EU Big Day, Skiing the Tofana di Rozes, Dolomites

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!

21 Responses to “EU Big Day, Skiing the Tofana di Rozes, Dolomites”

1. skian January 6th, 2011 1:10 am

   tell that guy to get to work!

2. Scandi January 6th, 2011 3:17 am

   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.

3. aviator January 6th, 2011 7:34 am

   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)

4. skian January 6th, 2011 8:53 am

   NAFTA was a failed exercise. The EU works. We did not adopt the same rules. The U stands for Union.
   😀

5. aviator January 6th, 2011 9:09 am

   @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.

6. Lou January 6th, 2011 9:48 am

   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?

7. Scandi January 6th, 2011 9:48 am

   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! 🙂

8. Lou January 6th, 2011 9:52 am

   Okay, point taken. I guess I was skiing in Italy — EU, shmee shmoo…

9. Scandi January 6th, 2011 9:52 am

   @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! 😀

10. Mark Sweatman January 6th, 2011 10:13 am

    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.

11. aviator January 6th, 2011 10:15 am

    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!

12. aviator January 6th, 2011 10:50 am

    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.

13. Dave Field January 6th, 2011 10:59 am

    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. 🙂

14. mtnrunner2 January 6th, 2011 11:28 am

    > 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

15. Lou January 6th, 2011 11:41 am

    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?

16. NT January 6th, 2011 2:52 pm

    How about ‘Yurp?

17. Silas Wild January 6th, 2011 6:11 pm

    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.

18. Greg Louie January 6th, 2011 8:45 pm

    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.

19. Lou January 7th, 2011 2:49 am

    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).

20. Frame January 7th, 2011 9:17 am

    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.

21. Ted Mahon January 7th, 2011 10:34 am

    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.