Fun in the snow.

We were scheduled to go fat biking today but cancelled because there is just about no snow other than on the actual pistes and, beautiful as it may be, riding through the forests, we can actually do that at home.  It was just as well because today was probably the best day of skiing so far.

We started out at Motollino which is firmly ensconced as our overall favourite run a skied it a few times before the crowds really arrived and then headed over to Trepalle which I still don't like and then down to Sponda numerous times.  I managed to take a tumble right at the bottom of Sponda, I was just gently drifting sideways down the slope looking around and the edge of my skis caught an edge in the snow and that was it. 

 As one can see from the photograph above, it was really snowing which lends a magic to skiing that just isn't there when it isn't snowing.  One can feel the vibe at the coffee shops that has been absent up until now.  The weather was quite variable as snow clouds drifted across us dumping a light dusting of snow down but also creating beautiful visuals with intermittent sun and cloud and mist, the photograph below should have been a silhouette so I'll have to doctor it at some stage.  My normal camera really is much better than my new indestructible olympus point and shoot but it is so inconvenient to ski with that I am going to stick with the point and shoot as a compromise between using a cell phone and an slr.

After a final run down Motollino Carl and Megan returned home and Kirsten and I went back for another 'final' run but as we were going up in the gondola Kirsten spotted the blue piste markers indicating that the blue run we have been waiting for almost two weeks to open is finally open.  So we just had to do it, twice, because it was so enjoyable and there was just about nobody on it.  I'm going to try to get Caron over here because it was just thoroughly enjoyable and this is the kind of experience that keeps people coming back for more.

By the time we arrived at home having had to take the blue bus which goes to the far reaches of the town, Carl was a little worried that we had had an incident.  In the afternoon I had a nap along with just about everyone else before I went out quite late and did some practicing on the blue runs close to the house.  Carl took Alistair off to the local gym and walked into the 'mens' change room only to find a bunch of ladies busy drying their hair and immediately backed out thinking that they had made a mistake.  Turns out that they didn't make a mistake; the mens and ladies share an entrance hall where items of common use, like hairdryers (it is Europe after all you know), are located and you need to go through this to get to the actual change rooms.  Modesty restored they made it into the gym only to find that they don't have any "ergo's" which is like a mandatory item in south african gyms so he had to make do with a run and some gym work which is better than nothing.

Back home we all went for a walk up the main street before supper time at Lauries, this rotating supper thing is really, really working out well for everyone.  After the usual delicious meal from Laurie we tried to take the edge off the limoncello by mixing it with some sprite but this didn't work out at all.  It was already too sweet and the sprite seemed to make it even sweeter and we were all barely able to swallow it.

I found a recipe for bombardino which we are going to have to try when we get home but I think that it is a strictly winter only drink.