Uhlfelder News

We are off this morning to Tyrol in Italy. Before leaving, I took a photo of a light fixture in the hallway of the hotel in Austria. I thought it was really cool.

We’ve arrived in Italy after about an hour bus ride on tight roads that the bus driver didn’t get too excited about. Not only were they narrow, but there were trucks heavily loaded with everything — from piles of logs to huge semi trucks. We arrived at Innichen/San Candido, took the lift up the mountain (it’s a ski area and looks pretty nice), ate nice Italian food (lasagne, ravioli, etc…) at a very nice restaurant on the mountain, had an espresso, then sledded down on locally popular sleds called “Rodels” to the bottom.

The sledding was on a course that was sufficiently steep and you could fly on the sleds. Luckily the sides of the course were built up snow banks since everyone definitely had to “slow down” a couple of times, trying to get the hang of it. Liability issues would clearly prevent something like this in the US but I saw little kids on sleds flying down and laughing like crazy while doing so.

It was surprisingly fast and fun and something the Aspen Ski Company should consider doing. Parents with little kids were there and the kids were loving it.

Then we kept our cross-country gear, everyone had a back-pack and changed into lighter wear, and we XC skied about five kilometers to Toblach. This is a border town so everyone speaks Italian, German, and English, it seems.

The entire town is over heated (I’ve had to sleep with windows open to cool rooms to reasonable sleeping temperature through the trip) by a plant that burns wood chips, then pipes the heat out to all the houses and hotels. This is the richest part of Italy and the state even supports the purchases of real estate for new couples by giving them part of a downpayment on their first home interest free. This was all told to us by Elena, who is Italian and really cared and it sounds good. She also took at least 30 minutes to describe bidets and how they are properly used (pants off).

We arrived at the stadium (“Nordic Arena Toblach-Dobbiaco) on a beautiful sunny day where the world cup sprints (cross country) were held in December 2017 and skied around there.

At the XC Stadium Sprint Course

I was enjoying it so much I didn’t notice the group was leaving (okay ditched me). I thought they just hadn’t left but realized I was forgotten — again. Let’s not dredge up stories of my childhood— just kidding.

I found my own way to the hotel. I’m just glad no one was hurt.

Before dinner, I walked around the little village.

We had a very nice three (at least) course dinner. Now the daunting challenge is to sleep. I’m finding that my jet lag is exacerbated by the rich food eaten late at night (dah).

Apparently you have to make your own bed here in Italy.

Tomorrow Cortina to Alpine ski.