Too tired to blog it, but skied from summit down the big and very aesthetic northeast face of Tofana di Rozes, Italy. Just thought I’d drop in a teaser so you guys know I’m only drinking weissbier in the evening, not all day. The TRs will come, just be patient! Oh, and I should say the driving was tougher than the skiing, but then, I’m a wimp when it comes to navigating Italian roads. Companion was Federico Sbrissa, the Dynafit guru de boota.Thanks Fede!
EU Big Day, Skiing the Tofana di Rozes, Dolomites
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tell that guy to get to work!
The term “EU” feels misplaced on a blog about skiing. Dont know why but I react on it every time… I would use “Europe” instead, or even better the specific country.
It always irked me too, when EU is used as short for Europe, it really sounds wrong in so many ways.
It’s like saying “I’m traveling to NAFTA to go skiing this year…” LMAO
And EU excludes Switzerland and Norway, but I guess those guys are not very important skiing nations anyway…. 8)
NAFTA was a failed exercise. The EU works. We did not adopt the same rules. The U stands for Union.
😀
@skian
I know what the U stands for and the EU is also a failed exercise and does NOT work either but that’s NOT what we are talking about here, at all.
Using EU as an acronym for Europe does not work, it sounds REALLY wrong AND it excludes big parts of Europe.
Huh? Goes to show one never knows what might offend someone, somewhere, somehow! No big deal, I’m in the European Union part of Europe, so I use EU, could easily say CU for central Europe, or something like that. What would you guys prefer?
Also, the European Union is interesting and has its positive aspects but is far from totally “working.” In my opinion and a few other folk’s, anyway.
Or, should I not use “the West” to talk about skiing in the western United States, because it excludes a big chunk of North America?
For me, “EU” just brings vibes of politics, taxes, rules and regulations. Not a geografic area.
Austria (or the Alpes) on the other hand get me thinking on mountains, snow and skiing! 🙂
Okay, point taken. I guess I was skiing in Italy — EU, shmee shmoo…
@Lou
I’m not offended by the way. Just wanted to let you know my associations when I hear the word EU. 😉 Thanks for a super blog. It’s on my RSS! 😀
I’m afraid I agree on the EU front – just makes me think of politics. Italian Alps brings a whole different set of mental visions.
Lou, I’m pretty sure you have talked about your EU trips before that included Switzerland and you have also used EU when talking in general about all of “skiing” Europe including Norway and Switzerland? 😆
But that’s not the point.
It sounds really wrong when it substitutes Europe in general.
Like Scandi says, “EU” can really only be used in specific contexts where the EU is relevant, regarding economics, legislation, immigration, politics, and so on.
It really can’t be used as “the US”, or “the UK”.
No one is offended, we’re just being besserwissers here, LOL
Love your euro reports Lou!
Lou, I guess if you want to be kind of geographically specific about your trips to Austria and Italy, (and maybe Switzerland, France and Germany too?), I guess the best word would be simply “the Alps”.
I’m gonna shut up now, but one last thing:
The thing with the EU, it’s not a geographical part of Europe, on the European map the EU has big holes in the middle of it and it also includes territories all over the world.
Over and out.
I’m looking forward to some inspiring photos and tantalizing tidbits regarding new gear and places to put on the list to visit. I don’t care what you call the overall region your visiting as long as you name the locale your skiing in. 🙂
> I should say the driving was tougher than the skiing
Just cross your heart and hit the accelerator on those blind mountain turns… at least that’s what our university summer school bus driver did.
Looking forward to cool pics of stuff I never see 🙂 Have fun.
And make sure you get EU approval for your routes and bar choices. heh
Isn’t that stamp on my passport the EU bar approval?
As for the driving, I’ll admit I’m just not that good at it. But I get there eventually. The biggest problem for me is going solo, so I keep having to stop and memorize parts of the map. The other tough part is that many of the roads are signed by what town they go to, but when planning from the map I frequently can’t guess what’s going to be on the sign. Thus, I find myself going through a roundabout three of four times, trying to remember the name of a town I saw on the map. Then, when I can’t remember, I just pick a random road and stop as soon as possible for a map check. This at night, of course, with tons of traffic. Delightful! What I need is a limo driver. Any volunteers?
How about ‘Yurp?
Thank goodness for roundabouts in Europe, you have an infinite number of circuits to decide exactly which way you need to go. Yeah, no route numbers on the signs like we are used to. Solo, wow that’s tough navigating.
As for Fede the guru, he says he is only the face, and the actual guru is a 50 year veteran of bootmaking in Montebelluna. Hopefully there’s a bad weather day for you to meet that guy and write the story of the TLT5. Dave Page will love it, I suspect.
Tofane in perfect condtions, what good fortune! Congrats.
It’s certainly much more convenient to do a multi-country ski trip through the “EU” than before the euro became a currency, except that every trip to Europe I go on seems to cross through Switzerland several times, so you need to stock up on both Euros and Swiss Francs . . . seems like it’s the Swiss who are screwing up the “union” and it doesn’t look they will change their mind any time soon.
As far as driving, you definitely need a navigator, someone to yell out names that should be coming up soon on the way to your destination, so the driver can look ahead and try to match them up . . . not easy either, especially if one or neither speaks the language of the day.
Yeah, the driving worked much better when we did our family trip over here a few years ago and we had two navigators. GPS tries to name the turns, but what it says is either unintelligible, or it uses a road number when it should stat a town name, or it states a town name when there is no sign, or a combination of above. Old world charm (grin).
I agree with Greg that the Euro makes life easier crossing borders, the flip side is that it makes things more expensive when you can compare the cost of a hotel room or beer directly. Viva/vive the mapreader on the drive.
Nice job Lou! Christy and I climbed the via ferrata to the summit last year and talked the whole way down about returning to ski. Can’t wait to see it from a skiing perspective.
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