Cortinaaaaargh

So what do you do with a forced mini-break in Cortina???

Walk into town for starters. One of the very fine things about Cortina is the bike path that runs up the valley for about 40km into town...this means you can walk the 10 miles from Fawlty Towers to town without having to deal with traffic - brilliant. And on the way, there are loads of super groovy buildings with great roofs...they have a hint of 'Psycho' about em, but I have to admit, I'd quite happily have a roof like that on my house.

So...the Cortina challenge was 3 fold:
1: Find Internet access (failed)
2: Get a good cup of coffee (failed - in Italy of all places)
3: Find something cheap in town (not on your nelly).

The town is dripping with furs...if they aren't wearing em, they are walking em. I've never seen so many shops with 5000+ euro price tags. There was a very nice petrol blue fur  jacket - reduced to 4000 - oooh hold me back!

And as for the dogs...you've never seen so many lap dogs, particularly the ones that look like they've been smashed head first into a brick wall...which brings me onto the dog launderette...I kid you not!

A real life dog launderette - for those who don't want to get fur balls down their own plugholes...comes with sinks, shampoo and conditioner, doggy nibbles(!), hair dryers (!!)....amazing.

I somhow can't imagine that the fur-wearers will be doing the dog-wash thing...suspect it's the preserve of the serfs.

I never knew things like this existed, but I guess when it comes to dogs, I'm of the eat 'em rather than walk 'em school....






Impressions of Cortina overall weren't too favourable - far too smart for its own good. However....and this is a big however...the galleries where you can buy art were AMAZING...and a reflection of the money about. There were works by Miro, Warhol and Keith Haring for sale...originals too...we're talking LOTS of zero's on the price tags!

Also - some stunning bronzes by someone called Fernando Bottera and another guy who's name began with 'R', but my memory fails me.

And finally...having raved about the art fart, there was an exhibition in town called 'real forgeries' where you got to see forgeries of the mona lisa and other such works....but you have to ask...what the hell's a real forgery - the whole point of a forgery is that it's fake...so does that make a fake forgery the real thing...I'm very confused.

Didn't like Cortina...wouldn't go back, but thought the Dolomites were speccy and worth another visit :-)

1.27 hrs...

...is about the time it took from the medley of phone calls for the nice little recovery man to come and pick me and the yellow peril up. Didn't need to hack off an arm or anything -all very civilised! The only arm action needed was offering various hand signals to irate Italian drivers who were giving me a hard time for taking up road space on a Saturday morning.

As a kid we had a Ford Cortina (Saluki Bronze -SOE 308H - remember it well).It was very unreliable and broke down all the time. In fact...the only time it didn't break down was when it did a trip to Austria, which was nothing short of amazing.

It therefore seems a curious twist of fate that after 15yrs of owning 205's, the first time I should experience a breakdown is in Cortina in Italy...the heart of the Dolomites, and the most expensive place known to mankind.

After lots of fast chat, hand waving and pointing, the nice breakdown man reckoned the issue was with the pomp-uh, and the gist of his chat was...it's bygered and it's easy to fix, but we don't have the parts and it's a saturday, so I hope you've got somewhere to stay cause you aint goin anywhere till monday at the earliest :-(

And that is how I came to have a few days in Cortina.

So -  some top tips for European Breakdown:

1: Have Breakdown Cover (tick);
2: Breakdown where there is a view and it's in the sun (tick);
3: Breakdown where there is full mobile reception (tick);
4: Have the mobile fully charged (tick - a miracle!);
5: Don't even begin to feel smug that you will be put up in some swanky hotel in Cortina - fat chance love!
6: Don't breakdown in a French car in Italy -  the parts are wallet death.
7: When you get separated from your car at the garage, remember to take out your waterproofs (doh).

Oooooooo - a little pocket of heaven.

 A little jaunt up the Col du Font Froide with Jim. We did suffer a bit, having to do a reasonably lengthy ski carry up through the woods to start....maybe this was why we were the only people on the hill?

 A day out with Mark and Jim up the Col de la Grande Clausis (this involved a carry of about 100m - heaven). Once again, a quiet day on the hill with only one other person sighted. Fantastic views with some rather scrumptious spring-like snow on the way down.

 Jim above the Col de Vars. A particularly busy day on the hill, with at least 6 other folk around...and a rather interesting ski off :-)

Hmmm - there's a lot to be said for getting away from the more crowded hotspots!

Touring Daahn Saaf

Aaah -  the little yellow peril made it all the way across to Seyne- les- Alpes, which to be honest is the arse end of nowhere.

However...after 4 days of wandering up some fine peaks, and even getting a spot of cragging in, I have to admit that this is a little pocket of heaven that I shall have to visit again.

Interenet connection is a bit slow, hence only one photo for now...but team Saga of myself, Mark B and Jim S had a particularly fine day out today, managing to crawl up to Ste Anne in said yellow peril, then hoofing up to the Col de la Grande Clausis. Some rather fine snow on the way down...woof woof!

Pretty Pics

  Had a little jaunt up Mont Colmet in Italy today - hardly saw a soul all day and had some excellent snow on the way down - magic!

Have now had 4 days of mainly skinning up hills in gorgeous spring sunshine. Not complaining or anything, but have to admit that I might be feeling a bit like this little fella on the left :-)         

Upload pixie isn't playing ball this eve...so that's all the pics you're going to get for now!



Alpine Update

The little yellow 205 has made it down to Chamonix - yeehaaaa.

Afraid there are no pics yet, but progress is as follows:

Skinned up the Col d'Argentierre (altitude training - might just have puked a few times..)

Took part in the Lenk Night Race - the debut performance of the gimp suit (no puking but not for lack of trying). The gimp suit did well, although not too sure about it's contents. Leanne however put in a stirling effort and came 3rd - ninja!

Mellow skin up to the Col des Autannes in oh-so-perfect weather. It had to be mellow cause me old legs were done in...

A little bit of ice climbing action at the Cremerie followed by a particularly fine vin chaud.

And..the Vallee Blanche this morning followed by a couple of great runs off the top of the Grand Montets...wheeeeeee!

Extreme Chainsawing...

So for those of you who responded to my previous posting and have supported the British Women's Ski Mountaineering Team, may I say a HUGE thankyou, and provide this little gem of a pic as a starter...

I'm not sure the suit would count as suitable PPE, but it seemed to do the job and more importantly, co-ordinated quite nicely with the chainsaw.

For those of you having a bit of a chuckle at my expense, feel free to add to the cause and help us on our way.

Muchos gracias amigos!