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toque went out and a storm came in and beat him off of the mountain early today. He had to wait a long time to get off the mountain as well.

 

I was at costco buying soap. 1580 for a bucket of soap that can do 160 loads of laundry. now thats value.

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I skied a good powder run most of the way down Raicho in the Tateyama on Saturday. Pretty deep and light snow

 

Sunday the pressure dropped way down in the early morning hours and big blizzard moved in. Could barely stand outside it was blowing so hard. We packed up and fought our way back to the bus station in zero vis just to wait with 7 bus loads of BC skiers for 4 hours until they could get the road plowed. Even though we got the bus station at 9 I still didn't get home till 6.

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I had a bloody fantastic weekend, even though I was caught totally unprepared for the late November dump that we just had. We rented a car to do some pre-season reconnaissance and didn't expect to see any proper snow.

 

Went to Chamonix on Saturday:

- There was easily 20-30cm of brand new powder in the valley with some higher lifts running.

- I didn't have my board in the country so just had to be a tourist, eat nice food and walk the dog along a snowy river.

 

On Sunday we drove to a quiet and remote area of the Italian alps (actually the pre-alps before the real alps start):

- I was a little west of the Dolomites in a resort called Fopolo, 110km from our apartment in the city.

- It was -7C and a solid 30cm of good powder on zero base. There must have been 50cm higher up.

- No lifts running but fantastic scenery and a middle of winter feel in Nov.

- Along with my red wine I ate a caserole of reindeer with polenta and a really rich dark sauce.

- The size and shape of the mountains reminded me a little of Hakuba.

- My dog is a powder freak. He went berserk running around in the stuff.

- Again, no board (it was being useless in London). With 2 hours hiking you could have got some great lines, in fact, some people had done just that in the morning.

 

It snowed in Milan on and off all weekend with 5-10cm surrounding the city.

 

After a Mars Volta concert in London this weekend I am returning to Italy my board the following weekend and hopefully my season will start then. Another two good dumps like this and there will be an excellent Christmas base, compared to the typical season.

 

cartina_bremboski1.jpg

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Davo - I think they are all on a common pass. The area is a remote valley at the end of a very windy road that passes through some medieval towns. It is a great drive. The hiking opportunities looked huge and the Italians are often completely casual about that kind of stuff. Often Italian powder goes untracked as they are too busy eating 2 hour lunches and grabbing a deck chair sun tan in the afternoon after a 10am start in the morning. The problem with this resort area is it is mainly south facing and not very high.

 

I have heard good things about another resort further into the dolomites: Maddona di Campiglio. Plus with a little more driving I will be able to check out the original Cortina, which I am looking forward too after having a great time at the Japanese imitation in Hakuba.

 

Italy

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The dog snorkelling in fresh Italian powder.

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