Firenze!

Today was a day of exhausting travelling, I love my skis. And all the skiing gear, but when you can only hobble/shuffle 30 feet at a time before dropping your bags in a hugh sigh of relief, blowing and rubbing on your numb fingers - well, it creates extra challenges.
FOR EXAMPLE.
After getting a lift from Joe and Tim FROM la grave TO Briancon, I then catch a bus
from Briancon to Oulx Italy.
From Oulx I catch a train to Milan.
I get off the train in Milan, track 2. I have 25 minutes to make my connection. No problem. I find the closet departure tv screen (does anyone else miss the 'flipping letters/numbers'? it just seemed more atmospheric than a flatscreen) - find my train, but no track is listed. I wait. I wait. Down to 15 mins, am about to hazard a spanish-french-english guess at Italian for 'where is the track for my train' "Donde ou es la TRACK por la trenne de mia?' when it appears. In 10 minutes, it informs me, my train is leaving from Track 15.

FIFTEEN

Anyone miss the part where I'm on track 2? Who makes these decisions? If its some sort of alogirthm it officially sucks! With an stangled yelp I'm off, half carrying, half dragging my bags, ALL THE WAY DOWN TRACK TWO, ALL THE WAY ACROSS TRACKS - 3, 4, 5 inch by me. I rally for 6,7, 8 (at least airports have trolleys!) and actually pass someone. 9,10,11 - the crowds are building - I don't have breath to speak even if I spoke italian - but my urgent, lurching, stuttering, heaving, hunchback-esque, ski bag swinging gait conveys something desperate and potentially dangerous (those bags have momentum!) , and people clear out of my way.
tracks 12.13.14
15!
I'm at the train, I make it to the first carriage where stands a very young, and very bored looking conductor. I wave my ticket at him, pointing at the train. He nods. I haul my bags in one at a time. There is no where to put them. They end up in the opposite non-boarding door well. He nods ok. Even though clearly - if that door opens - my bags are falling onto the track. I wave my ticket at him - "Are we sure?"
He looks at my ticket and NOW shakes his head. I'm on the right train, but the wrong carriage. My carriage is at the opposite end of the train. I look at him. I look at my bags. I makes the universal gesture for 'but can i leave my bags here or will some overzealous security guard come and blow them up?'

A brief look of alarm flits across his face, but he nods that I can leave them. I leap off the train, sprint for the end, manage to get to my carriage just as the whistle blows (I do love that they still blow the whistle). Spend the entire train ride wondering just how upset I'll be if infact my bags were no longer there when we reached Florence. Answer: If they were insured NOT UPSET AT ALL!
(Dear XXLs -- I'm just kidding - I could never quit you).
The bags were still there, which meant that I then had to pay 13 euros for a taxi to drive them 4 blocks to the hostel.


ART!
Tomorrow is the Uffizi (Go big or go home, as my cousin likes to say)
- a little research:
50-plus rooms and 1555 masterpieces
Uffizi means "offices"
It was built to house the Medici family's art collection. (A family, who among other notable money-focused achievements, are responsible for double entry booking for credits/debits)
When the last of the Medici died she bequeathed it to the city of Florence on the condition that 'none of the works ever leave florence" So I wonder if that means the works never travels? Like its a cool artistic curse or something?

For those of you who are not Room with a View empassionatas - there is murder! fainting! and a dashing rescue set in the Uffizi square (I predict none of the three will happen to me)

The art gallery has a who's who of renaissance artists - including - Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci. I think tomorrow I am going to concentrate on them. I am honestly not a huge fan of the earlier byzantine era art (think flat, stylized, and halos) they alway feel so static and then weighed down with all the religious iconography. Just looking at them feels suffocating. [Plus - who wants to think of the Catholic Church when trying to admire great works of art? Its prescence in the art seems more tainting than sanctifying and I can't think about the catholic church for long before getting all angry at their hypocritical corruption, cover-ups of legal and moral crimes, and frankly dehumanizing view of women - grrrrrrrrr]

BUT my point - When you consider how much work came from church comissions, how much it drove the focus of art during the renaissance - it always makes me wonder what the artists would have created if they could have broken away from the influences of their bread and butter. Makes me appreciate gaudi's naturalism even more.



Portraits are definitely my thing. BUT i love seeing nature in a portrait. In the renaissance pieces the subjects - even when not holy or mythical - are almost godly in their perfection - the marble flawless- the skill divine. My favourite portraits, on the otherhand, are completely flawed. Of asynchronous faces and levels of wrinkles and ink, paint blotches and brush strokes gone awry (purposefully or not). The natural beauty of that. Life is a bunch of mistakes and second-guessed decisions and wrong turns. That's what portraits of people should show - and in those cracks there is space for the viewer.

Ok so two things I'm focusing on. Raphael and portraits. I think both Raphael and Rembrandt have self-portraits in the Uffizi - so I'm going to hunt them out.


On a somewhat related note. I've been enjoying this person's ballet photography.
It really seems to show the tensions? the contorsions? the unnaturalness? the effort? behind the flawless performance.





Off to watch La Dolce Vita for some more italian inspiration! (Yes I know - Rome, but still)

wow its been a long time since my last post.
Short story (or in a hiku)

Went to La Grave
Skied
:)

back again

Yes I know its been a while.
What's been going on with me?
- we had a storm a few days ago which brought some snow (not enough - never enough!) and have had two fun days of powder hunting. Winds picked up today, closing lifts so today was more of a mellow day.
- Speaking of mellow days - been working on my snowboarding when I can get my hands on some equipment. Always a fun challenge to pick up another sport. Today I mastered the intermediate poma (after three tries). I got a 'who-ho' from the liftee when I eventually made it past the first post.

To give a sense of the average day here.
Wake up at light which is 8 to 8:30. Stick my head out the door to suss out the weather. Clear skies? Cloudy? Windy? How cold?
If its post-storm day, clear skis, low wind - the rush is on. If its not any of those things - the kettle is casually put on for tea, breakfast (eggs sandwhiches/ poridge) is lolly-gagged over, and its not uncommon to go back to bed. Meanwhile the various occupents of the Corbus apartments are calling on each other or dropping by to re-confirm ski plans or make up new ones. Who is going where? Touring? Skins? Do the snowbaroders need snowshoes? Is anyone bringing ice-axes? Who is up for what intense hikes? Who just wants to mess around on-piste? Anyone heard if marte is open? What was the wind direction was last night?

Plans are made, and then from approx 10 to whenever - executed against. Some days we only take one chairlift up to the top, and then start hiking for three hours - doing only one or two runs a day. Somedays not even the chairlift.

Generally finish sometime around three if the weather remains good all day. Earlier if it turns bad. Then its back home to bake up a random assortment of food/leftovers, steal showers (our hot water tank can only handle one shower every two hours ), and nap.

Sometime around 6 people emerge from their siestas. Dinner plans start to be made. Which usually don't materialize until 9 or 10 at night. And hten of course - its the evening plans. Who is going out where? Las Lenas is a pretty small place and yet - this is always a key discussion. The winebar? The pool- bar? The clubs? Or is there an impromptu house party somewhere nearby (follow the noise).

People drift back home at all hours, fall into bed and get ready to start the next day. :)

And that in a nutshell, is a day in Las Lenas.

excellent day!

Blue skies, a light dusting of snow yesterday, Marte running like a champ.
Highlight of today?
- after two 45 min boot packs ('I can do it, but you are going to have to wait for me') we (Ted, Chris, Dan and I) did the Banana chute off San Martin - which starts steep,mellows out a touch, gets steeper, and then chokes. Which means you have to point you skis and straightline through the narrow choke, then be able to somewhat control your speed once you exit into the bottom expanse (which was wide open). Luckily we had fantastic snow so it was pretty doable. But man, did you come out of it with a lot of speed.

Day before yesterday - did this massive 3 hour tour/hike to an amazing ridgeline full of perfect powder. It was alaskan-esq

Life here is about skiing, touring, skiing, eating, skiing, sleeping. Love it!

Awesome awesome birthday – and so much else that has been going on. Although really just the skiing.

- Marte: Jose and I on first chair. 50 degree chutes that went on and on and on - hundreds of feet worth. Sluff coming down ontop of me which was both cool and unnerving.
- Skiing until my legs just died (seriously - I was at the point where I would have rather straightlined and crashed then try to turn my skis)

- Next day - Marte was open again. More exploring down chutes and faces with Ted and Chris (roommates)

THEN today, too windy for Marte, but a crew of us pretty randomly hooked up in the slack country and six of us – Tim, Mattias, Ted, Chris, and Dan and I toured up to the ‘Officina’ an area of more chutes, etc. including some pretty gorgeous boot packing straight up along ridge lines. I did none of the trail breaking and am still utterly exhausted. The guys did not help my ego by continously exclaiming how EASY it was being last. Almost all of them are six footer guys with long legs that can step up stuff I have to crawl up. (mattias, thank god - is not six foot and understands my pain)

It was all worth it before we even started down - but we picked the right angle on the face, and had gorgeous snow.

Wonderful wonderful couple of days. If the wind doesn't die down, if marte doesn't open - more touring tomorrow! So for now - BED!

awesome awesome day today. Last two days its been storming here in Las Lenas, this morning it dawned clear - and the powder day was ON. Say about 1 and a half feet fresh.

Ted (roommate) flies past me on a first run, which is just NOT on, so I POINT my skis down a 200 foot face and straight line it. I'm so close with my skis - being comfortable really letting them run the way they are supposed to.

Anyway- awesome three runs off the quad chair then Volcano opens - and we move over and have an even more powder-y run down through the gully -Just like shooting womprats in Beggar's Canyon.

THEN after two runs - that's skied out - Marte's closed, so we start this rather epic boot pack up avalanche debris to access a face. 30 mins of suffering later we lay down the best lines anyone got today. Then we did again - but went even higher. Then I was DONE. Later people would ask - what did you do today - and I'd say - you know those lines on the main face?
;)

Tomorrow is my birthday and word is Marte is going to open.

MARTE

So after that last optimisitc post, marte did not open. BUT IT DID OPEN TODAY.

There was a bit of a thing last night so most people in my place weren't up for the 9 am start. Headed out by myself and bump into Jose - the ex-ski patrol / guide who also had a feeling about marte opening.

Cue the waiting. Getting to the top of marte is a journey of three lifts, and patience. As Jose warned me : Be ready to be disappointed.

5 mins for the bottom poma to open. 30 mins for the next chairlift to open (winds already beginning to pick up). Then at least a 45 min wait at the bottom of marte- waiting for the ski patrol to give the go ahead. During this time a core group had formed - mostly gringos- and Jose gathered us together with a "who is here for the season? Now I tell you - be mean. People here get killed every year here and its because of the damn rookies skiing over our heads and causing avalanches. So you see someone - you yell at them, hit them, whatever. I almost hit someone last year who started skiing down ontop of my partner. We need to control it cause there is no one else to do it."

We got first chair :) The chair was open for approx 90 mins before it was shut down due to high winds, and in that time Jose and I managed to hit it twice.


First run - down a chute/coloir called mericioles that went on and on and on. Awesome views - non- stop, not particularly steep but long and long and endless sweeping turns in untracked snow. Dumps you out above the Volcano chair where a crowd of people had gathered, watching us ski it. :)

Second run - Jose 'knew this chute' and after carefully stepping over piles of rocks (my bases!) we enter it from the side and way steeper! Narrower - you actually had to ski it. Again so long. He let me go first this time and it was just awesome awesome fun. My sluff chasing me down 'don't stop' Jose had warned me - no where to exit until the bottom.

I had a good season at Revelstoke, worked on my skiing lots, but it did disappoint a little in these big lines with good snow. Good good day today!! Now must go buy Jose a beer :)