Alef Arendsen

I’m half way done with my little tour d’Europe as I write this from Rome, Italy. I’m here for a Core Spring course that lasts until coming Friday and will be heading back up to Valle di Gressoney after I finish here.

I drove down to our little place in the mountains last Thursday. I just *had* to get one a bit more skiing (or actually snowboarding) done this season, as the snow was so unbelievably good this year. So I left early morning from Utrecht to arrive late in the afternoon hoping to find the road to the house without snow. It all started very promising when I entered Valle d’Aosta. It was about 20 degrees Celsius down in Pont St. Martin and the drive up to the private road alongside which our house is was snow free a pretty long way. But then something unexpected happened. I found all kinds of trees lying across the road. They must have fallen under the weight of all the snow. So even though there was hardly any snow, I still couldn’t get up to the house by car and had to walk up again. I also did this in December and January. Whereas the last two times it took 30 minutes (December) up to more than an hour (January), this time it was easy to get up with the total walk taking only 20 minutes.

Friday and Saturday I did some snowboarding with Friday being kind cloudy and misty all the time and Saturday being an total blast. Nothing but sun and great conditions (although the snow is definitely not as powder’y as before).

Saturday night I went to Milan to hang out with some friends and after having a great pranzo (lunch) in Sesto San Giovanni (close to Milan) I went back up to Valle di Gressoney Sunday late afternoon.

At first, I was planning to go up to Staffal to ski again, but then I came up with a better plan. The weather was very nice without wind, and very clear sight, so I decided I’d try to climb up to Bec di Nona. Bec di Nona is a little pass straight up from our house reaching up to 2000 meter and should provide some great views over Valle d’Aosta on the one side and possibly Ivrea and the Piemonte area on the other side. The (current) background of this blog by the way is a picture of Bec di Nona taken this winter. A friend of mine and I have been there before in summer, but back then there wasn’t any clear sight. I took my backpack and went straight up. After 1 hour of walking I arrived at the area where the steepest climb began and this is also where you could clearly see the avalanches that had been wrecking the area.

I decided to steer clear of the avalanche slide path (that usually is a good idea I’ve been told ) and continued my climb upwards. About 50 meters below the top however I unfortunately had to turn back. The snow was getting too deep. The powder underneath was covered with a thick layer of ice and packed snow after some probing I came to the conclusion that the powder still way too deep to continue the last bits upward. There were also various layers of crust in the snow, which supposedly adds to the danger of snow starting to slide. Don’t want to get caught underneath a pack of powder I would say . Dissappointed I turned back to the house after having some fun sliding down the hills (no avalanche danger there, the snow was only about 20 to 30 centimers thick there with limited inclination). I arrived back at the house using a different route and ended up in our backyard, where I took a few pictures.

Later that day I drove down to Turin where I took a flight to Rome. This is where I am right now. I’m having some great fun giving a Core Spring course here with 12 people and after I’m done I’m taking a flight back up again to Turin to spend another day in the mountains. Then I’m off to Switzerland to visit a friend on Sunday. Monday I’ll be back home again.

p.s. although I did actually read a fair bit about avalanches before I drove down to Italy last week, this little tour made me decide to spend some more time reading up on the subject. Although it’s probably only going to be useful next season it’s a very interesting matter…

As the video shows, the off-piste conditions in Gressoney this year were great. This wasn’t the only time the conditions where that good. It’s been snowing like crazy pretty much all of December and January. I haven’t kept track of the conditions in February, but last snowfall was March 5, about 40 centimeters.

I have to be in Rome for work the week after next, and I’m stopping by in Valle di Gressoney on my way down (driving to Perloz, then taking a flight from Turin). I’m thinking about taking my little videocamera so I can get some action shots done as well.

Also, I’m hoping the road to the house is going to be accessible (by car), so I don’t have to walk up all the way. Well, we’ll see…

Last weekend, Giorgio, Margriet and I went for another short weekend of skiing in Valle di Gressoney. We skied on Friday and Saturday. This was my third (yup, sounds like I’m lucky this year) trip to Valle di Gressoney for skiing this year already (I was there for New Year’s and for a short trip with Peter a few weeks later) and this was yet a totally different experience than the previous ones.

Whereas the previous two times we had quite some good weather, this time around it had been snowing for the full period we were there. We arrived late afternoon on Thursday and left again on Saturday around 5′ish. When we arrived it snowed already, and only on Saturday at 3pm, we saw the first bits of sun on the slopes. Sight was terrible on Friday and also on Saturday morning, with lots of mist and snow falling all the time. It still was a great weekend though, as going off piste didn’t really matter a lot: the pistes themselves were also covered in powder pretty much all day. The times I did go off piste a little bit (there were avalanche warnings all the time, so I didn’t venture quite far from the pistes to keep things safe) I was covered in powder up to my chest. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of wind, which prevented things from becoming too cold.

We didn’t stay up in the house, as I figured with all the snow, it’s probably even more difficult to get there than two weeks ago. That time it already took us close to an hour to walk up there, but with at least another meter of snow, it would probably have taken even longer, not even mentioning the fact that I only have one pair of snow shoes and these are definitely needed this time of year.

Later on Saturday we went to Milano, to have dinner with Giorgio’s family (parents and grandpa of 96) and have a few drinks with friends of Giorgio. My Italian has definitely improved a lot this weekend, since I was basically surrounded by Italians all the time. Having a simple conversation definitely is not a problem anymore and I’m quite close to understanding a normal conversation as well. Vocabulary-wise I still have to do a fair bit of learning, but that’s going to be just fine as soon as I start reading newspapers (note to self: since you’re at MXP airport anyway right now, why not buy one).

All the locals in Valle di Gressoney are totally stunned by all the snow. All the records are broken, with almost 5m up in the mountains in the Dolomites. I hope it’s going to be snowing a bit more the coming weeks. I’m thinking about planning another short trip in March some time. As it looks, there will be skiing until the end of April or even the beginning of May this year, so even if March doesn’t happen, there’s still some time.

On my way to Oslo, from Milano, I sat next to a couple that coincidentally had been skiing in the Gressoney valley too. They stayed in Staffal, in a hotel called Ellex, supposedly quite nice according to them. One to remember. Also, this guy mentioned a website I had never seen before, called Gressoney Online. Lots of information about the Gressoney Valley.

I’ll post some pictures later on.

I did a little tour of Europe last week. Well, actually, it was just Italy and London, but it felt like I traveled all of Europe in just 6 days. Peter and I had a conference in Rome on Saturday. We left on Friday for Rome and had a little bit of dinner in place close by. In the university building of Rome, I met up with a lot of people the day after that I had only met before online, on some of the Italian Spring mailing lists for example.

At the conference I did a talk, which I thank was quite well received. We had some great Italian lunch after the conference and in the night, we had a simple dinner and went to bed early. The following day, we took a taxi to the airport to fly to Torino. We arrived at about 9.30 after which we took a car up to Gressoney, for my second skiing trip this season. The conditions during my trip in December already were excellent, this time around they were even better. Right before we arrived, there was a big pack of fresh snow and we had some great fun on the first day.

The walk up to the house, proved to be even more tricky than last time. It took about an hour (instead of 35 minutes, which it was last December) to finally arrive at the house. With at least 40cm more snow on the road as in December, it was quite rough.

The following days we skied (well, I did snowboarding, Peter had his telemark skies with him) in the Gressoney, Champoluc and Alagna regions. Every night we did the dreaded walk up to the house, but the second night, Peter got this amazing idea. He added some steigvellen (I have no clue what the word for this in English is, they’re things to put under your skies when going up hill) to his telemark skies and skied right up to the house instead of walking. so the next morning, he was able to ski downhill, right through our backyard, whereas I still had to walk down.

We had some amazing dinner on Tuesday night in restaurant Nordkapp in Gressoney, to which I’ll definitely go back. Surprisingly, after a bottle of wine, the walk up went even smoother than the nights before. That’s probably also because we had walked the road up a few times already and had trampled the snow a bit.

Sunday and Wednesday were days with clear skies. Monday and Tuesday were a bit more cloudy, but still with great sight.

I flew to London Wednesday night after quite a bit of delay (during de-icing, one of the windshield of the plane broke, at least, that’s what I heard the pilot say) and a plane change.

In London, I attended and spoke at the Spring Exchange about Spring 3.0, met up with lots of colleagues and had some nice beers. I missed my flight back home, because of a screw up in my schedule, so finally I only flew back on Friday morning…

I might go one last time to the valley this season for skiing, just for a short weekend. After that, it’s waiting for the road to be clear of snow, before we can drive up again.

Last December I went skiing for the first time in the Monte Rosa Ski area. I figured I would do a little write-up about the area. The Monte Rosa Ski resort is spread over three major valleys: the Valle di Gressoney (the central valley), the Valle d’Ayas (the West-most valley) and Valsesia (the East-most valley). In total there is about 180km of piste, but (especially on the Valsesia side) with a lot more off-piste areas to explore.

Major villages

The major villages from which you can enter the resort are Gressoney La Trinité and Staffal in the Valle di Gressoney, Champoluc in the Valle d’Ayas and Alagna in Valsesia.

Pistes and lifts, snow and weather

There is about 180km of pistes here and all of them are well-prepared. The lifts are modern (as modern as it can get IMO) and some of them have recently been renovated. There is some blue here and there, although not abundant, a lot of red and few black pistes. Especially the ride down from Passo Salati to the village of Alagna is a challenging one. Plenty of pistes will take you through bits of forests and have plenty of breathtaking views. Generally speaking, the weather in this part of Europe is great with a great amount of sun. Snow conditions are generally good, although Austria and Switzerland will give you better conditions generally speaking (this was definitely not the case this season, as the conditions are great at the moment).

The off-piste areas in especially the Alagna area are very good. It’s not without reason Alagna is called the free-ride paradise. There’s also some very good possibilities to do some off-the-beaten path skiing in the region. The picture above for example shows the Bec di Nona pass (on the right you can see skiing tracks coming down). This interestingly enough passes right by my house in the area. On Hotel Jolanda Sport“>Gulliver.it you can find some reports from people that have been doing off-piste ‘expeditions’ in the region. Let me know if you’re planning anything in that region for off-piste alpinismo skiing. I’m always interested to hear your experiences and if I’m in the neighborhood, I might even join .

Below you can find a snippet of the map of the region, linked to the map provided by the official Monte Rosa website.

Skipass

Up-to-date information on the prices for a skipass can be found on the official site for the Monte Rosa Ski resort. At the time of writing (season 2008/9) a one-day skipass will set you back €36,=. Three days will cost €102,= and 7 days €211,= (all in the peak of the season). This will give you access to all the lifts in the main areas, as well as in the smaller areas such as Gressoney St. Jean and Antagnod.

Schools and baby-parks

There are ski schools in each of the three main villages (Staffal, Alagna and Champoluc). As far as I know, all have English speaking instructors, although you have to ask for them. There are baby-pistes and also enough blue to get you going. There are also some baby-parks in the region (Staffal, Gressoney La Trinite) to keep the kids occupied.

Accommodation

I don’t have a lot to say about accommodation in the region, as I’m staying in my own house in the region (half an hour driving from Staffal). I’ve heard good stories about Hotel Jolanda Sport; they definitely have good food! Another interesting option would be to stay at the Rifugio Guglielmina, (one of) the highest permanently occupied hotels in Europe. I don’t have a clue about prices, the website also doesn’t give a lot of information. I might try to found out more later on when I go there in a week again. Another hotel I heard good stories about is Ellex in Staffal, right next to the lifts that go up to both the Champoluc and Alagna area.

Food, entertainment and night life

Food on the pistes generally is very good, as you can expect from an Italian ski resort. Lunch times can get a bit busy at some of the rifugios, but generally very much worth the wait. Not a lot of places as you will find in Austria, with music pounding all the time, but relaxing places instead.

I don’t have a lot of recommendations on the restaurants in Valsesia as I’ve never eaten there. Below you can find a short but good list of restaurants that you might find attractive in both Valle d’Ayas, Valle di Gressoney and the main valley (Valle d’Aosta). The restaurants in the Valle d’Aosta are all a bit of a far drive (the Valle di Gressoney is about 40-something km long, so expect to drive down in about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic).

Restaurants in Valle d’Ayas

• Breithorn Hotel and Restaurant in Champoluc

Restaurants in Valle di Gressoney

• Lo Stambecco in Gressoney St. Jean, highly recommended
• Hotel Jolanda Sport in Gressoney
• Nordkapp in Gressoney St. Jean, also highly recommended

Restaurants in the main valley (Valle d’Aosta)

• Ramo Verde in Carema
• Da Marino in Quincinetto

As some reviewers on Snow-Forecast.com also comment, there is not a lot of entertainment going on in Gressoney La Trinité during the night. Apparently, Champoluc and Alagna have a bit more to offer, but if you’re going to for some big apres-ski, obviously Austria (Anton, Ischl) are your better bets.

Traffic and getting there

By car from West or North-West Europe, getting the to Valle d’Ayas or Valle di Gressoney is a matter of taking the Swiss route, through the Great St. Bernard tunnel, linking Switzerland with Italy or the Mont Blanc tunnel linking France with Italy. Valsesia can best be reached I think via the St. Gottard tunnel, linking Italy with Switzerland, but then a bit further East.

For Gressoney and Champoluc, flying in is best done through Torino airport (TRN), which is about an hour drive from Gressoney La Trinité for example. Milano Malpensa (MXP) is a good alternative for those two places and probably the best option for Valsesia. Cars are generally not very expensive to hire. A small car for a week will set you back about €200,= to €250,= (snowchains are about €50,=).

Important links

• Official website for Monte Rosa Ski
• Snow Forecast.com on Alagna
• Snow Forecast.com on Gressoney
• Snow Forecast.com on Champoluc
• Gressoney Online