Women's World Cup at Sestriere, Skiing the Via Lattea and Jack from Redacted Recipes

World Cup and Olympic Downhill course at Sestriere

It was another horrible day in paradise when Fabrizio and I decided to take a break from Bella Baita duties and go skiing up to the top of our valley. Fabrizio has been toiling away with a major remodel of our "disco" room to make way for our expanding cooking courses and efforts to showcase our local producers of all things gastronomic. I am always toiling away with the promotional side of of our business in addition to keeping us fueled and puttering along. So it was a welcome change when I received an email from Jack of Redacted Recipes suggesting that we might meet up while he was just over the hill from us skiing with friends. I didn't have to be asked twice. Having just discovered their beautiful and tasty blog not all that long ago. I thought it was would great fun to meet and wonderful to do it while skiing just over the hill in our back yard. I didn't even ask Fabrizio if he wanted to come at first as he is such a driven working man. I didn't think he would take a day off from the remodel, especially if the weather wasn't perfect, but what do you know, it was a glorious day and off we went to ski the Via Lattea and meet Jack at Sauze D'Oulx.

Arriving at the base area of Sestriere I was amused to see not one, but several 2006 Winter Olympics volunteer uniforms and even a media outfit and a Paralympics full outfit as well. And then I remembered it was the weekend of the Women's World Cup Ski races at Sestriere and preparations were well under way. I had almost forgotten what a buzz there is at a ski area when it's race day or even the few days lead up to a big event. I worked for a ski area for 12 years and lived in the ski resort area for 18 years, so it's a familiar feeling that was flying around. Early morning everyone is arriving, as I said before, the coveted Olympic outfits were out for the occasion, there was a helicopter landing just by us as we readied ourselves for the first run, while the Italian army was helping direct traffic, haul all sorts of supplies, the press and their endless amount of equipment. Up we went to the top of the Milky Way(largest connected ski area in Europe) for a breathtaking view of our valley on one side and Val susa on the other.

Val Chisone looking back towards Bella Baita

Val Susa on the other side of the mountain

And without further ado, we met up with Jack at the appointed time, swapped a few stories, ate a bit of lunch, soaked up the sun and then went for a few runs. I got to hear about how Jack and Ann met, although I just had a peek over at their site and see a more in depth and very romantic post about Redacted Recipes Jack and Ann's courtship(check out the tidbit about cocklebread). You can read about it here.
We swapped some other stories and then it was time to head back over the hill. Too bad the time flew so fast, as it was a great beginning of a fun blogging encounter. I just hope Ann can make it next time or at least sometime.

Fabrizio, Jack & Marla