Piancavallo - A Snowy Adventure

Our brand new hiking boots! Found them on the 50% off rack too ^_^

Brand new waterproof hiking boots? Check! Weather forecast observed, map of the surrounding mountainous area purchased, tires filled with air, tank filled with gas, snow chains acquired, and snow gear rented from the Outdoor Rec on base. Sounds like the ingredients for a completely different sort of adventure than our trip to Venice last weekend.

            Before our trip to Venice, we thought this three-day weekend would be a great opportunity to visit Rome. We’d planned to take the overnight train with the sleeper beds and wake up in Rome, spend the day exploring, and spend the night at a hostel there before taking a sleeper train back on Sunday night. However, after our semi-disappointing trip to Venice, we decided to hold off on another touristy location, and explore the mountains just next to us instead.

            Aviano had a great amount of rain the past week, which meant that the mountain was getting fresh powder. We live in a fantastic location; we are 45 mins from the snow, and an hour from the beach in the other direction, so whichever the season, we are close to recreation.

The snow covered Dolomites just behind Aviano.

         

            Troy had decided that he wanted to explore Piancavallo, a mountain ski resort sort of town not far from here (elevation around 4,100 ft). Here's a blurb on it if you’re interested in knowing a bit more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piancavallo 

  

           On Friday we went to the Outdoor Rec on base and rented Troy a pair of snowshoes and poles, costing only $7 for the three-day weekend! I didn’t plan to go snowshoeing. I don’t mind the snow or hiking in it, but I know I currently can’t keep pace with a turtle, and thus I would significantly slow down Troy's exploration goals. Furthermore, all of my snow gear is in our “Household Goods” shipment, which likely won’t arrive until late February. So without proper snow gear and not being able cover much ground regardless, I was satisfied with the idea of exploring the wee ski town and sitting in a café with a hot cocoa and a good book. Troy doesn’t really have any snow gear to speak of (something we plan to remedy by the end of our three year stay here), but the military issued him some water proof shells for work, so he figured he would be able to get by with long johns and sweats underneath his shells.   

Driving up to the mountain

Piancavallo was a very picturesque place.

Icicles growing in the other direction. I thought this looked cool.

Cascading icicles, so pretty!

Ready for adventure!

The quiet snow covered wood

Snowshoe tracks up a steep hill, crossing a a wee bunny trail

A panorama Troy took of the view. It looks even better when you can blow it up more. 

   

            After dropping Troy off at his chosen start location, I got to practice my snow driving while exploring the resort town. I eventually settled at a wee snack bar and café, ordering a hot chocolate and small slice of… something. It looked like a chocolate cake with a fruit filling. Looking around I found there was nowhere to sit, but a kind Italian family saw me scanning the room and asked me to sit with them. So I sat down and we attempted to converse in broken English and Italian. Just as this Italian family was leaving, a group of women came in that I happened to know. I didn’t recognize them at first, but one of them came up to me and said how good it was to see me. I apologized and said I couldn’t recognize her as she was all bundled in her snow clothes. She laughed and pulled off her hat and scarf, and it turned out to be my prenatal yoga instructor. (I’ve been attending the free classes at the gym on base)

She was with her girl friends and their families and they asked me to join them. Turns out I’d crossed paths with many of the other women at the table, one even recognized me from the day before at Outdoor Rec even though we hadn’t exchanged words. So in the end, I got to enjoy some Italian food, Italian company, and finally some company from fellow Airforce members and made some new friends! I never got to my book, and only departed their company when I received Troy’s call a few hours later that he was back ready to be picked up.

            Troy said he’d had a lot of fun exploring and getting a hike in, and that his gear worked well and he was able to stay dry and warm for the whole trip. You can see from the above pics what he was able to see on his snowshoeing adventure, and we both agreed that we had enjoyed our snowy day in the mountains much more than we had our day in Venice. We’ll still be sure to hit up the tourist and historical locations, but we will definitely be planning more outdoor excursions to explore the beautiful countryside we’re living in.