Dolomites vol. 2

The last trip to the Dolomites was such an eye-opener that we demanded for more. There is something so special about those magical mountains that it haunted me throughout the whole week. On top of that it was supposed to snow - a lot. For me this trip had a bit more of meaning as it was deemed to be the last bit of skiing I would be doing with my eyes as they were. Few days before, I had made an appointment for a Lasek-surgery. I was finally going to get rid of my glasses and all the contact lens hassle. Therefore I was skiing with my glasses under my goggles (I can't understand how anyone is able to ski like that?). Nevertheless it was a small price-to-pay for the, literally, bright future.

The drive itself was epic. As soon as we crossed the border to Italy all the darkness of Austria changed into piles of snow next to the roads and snowflakes crashing into the windshield. It was the first time, since October, I had to drive on snow. It is kind of amazing that there was a jump from grass to 30cm of snow in just 1500 meters.

We started the day off with consulting a local ski instructor about personnel attitudes considering skiing on closed slopes and jumping over fences. With a mixture of Italian, English and German we were able to get thumbs up and skied some nice runs in the trees. The snow was rather heavy and the best way to ski was basically straight-lining everything. I wasn't on the top of my game but boys were having so much fun trying to spend more time in the air than on the snow.

Next setup we found turned out to be one of the best terrains I have ever skied in the trees. It was steep enough to gain speed to bust trough the heavy snow and had plenty of different shapes and possibilities. 

Me and Rupi were able to get into a slightly idiotic spot yet again. We were trying to ski a nice ridge between 2 different cliff faces but somehow got lost on the way. I still have a clear image of Rupi going first, stopping to have a look and charging down while yelling "Don't ski it." Next to Rupi's line was this extremely narrow shoot. From above it seemed rather scary as there was no end to it - Just a narrow line between rocks. Somehow I failed to push rec on my GoPro and thus am only able to share my feelings of skiing it. The wind had filled the shoot with snow and the first turn I managed to make above the entrance released loads of sluff. As I had no clue where the shoot would lead, I side stepped down as long as my skis didn't fit between the rocks. From there I had no other option than turn my skis down and let them lead me. Those few seconds were definitely the best part of the whole weekend. 

This time we were an hour earlier than last time and were able to eat the well-deserved pizzas. We were tired but happy. The drive back was filled with the sounds of me and Bernie singing and rear seat snoring. It felt great to have such a good ski day before the few weeks of resting my eyes. Next time I will find myself at the mountains, I will hopefully have the vision of a hawk.