Into the Alps

When Rebecca’s alarm went off Saturday morning at 6AM, I rolled over in bed, completely disoriented: It’s dark. And I’m warm for once. And we had a long week of school and papers and presentations and tests. And I was up late partying at Beth’s house since 3 of us girls have birthdays this week. Why are we getting up?

Oh yeah, sledding.

In the Alps.

My feet hit the floor and I didn’t look back. Just pulled on a million layers of thermals and sweaters and jeans, grabbed an apple, and power-walked to the train station as sunlight began to spill over the horizon. Our group was a little smaller than usual, since Jana decided to stay behind and Mik, Joy, and Alla wanted to go to Gorizia in lieu of getting cold and wet. None of us had proper gear, so we looked like a ragtag bunch, but we made do. Thanks to all the layers, we were completely sweaty and all felt gross by the time we got to the station. We knew it would only get worse...but worse can also mean better because it was all part of the fun, the adventure, the experience.

We only rode the train for a few minutes before catching a bus in Pordenone that would drive us up into the mountains to Piancavallo, a ski resort situated behind the first row of mountains you can see to the north of here, and practically on top of the “second row.” Driving up the mountain I dramatically died a thousand internal deaths because all I wanted was OUT of the big clunky tour bus and INTO Harry who would have handled like a dream on the perfectly paved, switchback road that serpentined up the side of the mountain. It was like salt on an open wound when a TT drove past (and all the other Audis and Volkswagons and BMWs). I was extremely envious and I’m blaming my father for instilling in me this odd love of German engineering and standard transmissions and mountain roads. It ruined my day not having Harry with me.

Okay, drama over. I’m not kidding when I say I legitimately lusted over some cars and really wanted to drive fast up that road through the snowy pine trees and the crazy views of the valley far, far (4,100 ft) below—but—I’ve got a car back home and the need for speed was at least somewhat fulfilled by sledding. And, cars made by humans pale in comparison to the Alps.

Those mountains enthrall me. Stepping off that dang bus into the crisp winter air and coming face to face with the peaks made me smile—and I didn’t stop smiling all day.

First things first, though, we stopped at one of the lodges and ordered cappuccinos and brioche filled with either lemon custard, Nutella, or apricot jam. Then we walked through the village to another lodge where we rented sleds. They were 5 euro for the day, so we split into pairs and went halves.

The slope was perfect for sledding: long, but not overly steep. From our vantage point, we could see the skiers and snowboarders making their way down the four slopes of the mountains opposite. At which point sledding didn’t seem like the coolest thing in the world, but it didn’t cost anything but the sled rental, and it’s not like I can snowboard anyway! Even if I could, I consoled myself (I’m really not content, am I?), I pulled a muscle when I was on a run last week and even bracing against the sled was rather painful so I’m in no shape for it anyway.

Situation fully justified, I immensely enjoyed sledding. I rediscovered my inner winter-lover. Kayla and I went down together so many times I lost count—but on our first time we completed the challenge, which was to jump the snowbank at the bottom left of the hill. That would be the video I took, Mom ;). We also had plenty of spontaneous snow fights. Kayla and Garrett both sent me flying into the snowbank; when I tried pushing Garrett it epically failed. He moved backwards about an inch. Later, he was a gentleman and let me take him down.

Anyhow, after a couple hours of sledding we ate lunch at the top of the hill, all the while enjoying how the fog lifted and settled again and again over the peaks, and more mountains were revealed that we hadn’t even known were there. The whole morning it was fairly sunny, pale blue sky here and there, and 30 degrees. Even though we were pretty wet, we didn’t get cold. Actually, I came to the realization that I was warmer than I had been all week long at school, for a longer time period. Funny that I had to go sledding in the Alps to experience that.

By 2PM we decided we’d had enough. We hadn’t hit any children, and none of us had gotten hurt so we figured it was a good point to call it a day. We still had a couple hours until the bus would arrive, so we walked back to one lodge, gave back our sleds, and got changed into dry clothing (I discovered I’d split the butt-seam of my jeans really bad. Garrett did the same to his. Moral of the story: American Eagle jeans will fail you in the Alps). The main problem was we’d forgotten to bring extra shoes, so our wet sneakers kept our feet pretty cold (I’ve regretted not bringing wool socks almost every day since arriving here).

We headed back to the bar we’d been at that morning and got more coffee and food. Due to restaurant etiquette, we couldn’t stay there too long after finishing our drinks so we had an hour to kill before the bus came. We walked around some, but really started getting cold since the temp was dropping and it had clouded over. With nowhere to go, after joking about it slightly and then realizing it was a matter of survival, we all ended up in a penguin huddle and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the time, sharing body heat and falling asleep on each others shoulders and holding hands in pockets. Everyone stared. We saw someone take a picture. Then again, it probably did look a little weird since it was 13 girls and one guy...

When the bus finally came, we climbed sleepily on and drove down the mountain. The drive was still gorgeous, but I was tired enough I was just glad to have a seat next to the heater.

We came home, staggered our showers so we’d all get hot water, ate dinner, talked in the lounge for an hour, then watched a movie until midnight. At which point, those of us who weren’t already in bed went to bed. “Today was a Fairy Tale” was stuck in my head since it was the theme song of the day (and somehow Taylor is the theme artist of this semester at school, for better or worse) but I didn’t really mind. It had been super beautiful, super fun, and something about it had caused a lot of bonding between us to take place—I’m thinking superglue.

PS. Few pictures and of the lower-quality iphone variety because of the internet. It's always moody, but this week it's been cutting out for hours on end and then coming in for 5 minute spurts. You can see more pics when I get home :)