I'm currently ignoring the housework. It's been a long week and I'm just not up to it right now. It's also been a VERY cold week with today and yesterday not reaching above freezing. It's very foggy and there is a little snow falling, but not enough in my opinion. In Italy they have this idea that the temperature has to be very close to 0°C for snow to fall and if it's too cold (like today) it can't snow. I want snow!!
Saturday I got to go play in a winter wonderland. We went snowshoeing in the Alps with our "adventure couple" friends and their dog. We went up to the Varaita Valley to a place called Pontechianale. There is a large lake formed by a damn up there that they say is very beautiful in the summer. This time it was hidden under ice and 3 or 4 feet of snow! Fabri and I rented snowshoes for only 7 euros each for the day and the adventure couple: Davide and Elena helped us figure out how to put them on. Then we hit the trail.
We headed up the mountain on a very snowy woodland trail. Just like in cross-country skiing, you get hot very quickly and we began shedding our layers. The first half hour or so was pretty hard for me. I had trouble catching my breath (which happens a lot when we go up to the alps). But once I got adjusted, it was pretty easy going. I was smiling the whole time though because it was wonderful being out in the snow.
When we arrived to a flat area, we took some time to enjoy the awesome views and take a bunch of photos. The hike we did takes about 1 hour in the summer, we took our time and arrived at our destination, an alpine refuge, in a little under 2 hours. There we enjoyed some delicious polenta and sausage. We sat outside because they wouldn't let Olney come in and while Davide and Elena's dog Nana can be left tied up outside, Olney cries and barks and eventually slips out of his collar and attacks the door. Our dog has horrible manners!
After lunch we started back down the mountain. Davide did a little off-road snowshoeing and Fabri & Olney were happy to follow him. Elena, Nana and I (the gals stuck to the path) until we were tricked into following the boys down a hill where I slid most of the way on my butt!
The trip back was all downhill so we got to the car faster, but it was more fun with all the trail blazing and sliding. Olney really loved all the snow too. At first he was crying and holding his paws up. I was worried that he wouldn't be able to do it, but his paws got bigger and spread out and he was jumping and running all over the place.
We slept well that night and Sunday was horrible: grey, cold and humid. So I'm glad we got out there on a sunny Saturday.
6 comments:
Yeah, so I'm thinking a wintertime visit may be in order at some point.
Don't ask Laura about hers. She was quite miserable. It can be very cold and very foggy, but when the weather is nice, it's amazing!
woah - this is a serious wintertime hike! i hope this was followed by some serious pjamming.
pjammin is one redeemable part of winter in Italy...
At least there's one redeemable part. I definitely took a bath and pjammed the rest of the evening.
...and the next day!
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