Bella Italia

I am sitting on the balcony of our hotel room blogging after a fabulous day of skiing. There is not a cloud in the deep blue sky and the mountains are white with snow and look spectacular. 

We went over to Sauze d'Oulx today, using the gondola that goes right across the valley. We set off nice and early to make the most of the better morning snow, but actually it stayed good for most of the day, only becoming slushy after about 3 p.m. The conditions were so good that I broke my newly invented four hour rule and skied for a brilliant six hours (including a short break for lunch). 

The red runs here are much better than the blues because they are wider and seem to be better pisted. There were some really great runs high above Sauze d'Oulx. We went over to Sansicario for lunch at a nice wee mountain restaurant - it was really hot by this time, and I realised that it is the 7th April and that my favourite time of year - Spring and early Summer - lies ahead. I felt really happy. 

After lunch I left the boys and started to head back to Sestriere; once I had crossed the valley I had to take a chairlift to lift me high enough above the village that I could ski straight back to our hotel instead of walking up the road. The chairlift was very slow but I was in no hurry so I just relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine and listened to birds singing in the trees. My last run down to the hotel was indeed very choppy and slushy so I took it easy - when I checked my app Ski Tracks I have skied 31 km with 4442 metres of descent - more than three Ben Nevises! This is of course paltry compared to the boys - James has skied 42 km  and Ally and Davie are still out skiing!