Under the Sea

According to the terrible documentary I watched prior to my trip to Italy, the Dolomites were once under the sea. They were formed when Pangia split and formed the seven continents of today’s world. And that’s all of the knowledge I had of Italian skiing before flying across the pond to Europe for my first time. Fortunately the last five days have been a nice lesson of Italy and a complete reeducation of skiing as I know it. If the East Coast was my high school and Powder mag my undergrad then Italy is a Masters and PhD all wrapped into one excellent week of scholarship courtesy of the good people of Polartec. From the food (Olive Gardens globally should be burnt to the ground for calling their food “Italian”) to the terrain (steep, challenging, and also home to ten mile groomers built more for speed than comfort and littered with brightly colored tourists) to off the wall apres skiing that would push the Jaded Local to tears, this place is the real deal. Life is simply good here in the Italian Alps. I’d upload more photos and tell more stories but the Internet here is slow (it took me 20 minutes to upload two photos) and an almond-eyed waitress with 17 vowels in her name just handed me a glass of vino. Until next time. Ciao. -Mike Rogge

The most dangerous aspect of Italian skiing are the tourists because they simply do not care if they run into you.