Courmayeur ski weekend

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The forecast was snow in the Italian Alps this weekend - and what better way to check out my first Italian ski experience in Courmayeur.

Courmayeur
- Piste - 6/10 - lots of red but extremely bumpy. visibility was poor in the morning making it even harder to enjoy.
- Facilities - 7/10 - the people moving machinery was average but a long wait if you want to go all the way to the top. other than that, it was generally a breeze.
- Crowd - 7/10 - not many people on the piste despite school holidays.
- Overall experience - 7/10 - nice, but difficult to justify the EUR 32 Mont Blanc toll just to ski the pistes. Good overall Italian experience, but a repeat may have to wait given the numerous French and Swiss slopes. Also, at EUR 39 a day, it is seriously pricey as compared to Chamonix.

Had a nasty fall on a red. Lost control while trying to gain speed on a narrow steep run. Fell on the back, lost both skis and hurt the left side above the pelvic bone. Took the wind out of me and needed a minute to recover. Felt as painful as i was embarassed. Hehehe. Felt the pain the following morning and just as well, decided not to ski on Sunday, because my legs and my sore back was in deep protest.

Had the best dinner at La Maison de Filippo in Entreves. Entreves is the next village about 10 minutes away from Courmayeur, but in true Italian driving, the taxi driver made it in 5! Dinner serving was huge - about 10 different starters, primi, secondi and a great selection of desert. The starters consists of an assortment of piedmonte specialities - meats, cow's tongue, fats (lard) yum yum, anchovies, mixture of vegetable starters. I made it through the starters and primi, could not finish the main meal. however, I had an indecent amount of desert. The whip cream was fantalicious. At EUR 45 (excluding wine etc, the dinner was truly the high point of the weekend trip.

On the way back, TP and I drove past other smaller ski resorts - La Fuliile. Nice little resort, and excellent drive up the slopes to the town.

Also tried to get a winter picture of Fenis Castle in Aosta. had initially hoped for a clearer day and lots of snow in the picture. But alas, overcaste and no frigin snow ...

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Photos

View from the hotel
Saturday morning - as predicted, it snowed (actually dumped) at the resort. Was quite excited about going up the mountains now given that winter has not been kind to skiiers this season.

Up we go
Courmayeur cable car...room for 130, but the Italians wont move until we are 200 :-)

Second cable car
On the second cable car... looking at the piste. Looks easy (I was wrong), not many people but average visibility.

Above the clouds
Clearing up in the afternoon. With visibility, the ski experience improved by leaps and bounds.

Sunday morning
Sunday morning and it was still snowing. There is a mountain at the back ground, I assure you.

Double by-pass by 50
not for the faint hearted - my lunch which is lard on toast. At EUR 3, i am ready to puke.