Boarding in the Italian Alps!

Buongiorno!

Time for the next update! So unfortunately I really didn't do anything this weekend because I ended up getting sick last Thursday :( and I was supposed to go to Brussels but it didn't really work out since I wasn't feeling well. But I am feeling a lot better now and I was feeling well enough to make up for my lost weekend by finally going snowboarding yesterday! I was so stoked to finally be able to go riding in the Italian Alps. I was basically just waiting for some new snow to come before I went riding since it had been awhile since it snowed when I got here.

So I finally got my chance when it snowed last week and I was able to get some nice pow lines in while I was riding yesterday. It was pretty easy to figure out how everything worked here as far as getting to the resort, renting, getting the lift ticket, etc. So I basically caught the 7:20am train from the main train station in Torino to Bardonecchia (the name of the ski resort I went to). It was a one and a half hour train ride from Torino to Bardonecchia and when I got there I first got a little confused. But luckily I saw a sign for skipasses right outside of the train station and I was able to get a 1 day student lift ticket for only 18 euros! Then I figured out the shuttle route and took a shuttle from the train station to the bottom of the mountain. When I got there I looked for a rental place and found one close by where they thankfully spoke English. They hooked me up with a board and some boots for only 16 euros for the day and I was on the first chairlift by 10:30am. When I first reached the summit I could not believe the view. It was a beautiful, partly cloudy day but the sun was out nearly the whole time. The view was incredible and I was able to see just how huge these mountains actually were. I posted some more pics on Facebook and as you can see they are MASSIVE. After getting to the top I really wanted to check out the park there because they have been known for their "boarder friendly" mountain/park. This place is actually where they held the snowboarding events (bordercross and halfpipe) for the 2006 winter Olympics. But yea, they definitely had a nice park. There weren't any rails but they had some decent boxes and tabletops, as well as a couple medium and large sized kickers.

They also had a pipe that was just cut but it was a little rough at the top of the wall, but it was nice to be able to finally hit up some good park runs again. I did a pretty good amount of park runs before doing some more exploring and seeing what the rest of the resort had to offer. They pretty much had the gnarliest rope tows I've ridden so I've got that mastered on the board now haha but the rest of the mountain was really nice. The groomed runs were good but there was one point where I got a little too adventurous and wanted to hit some fresh pow lines and I ended up in a gulch where I had to ride on the wall to stay out of the sketchy-looking bottom that looked like I could fall through. So I had to hike a little to get back on the wall and I ended up riding out of it into these trees, just following tacks that had been made there earlier. At this point I really wasn't sure if I was still in the resort area or not haha so I just followed the tracks I had been following and they thankfully led me back onto the groomed run. There was a moment there where I was a little concerned so I can definitely say that I learned my lesson that time. After that I did a couple more park runs and headed back to the rental shop to return my gear, then headed back to the train station and finally home at around 6:45pm. So it ended up being a really good day and since I brought my own food and I only spent around 44 euros for everything! It was a really good deal and I definitely plan on taking advantage of it more often. Hopefully I can possibly go again this upcoming Friday since there are some more people in the program going before we go to Venice on Saturday for Carnival! I'm really excited for the weekend so I just have to get through my Italian Final tomorrow and I'll be good to go. Time to go study so look for another update on the weekend next week!

Ciao!