Downhilling will start

21. january
Hitched to Peio Fonti to check out the skiing place and look for part time job...

afternoon in Peio Fonti, the end of ski route. Base camp. Start of cable car

Drivers told me that there will be nothing for evenings because of lacking night life but who knows, I still decided to try. In Cogolo I just entered to bar of an hotel to get some warmth and a cup of caffe macchiato. I looked the map and it seemed to be quite (ice)climbable zone so I asked the barman (who was also the owner of the hotel) if he knows some waterfalls nearby for ice climbing. Resulted that he knew - he was also practising this kind of weird stuff. OK, he marked some waterfalls on the map... then I got to the topic of job seeking and voila! he told that he was just looking for somebody foor room service/ cleaning.... What a luck, I thought. So we changed contacts etc, but there was a little but - they already had a good candidate but they didnt believe she would take the job.... but she did... so just 4 hours after finding job I already lost it 👀👂👌👍😃😂😓😞😢.
Anyway I went up to Peio Fonti just to feel the atmosphere of the skiing centre...

...I liked it. Not too many people, also served by skibuses for free, the real mountain environment and sympathetic people (compared to Nonesi - people from Val di Non; and Solandri - people from Val di Sole in general). Decision made, I would do my skiing studies there. Also prices of seasonal skipass were more convenient (390 euros) compared to Madonna di Campiglio (695 euros) and Marilleva-Folgarida (575 euros). Another interesting thing here is that there are no discounts for students (even though iam not a student anymore i would at least pretend to be one!? but there is no point to even pretend here). Now the last question was where to buy/rent cheap but valid equipment. Googleing, Subito.it etc for second hand stuff. I found some ski boots for 30-40 euros, some skis for 40-50 euros etc... but its hard to contact italians by e-mail :D... OK, wait.

22. january
Wanted to go to Tuenno to get my bike and cycle up to Dimaro, but I found another activity - arrange wood, making nice towers of wood (well, we need wood for heating and it was for free, so why not). But I was still missing training. This problem got fixed at late evening by nice night run along the river or actually torrent Noce... 40 minutes of leg killing.

23. january
Finally I went down to get my dear bike Massimo, put some air in back tube and try out icey bike road which follows the Sun Valley almost in full lenght. But before that a good friend of mine took me to a small ski fix/rental place where I got a super offer for whole season - all needed stuff (skis,helmet, boots, glasses, poles) for 80 euros, till the middle of april. Deal!!
In october/november there were some heavy rains and storms in Italy and damages in Dimaro but also in other places were quite big. Actually the bike route is closed in many places because alluviations left too much mud behind. The bridge on the pic was also not realy happy - 1/4 of it has escaped. There and in some places I needed to go around, good for me that torrents are frozen right now (in warm Italy :D)

Actually I was a bit bored of tranquillity of Val di Sole for that moment. At evening I escaped to visit Luglio... anyway there was ice climbing in our program for next day (even though I wouldnt recommend to practise this sport while having bronchitis, but some people dont listen... and also I cant hold myself back). Hitchhiking from Dimaro to Dermulo was easy, but bloody hell, how to get to Fondo in darkness. There is quite narrow, dark and a bit curvy road. Ffancul!! I still managed.... risking a bit.

24. January

2nd Ice climb in my life (yeah, im still counting as its new experience for me, dont worry, I will get tired of counting after 6 or 7 😂). The place was same as first time. Near fondo, near rock climbing crag "Marino Stenico".  I almost remembered the basic technique, but fortunately there was a bit more ice than previously, so we got to try a bit harder "routes", a bit more verticality than first time. Yaah, now i even got my arms a bit tired in addition to legs that are not used to trust the front points of crampons. I´m sorry for lack of pictures but I was having fun so I forgot to take pics.... and after it was cold enough to not spend time without gloves. 💩😈

I think I should buy crampons and ice axes.... i like this stupid sport. Looking forward to more verticality. Maybe in Val di Rabbi next week (oh, this week I mean)

Hitching back was nice. I met Paolo, a guy from Peio (my skiing place), a super welcoming guy who seems to know everybody in his valley. He gave me some contacts of local alpine guides and masters of ski. So maybe I dont need to die of lack of climbing training? 

25. january

Ayeeee, first day of mountain skiing! When was the last time you did something for the first time in your life? I think I am not hopeless case. Thanks to crosscountry skiing and some slacklining experience I have some balance at least. Ofcourse I´m probably using some mistaken technique while turning and zig-zaging but i can get down, having fun.... and sometimes I lose control over my speed, start chickening and put down my bottom.... for safety reasons :D 

Doss dei Cembri

rifugio.... place for sunbathing, eating, drinking etc

So I spent almost 2 hours on the blue route "Scoiattolo" to gain some self-confidence and feeling. Of course i´m not able to keep things easy, so I wanted to try some harder stuff. Some red routes as "Doss dei Cembri" and "Tarlenta. First try on "Doss dei Cembri" was almost successful.... second and third try already without falling (but my technique is s**t). On Tarlenta I lost control at least 4 times 😔. Actually its super that Doss dei Cembri and Tarlenta are attached so I can just go downhill 5 horizontal km and 1 vertical km without any obstacles (if we dont count my bottom and hands which were touching the ground more than wanted). Challenge for next day.

Boots are killing my right foot because of a bone which is a bit out reaching... weird ankle. Welcome to my life dear blister!

BTW, if you happen to go skiing in Pejo visit also Bar Sandwich - welcoming staff and as clients both locals and visitors. Nice pre and after skiing place.

26. January

Working in the morning. Yep, the hotel where i found and lost job called me for change of saturday. Better one day than nothing! Chop-chop-chop, move your ass if you want to go skiing!! Hehe, strasimpatici :D. Making up beds, washing windows, taking away dust, vacuuming etc. We were 4 + boss, everybody had own logic and everybody tried to teach.... muhahaa what a chaos. I hope I learned something 😆😂. They told me: "You see, you made a mistake here, you cant go skiing".... well, we still finished at normal time 12.30 and deffinitely I went to have fun on ski routes. I even got ski trousers from Melissa, another globetrotter working in the bar. Thanks a lot... mi salva il culo letteralmente... yeah she saved my ass literally. Tried some new challenge "Saroden". Almost lost my phone there - it fell out of my pocket while i was busy with falling and sliding/rolling down.

view from beginning of route "Saroden"

...and this

And... from Paolo I got a contact of the guy who has a small handmade boulder gym so we went to have small session. Aiii, it was cold there of course, but I still managed to work out till my arms were dead. There was only one problem - I already sent a small hedgehog in my throat... and the last skibus had already left. Have a good hitchhiking!!

27.january. Hedgehog has grown bigger. No skiing. I dont want to talk about it. 😓😢

At least it started to snow.