I Dolomiti

As you may have read, we spent a weekend in the Dolomites snowboarding. We rented a car and left Padova right after the boys were done with school at 1:00 on Friday. The boys did their homework in the back, then enjoyed playing video games and listening to music.

Mountains! From the Autostrada
(freeway)

It only takes an hour and a half to be at the foot of the Dolomites from Padova. Since we had time, we took the scenic route through the national park. The park itself was really nothing special- it was when we reached the far side of the park, in the mountains, that we had great views and a fun drive. There were lots of climbing S-curves, small towns, and snow. We stopped a couple of times to get photos.

We started at the bottom

From outside of our
apartment

The Dolomites appeared very 'sharp' to me. They were unlike any mountains I'd seen before. There are a lot of cliff faces and dramatic peaks, which is due to their geological makeup and the unique way that they were formed. Some of the best views came while we were snowboarding, and I didn't stop to take pictures. At one point, our piste (run) was right at the base of a cliff that was thousands of feet high. When the light hit the mountain in the afternoon... it was pretty awesome. 

The skiing. Ethan was especially excited about the weekend, and proved it by waking up at 5:45 in the morning, ready to go. Of course, he's the same kid we have to drag out of bed at 7:15 to get to school. We got him to rest a while longer, then took the car five minutes down the hill to the lift. The ski area was called Ski Civetta. There are several access points to the mountain, with the ski area in the middle. We stayed on one blue run for the first hour while the boys got used to skiing. Ben was reluctant to leave that run, but when we returned to it at the end of the day he said it was too easy. The colors here are a bit different than I've seen in Colorado. The easiest runs were blue, and those included groomed runs and catwalks.

I do need to mention that skiing was much more affordable here than in the U.S. We all rented gear for two days, and it only cost us 110 Euro. Ethan's ski pass was free, and for the other three of us it was about 100 Euro for two days of skiing.

The day couldn't have gone better. We stopped several times for snacks and lunch to keep the boys fed, and their spirits were high. Even when they got stuck on catwalks, their frustration was short-lived and disappeared once we were moving again. The weather was perfect for us- 40 degrees and sunny, which made the snow soft and fun to ski. We finally got on our last run at 4:00. It was red (medium difficulty), because that was what led to our parking area. Both boys pretty much went down the mountain standing up, and Ben decided that he was NOT returning the next day if we had to take the same route down.

We got gelato, because that's what Americans do in Italy, even when you are snowboarding. After showering, we headed up the street to a local restaurant for dinner. Then we piled together to watch Michigan play basketball.

It was a pretty perfect day, and we got to repeat it on Sunday, since Ben grudgingly agreed to return to the hill. Ethan made sure we were ready for another seven hours of snowboarding with a 5:00 wake-up call.

Go Blue! Half of us stayed
awake for the whole game.