest of the weekend was thus solely dedicated to testing the limits.Life Lesson #1 (I start a fresh count on each trip):the difference between stupidity and bravery.This was keenly demonstrated by my friend Andreas who chose to ski under a boundary line down through a thicket of trees and lost a ski on the way.Somehow he was able to make it out but had to climb up to retrieve his equipment.Actually, maybe the best example was when Ola chose to fling himself over a jump and into a tree after which, he was not as lucky as Andrea, and had to purchase new equipment to replace that which he had snapped in half.They had pretty much worn themselves out by the time I discovered the mini-bowl on the highest peak and was skiing through all the powder and down through the moguls.The difference between stupidity and bravery lies in the distance between the trees you're skiing through.
Someone once told me though that you're not trying hard enough if you don't fall down at least once per ski vacation.Well I accomplished that on Day 1 when I fell off a lift (Life Lesson #2:the best way to make friends is to embarrass yourself in front of them.)Don't worry, I returned with all my extremities intact.The lift I fell off was just a plate lift, similar in nature to a tow rope or a T-bar but you put a disc between your legs and let the cable it's attached to pull you up the mountain while standing.Sounds simple but really it's easier said than done, especially for someone who's used to high speed quad chair lifts and gondolas (thanks for spoiling me Mom!)
I certainly didn't share with anyone that I'd never taken a plate lift before however, and so needed to watch my friend Laura for tips on how to maneuver it.She just grabbed the cable as it was going by and off she went!She even proceeded to let it carry her with no hands, making a call on her cellulare.So of course, I figured I could do the same and soon I was really a pro, putting on lip gloss and adjusting my hair.Yea, a real pro until all of a sudden the hair that I had so carefully redone was smack dab in the middle of a snow bank!Laura turned upon hearing my scream but was too far away to hear my plan of action once I had collected myself and actually had one.I had to scrape myself away from the other oncoming passengers and pick myself up to go down off-piste, luckily meeting up with her mid-way to the next run.The whole hilarious event turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it convinced me that I could navigate powder and trees in any situation, emergency or otherwise.
Sabato 14.03.09
Despite having been out until 2 AM the night before at a local bar-trying-to-be-a-club, Laura and I were up and on the mountain by 9 AM.We were sleeping on adjacent cots so it made it pretty easy to poke each other until we got up for breakfast.Not surprisingly however, we were the only ones who made it out that early.If I recall correctly, Andrea, Cicio, and the rest of the ESEG staff whom we had skied the last few Friday runs with didn't emerge until about 3 PM.
For those of you familiar with American East Coast skiing, the Bardonecchia mountain was bigger than Ski Liberty, comparable probably to Seven Springs.It was the perfect size for a three day trip because Laura and I were able to ski everything and then pick out which ones were best to do in the morning's ice or the afternoon's slush.As previously mentioned, the best runs overall were those at and near the top of the highest peak where we could experiment with off-piste. They were accessible only by a ridiculously long plate lift which went along at such an incline that you felt like you were rock climbing.With my skis perpendicular to the almost vertical slope, I just kept repeating to myself, "not a good place to fall off, not a good place to fall off" and subsequently chose not to try any more no-hands tricks.
We took advantage of the wide open slopes, videotaping our Olympic-worthy skills down our favorite runs.Laura's backpack came in handy not only for carrying snacks and sunscreen (which I wore but still managed to get a raccoon-shaped burn) but for strapping our poles to so we could follow one another with an uninhibited range of video camera action.I remember being madder than a wet hen during my brief stint in ski school when they wouldn't give me poles but now, much older and wiser, I see that skiing without them might even improve my balance.Ski instructors knowing what they're talking about, imagine that.
Domenica 15.03.09
Another day of hard skiing but this time our legs were really talking to us.I said that to Laura and then of course had to explain the expression.It reminded me of when our friend Chantal had tried to say that her "dogs were barking" and instead said "my dogs are really sparkling!"Anyway, we were sad to leave that afternoon but our legs sure were ready for the break.
After returning our equipment (Salomon by the way), we left our little apartment in relatively good condition and loaded up the bus for the three hour trip back to Milano.I had a chance to get to know Andrea a lot better that afternoon and we ended up going out for drinks with a few other people from the trip that evening.He and I bonded over our shared, if not somewhat bizarre combination of interests: international development and event planning.We've all been out a few more times since then and all I can say is that I'm so happy that the friendships I made that weekend weren't left on the mountain.
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