Italy SAMPLE
ITINERARY
Saturday
6PM
- Clients arrive at the hotel in Valgrisenche.
After check-in, enjoy your first five-course Italian meal and meet your guide
for the week. Control you excitement and go to bed early as you will need
your sleep.
Sunday
7AM
– After enjoying breakfast and a cappuccino or
cafe latte, we are off to the heli pad.
8AM
– The
conditions are perfect and we decide to take four rides down 5000 foot vertical
powder runs in the Valgrisenche valley. The only thing keeping you from
crying over the pain in your thighs is the permanent smile on your face.
1PM
–
Lunch, like every other meal, is an event. Don't eat too much pasta (basta
pasts) as it is only the second of five courses.
6PM
– Yes, it is dinner time already. Savor the food but don't forget to
start your wine tasting list for the week.
Monday
7AM
– Get out of bed because the microclimate in
Valgrisenche dumped some new snow and you don't want to miss your scheduled heli
take-off time.
8AM
– Our
guide lets us know that we will ski towards Les Arcs, France on our third
run. It is a good thing our guide suggests we wear a climbing
harness as may need to repel down a 60 foot canyon that is impassible otherwise.
1PM
–
Enjoy lunch at a quaint, hill side restaurant overlooking the French Alps.
Unfortunately, we can't stay too long as we must ski through 2 different resorts
(one French, one Italian) before taking a 1-hour taxi back to our
hotel.
6PM
– We arrive barely in time to clean up before another big meal and taste a
local Aosta wine tonight. Post dinner, have some wine or homemade
grappa by the fire as you read that neglected book you brought.
Tuesday
7AM
–
We are a little tired and the skies are cloudy. Enjoy a leisurely
breakfast as we will ski at a local resort today.
12noon
–
Possibly the best reason to go to a resort - lunch. Since our guides seem
to be related or friends with just about everyone, we are special guests at the
restaurant. It might possibly be one of the best meals of your life.
And be sure to save room for desert and tasting of some homemade grappa.
6PM
– Dinner has been specially prepared and includes local venison. A few
new guests have arrived from Aosta and they invite you to join them in sharing a
Cuppa di Amicci (cup of friends).
Wednesday
8AM
– The
conditions are good again and we take three huge runs in the Valgrisenche
Valley. This was the day you first learned about slough management the
snow you were pushing down the 45-degree pitch almost took you out.
3PM
–
Since we finished early, the group decides to head into Aosta for shopping and
dinner.
Thursday
6AM
–
Get
early as you need to leave before 7am for our tour down the famous Valleé
Blanche to Chamonix, France.
8AM
– Our guide gets us on the tram
before it officially opens so we can be the first down the 9000
foot vertical Valleé Blanche. Mont Blanc (the highest mountain in Europe
at 4807m) is only a slightly higher that we are.
11AM
- We
stop briefly in Chamonix
for lunch and return up the Aguille di Midi for our tour to Italy over glaciers
on our skins/snowshoes and down ice falls in our climbing harness.
4PM
- We stop in Courmayeur for après ski, some shopping and maybe a scoop of
gelato.
Friday
7AM
–
Once again we have an early start today as we are going heli-skiing and touring
on Monte Rosa. From Monte Rosa, tours are possible to Switzerland and the
Matterhorn in Zermatt seems only a stones throw away.
6PM
–
This was a long, but very satisfying day and we devour each of the five courses
and celebrate the week with a few bottle of 1995 Barolo.
Saturday
10AM
–
Check out.
Depending
on the desires of the group, we may head to Chamonix for a day of skiing or to
Geneva for a little sightseeing before getting on our flights on Sunday back
home.
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