I slept nearly all day yesterday after a good morning ski with Murphy in some Basin bottom country in an area I have come to call Murphy's knob. The day of mellow recovery was well in order after 20+ hours of flying in airplanes to get back home the previous night. Stephane Riendaeu of Tough Guy Productions was my traveling partner for the trip and he finally got out of SLC after he was bumped off the late night and two more the following the morning. Standby travel is the cheapest way, but you can pay for the discount in hanging out in airports getting bumped off flight after flight. Still it was a relatively smooth travel with nice business class seats for the long leg over the big pond for 11 hours. Italy... Italy was a brand new experience for me and the welcoming from the Scuffons folks was a real treat. These genuine people are the creators of one of the most unique experiences of this traveling skier's short life. They know how to party, eat, ski, party and party better then most that I have ever met in all the places that I have been in the last few seasons of traveling. The Dolomites were a character all of their own amongst this diverse cast so much that with the turn of every different chairlift we would link across miles and miles of mountains and valleys the style of peak would range from giant towering spires to wide open faces littered with bands ready made for skiers.
The comp was the highlight of the trip that put two americans at the top of the podium. I was fortunate enough to be one of them with a 2nd place next to my buddy and fellow mid-westy, Joey Wallis.
Podium celebrating ..... photo: Gurry
Me hucking.......photo:Gurry
We partied like rockstars that night with all of the local folks to celebrate all of the days champions across all of the divisions of the comp that included snowboarders and alpine skiers alike. Spirits were pretty high.
hanging out......photo: Gurry
All in all the trip went really well and I guess I may have to go back someday in order to go for that top spot. Like I always said about these things, I never come to win, just to put on a good show. I feel like I did that for sure. What's even better is the show that I got to see starring the Dolomites and the local folks that call them home.
