FEB-MARCH 2016 : CERVINIA, ITALY - in search of the white stuff

It's been a long time since we last set foot in a ski resort but Duncan found a little self-catering studio in the Italian resort of Cervinia (on the Swiss border) nice and close to the lifts, and we hired a car out of Turin airport (only fly in the ointment was the horribly early start to the EasyJet flight but at least that got us in well on time to stock up in the supermarket en route and kick off with our first espressos of the week).  The little hirecar suffered more from its time in the carpark (this is after D had already dug it out once to move it for clear-all-the-snow-in-the-square day)

Weather was mixed - two days' views from our studio window...

who knew those slopes were up there?!
 

In all, Duncan managed 4 skiing days out of 6

and the whizzo swipecard ski-passes monitored his movements - he estimates he travelled 89 miles on the snow and 20 miles vertically on the lifts.  Avoiding one near miss in skiing over the border into Swizerland, with no pass to get him back out again (the virtually invisible rope below divides one country from another

I joined him at the bottom to view the Matterhorn

and he is pleased to confirm that the hot chocolate and bombardino of today match up to memory.

The last day's weather was not so good at all - heavy snow falling and slithery roads back down the mountain.  The octopus snow-chains look to require 4 people to tame them, one of whom needs to have a degree in unravelling tangled knitting.  Very slowly, avoiding Italian drivers who career along regardless, we made it down towards Turin, stopping briefly at 1731 Basilica di Superga - sadly in cloud cover...

Turin looks to be a destination for another sunnier day!