Day-trip, Le Montagne Dolomite

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First, a little background for those of you who don’t know Pat; he has worked in the retail ski industry (boot-fitter extraordinaire) since 1973. So, from the start of planning for this trip, Pat wanted to take a day-trip from Venezia to the ‘Mecca’ of all things ski boot, Montabelluna, Italy. A majority of ski boots comes from this area in Italy. The arrangements where made by the Dolomite (doh-loh-mē-tay) Ski Boot sales representative Pat worked with. Bill, mille grazie! We would travel by train to a near-by town; there we would ride to the Tecnica-Dolomite-Nordica-Lowa factory; tour the factory, have lunch, and once we were done at 2:30pm; ride back on the train to complete the day! Oh, so simple!

More background; from the beginning of our plans, we wanted to be away from the trappings of the world and truly vacate on our vacation. Lightweight travel has no place for extras to weigh a body down! This means no cell phones (we would have to buy one to work in Europe anyway), no laptop computer (we would have to buy one), and no international drivers license (we have the Trenitalia pass, who needs to drive?).

This is the day we learned the importance of some of those trappings to the expeditiousness of day-trips. There were no photos taken of our day-trip; you’ll have to believe us when you read this. It seemed wrong to be snapping photos, though they really didn’t say we couldn’t. Believe this is beautiful countryside!



Through some mix-ups in e-mails, we started the trip without all the details of our once-in-a-lifetime, day-trip adventure. For instance, which near-by town; how would we get to and from the factory; and what train would we need to travel on? From our Internet station in Venezia, Pat traded e-mails with the North American Liaison, so by last night, we thought we were set. We could expect a ride to and from the station in Treviso for our meeting in Giavera del Montello from 10a until 2:30p.

We decided we needed to call the liaison after waiting in the Treviso station for an hour. Pat went to make the call from a pay phone in the lower level of the train station. Pat was next seen ascending to the tabacchi (tobacco shop) on the main floor of the station to purchase the prepaid phone card needed to make calls in Italy (no change, so you need to get the card). Did you know the Italian phone company’s recorded messages are also in Italian (read, “the line is busy, for € 0,40 we will keep trying for you”)? Pat was listening though, not reading. € 0,80 and ½ hour later, Pat found out from the liaison, the last e-mail she sent yesterday afternoon explained we needed to take a cab to the factory because the driver could not be there in the morning. That’s the trouble with no handy communication tools; you find things out the hard way.

In spite of our late arrival, Marco Zaja, the Division Manager for Dolomite, was a warm and gracious host. Pat was in his glory as we strolled through the manufacturing facility and watched the 2006-7 Tecnica Diablo being built. Ann acted interested for Pat’s sake, but even admitted it was interesting to see the amount of manual labor involved in the process. The saliva was pouring profusely as we were led through the racing department; more machines and tools than Pat could dream of to work on boots.

Marco bought us lunch at the company commissary. What a selection! We were impressed; the Italians even eat the full-meal-deal for their quick lunches at work! There is even wine available! And you think you want a nap after lunch now!

After our meal and a tour of the warehouse (huge and getting bigger!), Pat’s excite-o-meter almost spiraled out of control when Marco introduced him to the head of the R&D department. He was shown the new 2008-9 Dolomite product line (never before seen by even the rep force). A tear was seen welling in Pat’s eyes as he was asked to try the boots on and give them feedback. What a day for the boot guy from Minnesota!

But wait, there’s more! They asked Pat if he had any questions or concerns about their products. Now, if any of you know Pat, you probably know what happened next. It seems the boot manufacturers haven’t been listening to, or possibly not understanding the concept of a flat, ramped, boot-board (zeppa or . . .?). Pat was actually fairly succinct in his demonstration of the concept and the benefits they could expect. They even seemed to take the critique to heart; admitting that they sometimes get so caught up in the way something always is, they don’t consider the other possibilities. If the concept is adopted, there may be no way to deflate Mr. Swollen Head. However, giving free advice that has potential to benefit a company is not going to win Pat anything other than a swollen head. Still, the possibility of influencing design is exciting! Is there a Divine ramped boot-board in the future of skiing?

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Comments

[Lynn Cox]

Bravo
Bravo--you guys are doing great. We are enjoying your blogs. We just got our tickets (Mpls-Newark-Milan-Venice) via NW FF miles leaving Dec 17th and returning Jan 10th. We will base out of our son's home in a village near Avianio. We'd love to hear more about how it all was (and about coping with the language differences) when you return. Lynn