Italians Know How to Party!!

1/ Festa Trepallina - One Huge Party!!

We learned today that there are over 1300 telemarkers registered for this La Skieda festival. Yes, folks...that's 1300 telemark skiers in this one valley. I'd be fairly sure that there's not 1300 telemark skiers in the whole of NZ or Australia for that matter.

And today, after reaching the valley floor, we skied to "Festa Trepallina", a free luncheon for all the festival attendees and half the Livigno township. We can't even begin to estimate the number of people all sitting in the sun enjoying in a deserted valley at the back of the ski resort. Words fail me when I try to capture the fantastic organisation and party atmosphere of this event. Best view the film footage!!

The food was amazing, great vats of polenta, spare ribs, ragout, salad, cheese, bread and a beer! I suspect, every Mama in Livigno had been cooking for a week in preparation for this event.

Above us, the freeride Skieda competition was being held. The experts showed us how it's done! Tearing down the slope, they launched themselves off rocks and used the trees as race poles. An incredibly daunting display!! The DJ, was playing all the classic tunes - Rolling Stones, George Thorogood, Zee-zee Top, all the hippy classics, mixed with some good latin salsas, bossanova and topped off with Pavarotti and Julie Andrews!! Classic!!

These Italians truly know how to throw a party!!

2/ The whole village was manning the food assembly lines!

3/ The Dance Party

4/ The Fancy Dress!

Ski Touring with an old Aussie Bloke

1/ Ski Touring out from Livigno this morning.

Each morning of the La Skieda Telemark Festival, there is an excursion led by professional guides to one of the surrounding peaks or valleys. With the bright sunshine and the hope that there was still some powder to be found on the north facing aspects, we organised to go out for a ski tour with John Falkiner. John, originally from Geelong, Melbourne, now lives in Verbier, Switzerland.


John is most famous for the stunt skiing in James Bond films but his involvement in the ski industry over the last 30 years is legendery. He knows a lot of the guides in Wanaka, but the funniest coincidence is that Graeme remembers taking a ski lesson from him way back in the 70's at Mt Buller! Graeme wore his Mt Buller beanie and giggle sun-hat (donated by his patroller brother) today especially for John!

2/ Graeme putting in some nice turns!

I was very relieved that our tri-lingual group (3 English speakers, one Italian and 2 French) were intermediate skiers and we were going to take an easier line down the mountain. I had elected to use the "misery sticks" (telemark skis), figuring that, after all, it was a telemark festival and it would've been rude to turn up for the tour with alpine gear!! A bit like arriving at an AA meeting with a bottle of wine!

As expected, John had a good eye for the easiest skin line and where to find the best snow. But I can't say I excelled in the telemark department, I think I managed 3 telemark turns for the whole morning! But the snow was too good to waste with ugly tele-turns and in the end I just wanted to put in a nice set of parallel turns. This telemark skiing thing is going to take some serious persistence and leg endurance on my part!

3/ John & my tracks! Hardly "figure of 8" are they?

Graeme was easily the best skier of the group. The french and italian women were very tentative. This excursion was obviously one of their first ventures skiing off-piste or away from the comfort of the resort. As a consequence, there were many stops and breaks in the journey while skis were collected, sunglasses cleared of snow and confidence restored. As a credit to our guide, we all managed to make it down in one piece!! But there was no pressure. We assured John that we were more than happy with the pace. We enjoy just getting out in the mountains and the weather was glorious!

4/ John Falkiner -"Probably wondering why he had been stuck
with a bunch of beginners this morning!!?"

Joining us on the tour, was Andy, from Edinburgh who was learning to telemark. John and his partner, Kathy, have been to the last three La Skieda festivals and we can see why they keep coming back. Where else do you get free ski guiding and lessons everyday from some of the top professionals in the business?

There was some serious incentive to get down the hill. Below us in the valley, a fantastic La Skieda luncheon awaited us!

We See the Sun & Start to Work Things Out!

Today, for the first time since we arrived in Livigno, the sun poked its head out for the morning. The freezing level has been quite high and while it has been snowing steadily since we arrived, there has not been much accumulation in the village (1800m) - only about 10cm or so. But higher up the mountain, a good 20 - 30cm of light snow has fallen overnight. The Livigno ski resort is split into 2 areas on either side of the valley. To the east, is Mottolino resort (2785m) and on the western side of the village is Carosello at (2797m).

1/ Livigno's great facilities!

The clocks moved forward here last night, but I still managed to be too early for the morning bread run. While I waited for the shops to open, I had a good opportunity to stretch the legs and see a little further into the village.

Livigno is obviously doing well. There are few run-down buildings or signs of neglect. All the buildings are beautifully decorated with Italian friezes, there are also great facilities like a full theatre, convention centres, ice-hockey stadium, skating rinks and climbing wall (with ice-climbing no less!!).

2/ Newer stone & concrete buildings but beautifully decorated with Italian friezes

The early morning start proved to be a stroke of genius! Powder snow! Italians, like the French don't seem to be early risers. Don't you just love that? Freshies all morning on and off-piste! Here's the footage! Actually worth looking at. Cinematography will never be my forte but today I managed to take some half decent footage with a coherent commentary.

3/ The true Telemarker of the Family!

I will confess that I cheated and did not take out the misery sticks ("telemarks") this morning. The snow was too good to be wasted or "tasted" if you know what I mean? Continuing to try the demo skis, I had a run on a Swiss brand called Movement Yakajam's. Mike rented these skis when he visited and loved them. I can understand why. They were so stable on and off-piste. But being 178cm I really had to work pretty hard to drive them....hmmmm. The temptation. I have become quite lazy on my 165cm Dynastar Legends. Maybe it's time to go a bit longer again? The internal debate is sure to continue!

Later in the morning, we spied a large group of telemarkers heading off into the back-country for their excursion. We were really not quite sure how these excursions worked and whether there was an additional charge. Back at the La Skieda headquarters in the afternoon, (a huge sporting/conference centre near the Carosello Gondola), we learned that not only were the excursions free but so were the "telemark" clinics.

What a bargain! Free mountain guiding and lessons?? Sign us up! A ski tour tomorrow morning and a lesson the next afternoon with John Falkiner, an expat Aussie who now lives in Verbier. John is actually a bit of a legend. A serious daredevil in his past, he has been a ski stuntman for numerous films including the James Bond movies.

"Right oh!" Now we are starting to get the "hang of this festival". Just get out there and sign up for everything and see what happens. Tragically our second night at the film festival was a bit of disaster with an horrendous self indulgent german art / ski film. It was so bad we actually left half way through. Fortunately the second film was outstanding and made up for the horrendous German film. If you get a chance to see Powderwhore's "The Pact". - do it. It received a standing ovation!

No late night partying for us tonight ...we have our first ski tour in the morning!!

Calling all Woodwork Enthusiasts

1/ Vincent's beautiful wooden roof box!

The La Skieda Telemark Festival is full of quirky characters. One of these is the mad french man, Vincent from the Pyrenees in South-West France, who makes and sells handmade wooden skis. Due to language difficulties, I haven't been able to ascertain exactly which one he is. I'd like to think he is the tall scruffy crusty looking fellow in the photo below, but I couldn't be certain.

Vincent brands his skis AME and he will custom make a ski to your specifications. They had these skis available for testing during the first few days of the festiva. Graeme tried a pair but they were too short for him. Unfortunately all their longer skis were out being tested. He wasn't that impressed, but couldn't say whether it was the inappropriate length or the ski itself.

But aside from all this, Vincent is a supreme wood craftsman. He even carries his skis in a custom made wooden roof box. Absolutely a wonder to behold. Aaah how I wish I was able to converse fluently in French so I could learn more about Vincent and his magical skis.

2/ More detail...for the enthusiast!

3/ The skis and sales pitch on the side of the combi!! How hippy!
Tragically, we don't know if the guy in the yellow is Vincent or not.

Livigno, La Skieda and Finding our Feet.

1/ Livigno Village - spread out in a narrow strip along the valley floor

Livigno, is a township of about 5000 permanent residents. Situated at 1800m, Livigno is one of Italy's highest habitations. The town runs north-south along a narrow strip in the middle of the valley floor. It has obviously developed this way due to the constant threat of avalanches which can pour down from the 3000+ m peaks on either side.

Starting life as a small & struggling agricultural community, Livigno is now a major tourist destination. Through some quirk in history, Livigno enjoys a tax-free status. This means, petrol, alcohol, cigarettes and luxury goods are all cheaper here than in Europe. Add to this, reliable skiing in the winter, beautiful summer hiking and the fabulous Italian food and hospitality and you have all the ingredients for a wicked tourist destination.

2/ The wonderful old wooden houses

Most of the buildings in the village are brick and stone, but a few of the ancient wooden cabins have been restored to their former glory.

The ski resort has 2 parts. East of the village is Carosello 3000, the larger more developed area and to the west, Motollino. Both sides are connected by a free bus, servicing the whole of the village. But both areas are big enough that you can easily spend the whole day without having to cross the valley.

It was still snowing lightly this morning with low cloud obscuring the mountain tops. Despite the weather we were excited to get out amongst it and be part of this La Skieda Festival.

The La Skieda Telemark Festival first started in 1993 with 53 attendees. This year there were over 1200 telemark skiers registered, such is the popularity of this festival. The organisation is massive. Part festival, sales conference, film festival, huge party and sporting event, La Skieda has something for everyone. If you want to see a really neat website about the event - click here. Every year there is a theme and in 2009 it was a "Fairytale" theme with an emphasis on reducing the impact on the environment.

The township of Livigno, on its own, has a strong history of telemark skiing and everyone seems to embrace and passionately support the La Skieda festival. Even our landlady Genni is a keen telemark skier. She and her boyfriend Fabio have taken the week off work just so they can attend the festival!

To get our bearings, we spend the morning testing the greatest selection of Telemark equipment you could possibly wish to see on the Mottolino side of the hill. All the latest boots, bindings and brands of telemark skis! Graeme was in seventh heaven, tearing up and down the slopes trying all sorts of the latest telemark gear. Meanwhile I was coming to grips with the concept of 7 days on the "misery sticks" as I call affectionately call them!

Today's La Skieda events included a ski tour (which unfortunately was cancelled due to avalanche danger & weather), a classic ski race hampered more than a little by the poor visibility and ski testing. This evening is the opening of the Livigno Film Festival, followed finally by a "Fire Party" with free food and drink in a forest venue up the valley.

Confessing to a "Nana Nap" after the trauma of my first day on tele's, we made the opening film of the Livigno Film Festival late afternoon. The opening film was the "The Fine Line" an interesting film with great photography and ski footage, but also some rather sobering images and commentary about the increasing number of deaths and injuries from avalanches.

Back to the apartment for a quick bite to eat then off in the car (sorry environmentalists!) to find the Fire Party. Located at the southern end of the village, a magical pathway, lit by laterns led us deep into the forest. Arriving at the bonfire, the party was well underway. But at this early stage, getting to know people is proving tricky due to the language barrier. So many of the people are from Livigno and neighbouring villages. They all know each other. We are very much the newcomers! We have our ears tuned to pick up on any native english speakers. But so far, no luck.

It has snowed on & off today and the snow is still coming down even more heavily tonight....looks like another powder day. Can we really take anymore of this??

4/ The Fire Party

On the Snowy Road Again - And an Italian Mud Derby

Excited about the trip to Livigno but as always dreading the thought of driving there! It's Saturday and I'm sure the roads will be clogged! Fingers crossed we won't get lost and it won't be as chaotic as during the last school holiday period! We left Dana to lock up for us and we headed off at 8am to hopefully make Livigno before dark.

1/ Lost in a Blizzard!

So much for the wishful thinking!!!

Do you need snow in your resort? Well, let Andy & Graeme know and they will plan a road trip to your area. Why, why, why does it alway chuck down with snow whenever we want to go somewhere?

Penny the GPS, is seriously in our bad books. The route she planned for us, over a high mountain road turned out to be closed during the winter! But to discover this inconvenient little fact, we had to drive through another pass at 2330m in a full blizzard and white out conditions. The snowbanks on the side of the road towered over us almost engulfing the 10m snow poles. Visibility was down to about 2m as the howling wind drove snow over the road. Eventually it was all too much for Pepi and we began sliding all over the road. Poor ol' Graeme had to get out and put the chains on. After surviving all this, imagine our disgust when we then learned that our road was closed and we had to go back the way we had come. Oh the joys of European driving!

Turning Penny off, we found the only other alternative into Livigno, a one way tunnel through the mountains from the Swiss side. Of course it's Saturday isn't it? This means that it's changeover day and the road is clogged with people leaving and arriving at the resort. A little tricky when you only have a one-way tunnel!!

Of course, the first we knew about this was when we were stopped by officials on the mountain road and herded into a muddy paddock with about 500 other cars. We had no idea what was going on, but every one else seemed to be sitting patiently in their cars waiting for something to happen. So as the saying goes, "when in Rome..." When I say people were waiting patiently, I'll exclude the occupants of the numerous vans with Czech, Polish and Slovakian number plates. They didn't seem at all concerned about the wait. They were playing disco music, throwing down beers and vodka and dancing around in the mud. Quite entertaining really. Although the novelty did start to wear off after the first hour!!

To ensure that the mountain road does not become gridlocked, during periods of heavy traffic, officials herd all cars into large grass holding pens. Unfortunately, the grass doesn't survive and with all the traffic, they become large smelly quagmires! In this way they can control the number of cars through the tunnel and at the swiss border beyond.

But the really exciting time comes when the officials open the gate of the holding pen to release the set number of cars onto the road. It's a Le Mans start in the mud. 16 lanes of cars are trying to take a U corner in deep mud and narrow to 2 lanes at the same time. I have never seen anything like it, in all my life. In the end, to save the nervous breakdown, I just closed my eyes and let Graeme fight his way through the mess.

No sooner did we get through the tunnel, than we were queued again at the Swiss Border. Another E$25 cash just to get out of Switzerland! Thank you very much!! No doubt about the Swiss! They certainly know how to cash in on the tourist at every possible step.

2/ The quagmire! Gentlemen, start your engines!!

It's now dark and finally we have arrived in Livigno. To top off a rather fraught day, our mobile phone is not working. We can text out but we cannot use it to make phone calls. We have no idea why this is and no patience left to find out. Eventually, with some luck we find our apartment and meet our lovely young hostess, Genni Zini.

The apartment is very neat and tiday, although it's in the roof cavity on the 3rd floor of the apartment building. 51 stairs from the ground! I think it will suit us nicely for the week, although Graeme may develop a nasty crook in his neck!!

3/ Graeme in our height challenged apartment

Dumping our gear, we were off again to find the La Skieda Festival head-quarters at the other end of the town. We managed this with out further incident even though it was now snowing very heavily. Registered, we returned with our flat to get some sleep before the big first day of the festival!

While today was certainly a challenging one, there was some good news.....along the way through Italy we came upon what looked very much like the Australian "Twisties" snack food. A perennial favourite of ours we were excited to try them. Same packaging, same twistie rice crisp shape, but with a milder cheese flavour than the strong chedder flavour of the Australian version. Yum!

Spring has Sprung and a Farewell Fondue for Dana

1/The daffodils coming through at our church village

2/ & 3/Native Crocus in our forest, the true harbinger of Spring

In contrast to the punishing fitness regime of this week, we arose late for a leisurely breakfast this morning. Understandably, Graeme and I didn't need much food after gorging on the feast the night before. We showed Dana the photos of the food. She was not that impressed. She doesn't like fois gras, crustaceans, or that much meat. She did, however think the chocolate dessert with mint creme sounded rather yummy.

We were relieved yesterday to find a solution to Dana's transport problem back to the Geneva border. We have to leave very early tomorrow morning for Livigno, but we're in the opposite direction. Fortunately, Irish Dave who runs a chalet in Les Carroz was going to the Geneva airport to pick up guests at exactly the right time and Dana was able to catch a ride with him. Like a worried mother and father, we have asked Dana to text us tomorrow afternoon when she is safely on the bus. Her travel plans all seem incredibly tenuous to us but somehow they always seem to work out!

Our afternoon drifted by with a long walk through our forest and a trip into the village to buy supplies for a Fondue. We have been promising to make a traditional cheese fondue for Dana all week. Of course, the ingredients were sourced from Christine - Hubert's personal fromagereuse. She packaged up all the right cheeses, grated and mixed in the correct proportions with the local white wine and instructions just to make sure we got it right!

Hubert and Marie would be proud of me. Not only did I avoid setting the apartment on fire, I made a perfect fondue! As Hubert emphasised, I stirred, stirred and kept on stirring the cheese mixture. We even achieved the crusty melted cheese base at the end! A simple meal, but wickedly delicious! I'm also glad we are eating early (Slovakian time) so our stomachs will have time to recover before bed.

It will be a sad farewell to Dana tomorrow. She is easy to have around and inspires us to achieve fantastic physical feats of endurance! I hope that we will see her again in NZ. But it's not easy now that her children are older. They love their school and their friends and are reluctant to be transplanted again in NZ. I guess it will have to be a long distance email relationship for the next few years. But we have made a promise to all meet up again for a ski somewhere half way between us, like Canada or America in 2019! Nothing like a plan!

4/ A Farewell Fondue

The Most Delicious Meal in France!

2/ The Crew!

For weeks now, Rick and Liz have been planning a special meal for their friend Andrew who is now staying with them. Andrew aka "Jock", wasn't able to come to Rick's 50th birthday dinner back in October. To compensate, Liz planned an encore performance especially for Andrew last night. Attending were also Andrew's wife, Jane and his friends Richard and Mikki. It was a lively crew!

Rick and Liz organised a young chef from the local area to prepare and serve the food. Roman is a talented young chef, who like most chefs, has spent huge hours learning his profession. But he now has young children and has decided to take a more "regular job" at the local hospital. But it's hardly inspiring cuisine and he loves the opportunity to cook beautiful food. We were in for a treat.

Tonight's menu was:-

• Fois Gras on home made fruit bread, with a champagne sauce and chive garnish served with a sweet local white wine.
• Langostein (flat lobster meat) with wilted spinach in an orange sauce
• Sorbet of pear and pepper
• Pan seared eye fillet with baby turnip poached in saffron and pureed garlic potato
• Camberbert cheese stuffed with truffles
• Rocket Salad
• Chocolate souffle with peppermint creme

To accompany such a fine meal, Rick spoiled us with an array of fabulous french wines! For more photos of the evening - click here

It was well into the morning when we finally rolled from the table and wobbled back up the hill to Le Refuge. I'd like to think that we were as quiet as church mice and didn't wake Dana, but I suspect that's just wishful thinking. Luckily we're not skiing tomorrow. I can't quite believe I just said that!!

2/ The Fois Gras

3/The Langostein

4/The Chef - Roman

Courmayeur with Dana

1/ Dana at Courmayeur

We have a pile of free tickets for Courmayeur that have come with our season's passes and so we thought Dana might enjoy taking a look around the Italian side of the Alps.

On the way through the tunnel this morning, Dana revealed that she had been to Mont Blanc only once before. Naturally one would assume she meant the tunnel or perhaps the Chamonix-Mont Blanc valley. But no, Dana literally meant Mont Blanc - all 4810m of it! She and Tibor climbed the mountain 14 years ago and then skied down it! Now even aside from the altitude issues, this is a serious mountaineering feat. The mistress of understatement is our Dana!!

We had left Araches in cloudy overcast conditions and were delighted to find bright sunny conditions in Courmayeur on the other side of the Alps. Making the most of the good weather we immediately took the cable car to the highest point to enjoy the spectacular views.

Today will be our last skiing day with Dana. We have conceded defeat! After more than 4 weeks of skiing nearly every day, we have worn ourselves out! We also have a special dinner party at Rick & Liz's tonight which we have been commanded to attend. Unfortunately Dana is not able to join us, as the dinner had been arranged well before we knew Dana would be visiting. Going on past experiences it will be a late night!! Given that we are having trouble making it through a whole day with at least 10 hours sleep under our belts, we can't even contemplate an early start on 5 or 6 hours sleep!!

2/ & 3/ A clear view from the top of Courmayeur

4/ Our last ski day together!

Flaine, Exhaustion and How Not to Ride a Teleski!!

It looks like our first two days of Spring with Dana on Sunday and Monday is all we are going to see of the sun this week. Heavy snow is forecast to continue right through to the weekend. A mixed blessing. We love the deep powder snow but the sun was lovely too! We are torn!

After sharing all our secret powder stashes with Dana we decided to show her the other half of our hill! Flaine! She just can't believe the size of our ski area. Truly, the Slovakian ski resorts are way over priced! Dana has been able to ski Flaine for E$33 per day and yet the largest Slovakian resort Chopak (where we skied), at one third the size, is charging E$42 per day.

While Flaine is a more of an "on piste" kind of hill, the runs are long and we arrived close to the opening of a special off-piste area called the Combe de Veret. We enjoyed 3 runs making our own tracks in the deep fresh snow. Here's the film footage of today.

After a shakey start yesterday, predictably, Dana is doing well. She is skiing the deep powder on skinny carving skis and surviving. I know I wouldn't be able to do this. Oh how I love fat skis!

1/ How not to ride a "Teleski"

Today we witnessed one of those classic "Warren Miller Movie" moments. Following us up on the Teleski (Poma/Draglift) was a class of beginner skiers. Obviously their first time on a Teleski, they took the sign "Let Go Here" literally! To be fair, the "Lachez Ici" sign had been placed very poorly - right at the apex of the off ramp. So all the beginners were letting the poma go just below the crest and sliding back down the lift track in a crumpled mess.

It was like watching lemmings, throw themselves off a cliff. We couldn't believe our eyes, when one after the other they slid backwards and landed atop their classmates. Not only that, they were letting the poma go with such force they were nearly decapitating those who had managed to get to their feet. After the fourth lemming, I ran over to see if I could help. Someone was going to get seriously hurt at this rate. Fortunately the group were all English speaking so I was able to coach at least the last four to let go at the appropriate time to avoid further carnage.

By the time the ski instructor arrived on the last lift, the body count had thinned to four. The others had managed to extricate themselves and their skis from the poma track. It's moments like these that I am reminded why I never became a ski instructor.

2/ I think even Dana looks a little tired in this photo...don't be fooled!!

Dana loved Flaine, even though the sun refused to shine. For her, it was a great mixture of on & off-piste skiing. For us, it was a killer. Graeme abandoned us shortly after lunch and headed for a cafe near the car. I am wondering whether he was truly "retiring hurt" or he just couldn't cope with the constant girly chatter? He was heard to be muttering something about us exceeding our daily word limit as he disappeared into the fog!!

Arriving at Le Refuge, the Slovakian eating regime continues. I am so utterly shattered that the thought of going to bed at 8.30 or even 8.00pm is positively intoxicating! Earlier this month, I patented the "Helmut Kip" lunch routine for moments of sheer exhaustion.

Tonight, I thought I would follow up the "Helmut Kip" with the "Pasta Bowl Dive" for evening meals. The photos tell the story.

3/ & 4/ The Pasta Bowl Dive

Did I say that Dana was "gonna hurt us?". Strike that....we're talking serious injury now!

Aaahaa! We've Found a Way to Slow Dana!

1/ Can you believe it? It's started snowing again!!

2/ Most of those are our tracks!!

Finally! We've found a way to slow the "unstoppable Dana"! Make her follow us down through the trees in deep powder snow on her short, skinny piste skis!! I know its unfair...but it's all about "survival of the fittest!" And that is surely not Graeme and I, when compared to Dana! I suspect that she may have even broken a sweat for the first time! Even more astonishing was her admission of tired legs at the end of the afternoon! Welcome to our world...Dana!!

Our incredible luck with the snow continues. Just as we really began to believe that spring had arrived, it started to snow again! The snow continued pretty much all day and while the visibility was poor, with a season's skiing under our belts we can always find sheltered tree runs.

3/ Andrew, Rick & Graeme!

We returned to Le Refuge for lunch after an awesome morning playing in the powder. I'm not sure whether Dana would describe her morning in quite those terms!

After lunch we met up with Rick and his very "popular" friend. I say popular, because Andrew is the MD of Bolle in Europe and Rick and all his friends including Graeme have benefited from some very well priced sunglasses and goggles thanks to Andrew.

Skiing to stumps we were rewarded with some late afternoon sunshine to match the pristine powder runs! Amazing!!

4/ Andrew doing some "field" testing for Bolle goggles!

Tonight we tried eating on the Slovakian timetable. Even though it was only 5 o'clock, as soon as I was in the door, I started to prepare dinner. I must agree that Dana might actually be on to something with this early eating idea. No snacking on junk food and plenty of time for the system to digest before heading to bed. Which I must admit was about 9 o'clock for us all. Even the mighty Dana was keen to "hit the hay"!