International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) La Dolce Vita, or: skiing is not the most important

[Slim]

As I mentioned in several other threads, my wife and I took a trip to Italy in March. Originally, we were going to meet up with friends from Holland, for a week of skiing in Italy. In the end they were unable to make it so, it was just the two of us.

From home, we flew to Milan. Starting off on the Minneapolis airport, we had some time to kill, so had breakfast, thereby starting off our "eat our way around the world tour" right off the bat. We continued that with more food during the long layover in New York, and then arrived in a deserted Milan Malpensa around 9:00 am on Sunday.
Time for the first Italian espresso:



After that pick me up, we hopped on the bus to Turin, where we took another bus to the Aosta Valley. Again, Italy lived up to it's reputation. In a shack along a busy road, waiting for the bus, the coffee and sandwich were really good. I think that sums up the Italian food situation the best: It's not that there is better food there than other countries, or that you can not find delicious food in other countries, it's that the Italians don't serve crappy food, that's what is so wonderful.



It was fun to feel warm air and see green and even flowers again for the first time since October. The Aosta valley runs from the Italian Po plain into the high Alps. Passing below Monte Cervino (Matterhorn) and ending at Monte Bianco (Mt Blanc). It is absolutely littered with castles, so all during the ride, I was craning my neck every which way to look at the mountains, the vineyards, old buildings, castles and flowering trees. Fantastic!



Aosta the town is a wonderful small city in the valley. Surrounded by mountains, It has many Roman ruins, including city walls, a city gate, amphitheater, crypts, and a triumph arch. We arrived at our B&B, were we were greeted warmly by the owner. It was an old building he had restored himself, and looked amazing. Coming rustic ancient parts, with modern amenities and style, in a great design. After ditching our bags, we went for a walk along the pedestrian main street in the historic downtown. Lined with shops, bars and restaurants, it was a great stroll. Which was good, as the restaurants don't open before 7:00 pm at the earliest, and us tired travellers were wanting to get to bed as soon as possible, so we needed to stay moving to stay awake.







After a delicious dinner, we headed back to our room, and packed our backpacks for the upcoming trip. This was a backcountry ski, a.k.a. Alpine Touring, trip. Skiing for 5 days, Monday-Friday from hut to hut in two quiet side valleys of the main Aosta valley.

 

[Slim]

Monday morning, we were served a delicious breakfast including jams made with fruit rom the owners dad's farm, and of course, Mocha! We booked our guide trough a small company, owned by a husband and wife. They both showed up, along with our guide, and we had fun chatting and drinking coffee.

Ditching our travel bags with them, we piled our skis and backpacks into the guide's car and headed up the Val Grisenche. Thanks to snow the day before, we could start skinning up straight from the parking lot at the end of the plowed road.




Beautiful mountains, and great, sunny, weather made for a lovely climb up the mountain.









Once above our destination, we ripped skins, and started the descent. At first there was some great 'dust on crust' skiing, but soon it turned to deep mush, making for very very difficult and unpleasant skiing. Still the sun was out, we were in the mountains and below us waited Hotel Giasson.

In the winter the road to this tiny little hotel is not plowed, so you can only reach it by ski or have the owners pick you up in their side-by-side.
The bar-dining room only has 3 tables in winter, so a very intimate atmosphere. Arriving mid afternoon, we started off on the right foot with a "tagliere", or charcuterie plate, with local meats and cheeses.

Like alpine mountain huts, this hotel had everyone hanging out in the dining rooms, so there and in the sauna with a view of a waterfall, it was fun to chat with the other people: two Italian guys skiing together, as well as a French group of 5 clients and their guide. Dinner was delicious. As anyone who has been to, or read about, Italy knows, there are huge variations in regional culture, language and food. The Aosta cuisine features solid mountain fare, so after the pasta course, most main courses were polenta with meat stew, or a risotto.

 

[Slim]

Tuesday we got up fairly early, to get the snow in better condition.
We skinned up a side valley across from the hotel.





Along the way, we passed an old WWI baracks, set there for an observation spot higher up the mountain.





At the top, you are on the border with France.



We had a great ski down. Some powder on the north facing slope, and great corn snow lower down.



Back at the hotel just after noon, Andrea our guide, told us the hotel was closed that day (Tuesdays) and the owners had gone down to the valley for the day, but he had been given the key, and instructions on how to use the bar. So we enjoyed our own private little mountain getaway. Sending away some disappointed French tourers who saw us and hoped the could get lunch.



After a nice relaxing afternoon, with more fresh bread and a good tagliere, the couple that runs the hotel returned. Since we were the only guests, they just hung out with us and chatted, including inviting us into the wine cellar for an aperitivo. This is the former cheese cellar of the farm, now filled with. an amazing collection of mostly local wines.



Besides the lovely wine and delicious food, including a rare chamois salami (because there are not many tags given out to hunt them, you have to know someone who got one, to get anything chamois meat), the best part was the company.



They then joined us for dinner as well, and we had more great wine, and finished the night off with some of the mountain herb liqeur they make themselves.

 

[Tony S]

Wow.

 

[Slim]

After another night in the Hotel Giasson, it was time to say goodbye to our new friends, and continue our tour.
All though we got up earlier, were a bit slow packing up, so the owner gave us a ride up the road in their side-by-side, to get us back on track, timewise.


Our goal for the day was the Rifugio Bezzi. This involved a bigger day, skinning up along a small glacier, to a high col. As we headed up, in great north facing powder, I wondered if we made the right choice for the route.



We skinned right past the summer farm where the cheese we had the night before, was made:




But when we reached the col, we had 3500' of perfect corn skiing, all the way down to the hut.




Taking your last run with a big spray of corn snow, then clicking out of your skis and stepping straight onto the sunlit patio of a mountain hut, filled with people soaking up the sun and beers, all in a remote, high mountain valley, is pretty special.




For those of you unfamiliar with mountain huts (aka Rifugios in Italian). They are located all over the Alps. Sometimes at the end of a road, sometimes high up a mountainside. Some are supplied by helicopter or a small cargo chairlift.

You sleep in dormitories, although some of the large, busy huts, now feature private rooms. Bring ear plugs!
Downstairs, you will find a dining room.
You leave your ski- or hiking-boots in the entry way, and use the provided crocs. You also need to bring your own sleep sack (sleeping bag liner) but pillows and blankets are provided.
Along with the food they provide, this means you tour with a day pack, with just your tooth brush, spare underpants and the sleep sack additionally. This is nice in summer, but in winter, when you'd need a solid tent and big sleeping bag, it really makes the skiing much more fun.

After you arrive in the afternoon, you can order drinks and food a la carte, but dinner is served at a fixed time, and is a set menu, with usually one or two choices.

The other nice thing is that everyone has to either lie down on their bunk bed, or go downstairs to the patio and dining room. If it's busy, you share your table with others. This means, you get to meet all sorts of nice people, from all over the world, all united by their love of the mountains.

At Rifugio Bezzi we were joined at dinner by a Swiss lady and her guide, who were also out for a 5 day ski tour. The were great fun, and we found out we had much in common with her.
Again, the food was delicious. Not haute cuisine, but solid 3 course dinner, all made from scratch from local ingredients.

Her is a picture showing old and new together: Old stone hut with and old stone fireplace, is now covered in cell phone chargers. And the hut has wifi:

 

[Slim]

Thursday was to take us up and over into the next valley: the Val di Rhemes.
Early start, and heading out the weather was less settled than the previous days, with a fair bit of wind, clouds, and some light snow. Still not bad to be out in, we just had to zip up our shells a few occasions for the first time!



We managed to stay above the glacier, which was great, as trying to find your way up that in a whiteout would have been tough. It did mean we had a short stretch of very exposed skinning on firm snow, above a rock band and a long slide below those. The guide has put on our ski crampons, but did not use them himself.



After another big ascent, we had some great corn coming down off the col. Lower down, the south facing slopes were bad mashed potatoes, along with some exposure over cliffs it made for some deliberate movement, not all out fun skiing. But, we did get to see a herd of chamois:


We reached the Rifugio Benevolo and were glad for the shelter.
Warm, wet snow, and wet outside, meant we all hung our skins to dry in the dining room:


This hut is famous for its good food. For our (late) lunch we had one of 2 homemade ravioli they made on site, along with bread of course, for the "scarpetti" the "little boot" : the piece of bread that you wipe up the sauce from your plate. In the kitchen we could see them making more bread dough.




Reinvigorated by that, we headed out for some rope skills practice:

 

[James]

Wow, great report.
There you go @Pumba , skiing with food.

 

[Slim]

Unfortunately Friday dawned with light rain up to a pretty high elevation. Our original plan had been to ski another peak of face, and then head down the valley to the parking lot. But with snow and weather both pretty miserable, we decided to just head straight down. A long descending traverse through a gorgeous valey, including some great woods lower down, where we crossed through a corner of the Gran Paradiso National Park.

At the parking lot we were met by a taxi to take us back to the guide car parked in the other valley. It's amazing how it can be a 1.5 hour drive, to get to two spots, that were only about 15 miles apart as the crow flies, and maybe 20 on skis.



Back in Aosta were were met by the guide company owner, Sylvia, who had even gone to the new B&B for us, dropped our ski and duffel bags, and checked us in, because by the time we arrived there, the B&B was closed for the afternoon. It was very nice to get out of our hazardous-waste ski boots and the clothes we had been in for 5 days, take a shower and relax for the afternoon.


A bit drizzly but still fun to walk around Aosta town. I really liked the town. It has enough tourists to support lots of fun restaurants, bars and souvenir shops, and to maintain the historic buildings. This B&B too was a lovely restored old building. At the same time, it is still a living, working town. I was at the exit of the local high school at days end, and all the teenagers came streaming out, many heading to get slice of pizza on their way home. There are also some industrial sites around the valley. I wish more mountain towns could keep that balance.



That afternoon, we got to see some more sights, do some souvenir shopping for Grandma and the friends who watch our kids, and enjoy another lovely dinner.

 

[Slim]

Wow, great report.
There you go @Pumba , skiing with food.

Correction:
Food with skiing.

 

[Slim]

Saturday morning, again a lovely 4 course breakfast, all local products.



We walked to the bus stop. A little boy out for a stroll with his mom was in awe by my "rig".



Getting of the bus in Milan, it was sunny and 70's! Long time since we had seen that in Duluth, Minnesota!


Besides the weather, Milan is also about as opposite to Duluth as possible in every other way as well.


Here I am after taking the subway from the bus station, then walking 3/4 mi to the hotel. My "wheels" are blue, but so are this other guy's. Mine says "Osprey" instead of "Lamborghini" The 4 doormen didn't bat an eye.


Never seen so many expensive sports cars as there. Of course, they are driving 25 mph, so not sure how useful they are...
Still, we got a free upgrade to a $1500 suite, with two balconies overlooking the train station, and giant bathroom, living room and breakfast nook, so feeling pretty swank



It was super cool to be in a big, sophisticated, urban city. Being a nice Saturday, the park was packed. Here too, the food shack in the park sells salads in plastic, but they come with real olive oil and real balsamic vinegar.



We went downtown, and visited a Leonardo museum. Really nice day. It wouldn't be for me to live in a city like that, but for a day it was great.


One final delicious Italian dinner at the hotel restaurant. Waiter was young, but knew his wines and worked really hard to fund us great, local parings, including twice pulling a bottle from the bar, that wasn't on the 'by the glass" wine list for the restaurant.

 

[Slim]

Sunday morning was a super early flight for us, made worse that that was the day of the time change in Europe, so the 3:45 am alarm, felt more like 2:45 am.

I am from Holland, and we had about 6 hours to kill in Amsterdam airport, so my parents and our friends came up there and we had.... more food!


(@Cheizz will recognize the kroketten and friet)

All in all, this trip shows why we travel: Ostensibly, it is about the skiing, but really it is all the new experiences: the different landscapes, weather, culture and especially, the food. But really what makes the trip the most memorable are the people we met along the way.

 

[Tony S]

Need WAY more details about the wines.

 

[James]

Did you bring stroopwaffles back?

You might enjoy the Italian series given the name in English, Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders. Italian with English subtitles. (I think in Italy it’s just Rocco Schiavone) It’s on Prime in Pbs Masterpiece. He’s a corrupt detective sent up to Aosta to keep him away from trouble. Which doesn’t work too well. There’s at least one episode where they go up to a ski area.
Lots of shots of that area.
Anyway, if you like that type of thing it’s pretty good. I watched the first three seasons awhile ago, I see they have a fourth where he leaves Italy to hide from arrest.

 

[Slim]

Need WAY more details about the wines.

Gros Jean is the biggest local vintner, and one of the first to bring the local vineyards back to life. Due to the steep slopes and cold climates, the Aosta valley is an expensive place to grow grapes. In the past, it was poor quality, just for local consumption, but then, as transportation improved, it became cheaper to import wine from other regions, and the vineyards fell out of use.

One of the most unique wines was a Fumin from Gros Jean. A local grape, and a wine unlike anything I’ve ever had before. Had a tartness (not tannins) kind of like a sour beers (such as Lambics).

I can’t remember the details for most. I should have taken notes, although, I will never come across most of the wines here in the US anyway, since we prefer to eat/drink things on trips that we don’t get at home. So we stuck with local wines, often local grape varieties too.

If we did find any here, we couldn’t afford it anyway.

I did not dare bring any wine home with us, for fear the bottle would break.

I still remember in 2019, in a Refugio in Italy, we paid €20 for a bottle of wine with dinner (that they had carried in by helicopter). Later saw it on a French webshop for €35, which probably means it would be $70 in a US liquor store

 

[Slim]

Did you bring stroopwaffles back?

You might enjoy the Italian series given the name in English, Rocco Schiavone: Ice Cold Murders. Italian with English subtitles. (I think in Italy it’s just Rocco Schiavone) It’s on Prime in Pbs Masterpiece. He’s a corrupt detective sent up to Aosta to keep him away from trouble. Which doesn’t work too well. There’s at least one episode where they go up to a ski area.
Lots of shots of that area.
Anyway, if you like that type of thing it’s pretty good. I watched the first three seasons awhile ago, I see they have a fourth where he leaves Italy to hide from arrest.

My mom did bring stroopwafels for us, but we forgot to ask for hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles for in bread. We are almost out).
The US customs took our salami.
But, the guide company gave us a little bottle of Genepy liqeur (the regional herbal liqeur).



I will look at the TV series, we love Murder mysteries, so that would suit us!

Thanks!

 

[Slim]

PS: if you are in the US and like stroopwafels, check out :

3Bros Cookies shop for authentic stroopwafels - made Fresh in USA

Dutch Stroopwafels Made Fresh in America

3broscookies.com

real Dutch style stroopwafels, made in Georgia, so much fresher by the time you get them.

 

[James]

I will look at the TV series, we love Murder mysteries, so that would suit us!

Ok, start with that one.

For your next trip to the French Alps, there’s another detective show to watch. Same production company. Much simpler series.
The Mountain Detective. French with English subtitles.
The interesting thing is it’s shot in summer in the mountains, so they look a lot different.

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Again, Italy lived up to it's reputation. In a shack along a busy road, waiting for the bus, the coffee and sandwich were really good. I think that sums up the Italian food situation the best: It's not that there is better food there than other countries, or that you can not find delicious food in other countries, it's that the Italians don't serve crappy food, that's what is so wonderful.

Ive road tripped through many parts of Europe several times, and I always tell people the food you find in an Italian truck stop is better than 80% of the food you find in the US. Don't even get me started on the vino!

What kind of distance and vert did you 'average' per day on your ski tour?

What skis/boot combo were you skiing?

 

[Slim]

What kind of distance and vert did you 'average' per day on your ski tour?

What skis/boot combo were you skiing?

First day was a short day, because we didn’t get on snow until 11:00, on a warm sunny day.
Tuesday was also a short day, 3000’ vert, and I forget the distance. There was some flat in the middle, but not crazy much.
This was mainly to make sure we could recover from jetlag and not burn out early on in the trip.
Next two days, were just over 4000’, with quite a bit of horizontal distance for the amount of vert.

My wife has a deficient knee, so she needs to keep the pace reasonably relaxed, an strides sort, on the up, otherwise she overcompensates with other muscles and is sore/burned out before the descent. I could probably go about 20% faster on flat and low angle ground, with my long legs. Neither of us did any training before the trip. She due to work, me due to laziness/lack of time management.

We mainly just skied the shortest (good) route between the huts.

That was the nice thing about just having a guide to ourselves. There were some larger, groups at the huts, with people signed on individually. Then you need to adjust your daily length to the group.

If you were a bit faster, and got out a bit earlier than us, you could have added a fair bit more good skiing.
For example, on Thursday, a group that started out 30 minutes in front of us, and skinned a bit faster, but not crazy, they went up the right arm of the glacier, and got ~900‘ north facing powder descent back to the split, which they reached just a few minutes before us, and then topped out on the pass about 10-15 minutes before us, ready for the descent on the south side of the ridge.

So more would always be possible, depending on snow/ avalanche conditions and what shape you were in.

My wife skied her Hannibal 96, in 162cm
She has the Dalbello Quantum Free boots. So, pretty light boots and skis, with great walk mode.

I skied my Backland 100, in 188cm, boots are Backland Pro, so very light boots and those skis are very light for their size. (1430 g/ski)

Both mounted with ATK Crest with a toe shim to reduce delta.

Guide had B.Crows Camox Freebird, with La Sportiva Quattro boots.

The ski’s worked well. We had a mix of shallow powder, great corn, and over ripe slush. A bit of hard sow skinning too.
My 178cm Backland 85UL, which I also brought, would have been tough trying to bomb across he flats in gloppy spring snow, but that was only one time.
No need for anything really wide either. My wife also brought her Locator 112s. Those would not have been nice. But they would have worked too.
We did not have many preexisting skin tracks, and so wider would not have been a problem, except that the guide of course was putting in the track, so on he soft snow sections that would have been more work.

Really I’d say, bring your everyday touring kit. (Which we did)

 

[JCF]

SO Love that area. Was there last Fall, though spent more time south of Turin - want to add the snow next trip.