Skiing the Apennines

Skiing. All week I looked forward to my upcoming travel plans.

Apennines

On wednesday I mailed letters! (get excited America, mail from Italia is coming your way)

Also, someone super duper special decided to spend the day in Florence with me. Will had class in Florence on Wednesday and I got a call from him at 1:30 (right when I finished writing my letters in the Duomo).

"Hey! I'm in Florence and I'm done with class. Where are you?!!"

Yes, please! I think every girl wants to hear those words mid week! (Even though I was seeing him the next day)

So Will and I spent the afternoon in Florence. aka I made him lunch. He helped me study for my italian quiz. He took a nap while I was taking my Italian quiz. I made him supper. And he took the train back to Arezzo. 

Thursday I met up with him and half of our skiing group at the train station. We caught a train to Pistoia then took a bus from Pistoia to the skiing town of Abitone.

But, that's not exactly how it worked out.

As you may have noticed from my past travels this semester, things do not go according to plan. 

We made it to Pistoia and went to buy the bus ticket to Abitone. Except, the last bus to our destination happened an hour earlier. The other half of our group (already in Abitone at the condo) forgot to check the bus schedule when they went through to see when the last bus out was.

We tried everything. The group in Abitone found wifi and found us a hostel to stay in.. which ended up being 25 kilometers away. No thanks. We tried getting a taxi up the mountain. None of the taxi drivers had enough guts to take us up at night. 

Eventually. We paid for the 4 euro train ticket back to Florence. Back where we started.

Staying the night in Florence, the four of us woke up early to catch the 6am train to Pistoia. Time to try again.

We caught the first bus out to Abitone and met the rest of the group for breakfast. Threw our stuff in the condo. Rented skis. And hit the mountain. 

Did I mention we basically had the mountain to ourselves both days?! Ya..... Best. Ever.

Will and I on top of the Apennines

Europe has this whole skiing thing figured out. Not only was it the cheapest skiing ever. But, it was the best skiing ever. Fresh powder on the whole mountain. Up to my knees in some places. 

Sadly, I've never experienced fresh powder skiing. And now, it's all I ever want to ski. 

Also, I spent a total of 200 euros this weekend on travel, skiing, eating, lodging, the works. Seriously?! 2 full days of skiing plus ski rentals. Take that New Mexico and Colorado. I'll take the Apennines any day over skiing in America. 

This picture shows the beautiful Apennines. And David. A Sergeant in the United States Military. His sister is studying in Arezzo with Will and he is based in Italy. He boarded with us this weekend. His first weekend back from 10 months in Afghanistan. 

I fell a lot. I'm a good skier. But I blade. I've used blades probably the past 5 or 6 years and skiing in Italia, in the powder, I chose long skis. Not only did I have to re-learn to control the long sticks attached to the bottom of my feet, but they were usually under an inch or two of powder. Thus, the falling. 

Will brought his gopro and I plan on editing a video entirely of me falling on my face. 

The first day I had the most epic falls. 

I literally turned into a snowball rolling down the freshly powdered mountain. It apparently looked like a slow motion tumble of limbs, skis, and poles. I think I rolled 4 or 5 times. 

Towards the end of the day, three of us decided to jump off the ski lift. I've never jumped off a ski lift and there was plenty of powder. We found a low place and went for it. I jumped thinking I would be knee deep in powder. Instead I had insta-pain in my ankles and shins from my skis popping off when I hit the two inches of snow on top of the rock I jumped on to. My face. It met the mountain with a solid smack. I looked up and saw Will standing on top of the hill of snow. He jumped out and landed standing perfectly up. Awesome. I'm so graceful.

The last fall of the day. I go off a jump, wearing the go pro. I go up. I come down. Catching myself on my face and sliding on it until I come to a stop. I roll over and Will is asking if I got his 180 jump. Um. Sorry. My face was a little preoccupied getting acquainted with the ground. While Will couldn't comprehend how I couldv'e possibly missed his perfect 180 jump, I laid on the ground laughing at myself for a full 5 minutes. It was hysterical. I also have the battle wounds to prove it. Sometimes, when you catch yourself with your face, your goggles cut into your skin on your nose and cheek.

Day two of falling... I mean skiing. I got hit in the head with a ski lift while I was getting off of it. Praise the Lord I rented a helmet, or else I know I would've had a concussion, if I was even still alive.... Can't really remember any epic falls from day two besides the ski lift incident. oops. Maybe I did get a concussion.

The last run of the day we went up to the top of the mountain and were met with gusting winds and snow. White out conditions. Blizzard. As Will and Jordan were freezing and focused on getting straight down the mountain, I felt like I was in an action movie. Don't worry, I was wearing the go pro so you can hear all of my narrating. Singing the James Bond theme song. Randomly screaming "THEY'RE RIGHT BEHIND US!!!" "HURRY!!! WE HAVE TO SECURE THE PACKAGE" "THEY ARE IN THE TREES" and "THEY ARE IN WHITE CAMO. YOU CAN'T SEE THEM!!!!" I think Jordan and Will thought me to be insane. But, we made it down safely and it was probably the best run of the day (for me at least).

Even though I feel like I was in a car wreck, and then ran over by that same car, this weekend was so amazing! Every single muscle in my body is sore, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The skiing was fabulous. The weather was perfect. The snow was beautiful. The mountain was ours.

This weekend put a lot in perspective for me, just like every other time I'm in the mountains. I love being in the mountains. My God is so big and powerful. His creation is majestic, and one place I find evidence of this so clearly is in the mountains. 

I don't know how someone can look at this and not believe in a Divine Creator