A sunny Sunday morning early January, but with temperatures as in
April,ought to be perfect for a ski touring trip, over from Champoluc
to Cervinia. Forecasts great, and bluebird sky. I decided to meet up
with Anna and Linda who came over from Zermatt for a delicious lunch
at “Ullas place”, Chalet l´étoile, Swedish run gourmet restaurant in
the middle of the sunny ski slopes of Cervinia. Sure, I had to earn my
gastronomic fish soup, 1 200 altitude meters in a six km long valley,
but I felt strong….

Starting off with happy feet, leaving the Ayas valley behind…

Feet started hurting a bit at the end and some dark skies suddenly
unexpected came hunting me from behind, and a strong wind made the
last part a struggle. But I was up in less then three hours. Not bad,
for an old dahu fart. Finally up I got to change some clothes in the
lift booth and Gian-Carlo, the lift guy, poured me some homemade white
wine, just what I needed..

After a long traverse I finally met up with the girls at Ullas!

Taking photos of food is an art itself, so you will just have to imagine
the tuna, lobster and fish soup. Great with some white local wine,
and since I was not going to do any more ski touring this day, we
had some more…

Anna and Linda got the fast and funny ski doo service…

But when we got out all smiles from the restaurant the scenery
suddenly changed! All the lifts were closed. We were stuck in
Cervinia! (which is normally a nice place to hang at…) But we
had to get to our home valleys. Me and Anna had to get into working
mood. Said and done. We went straight for the piste police at the
middle station Plan Maison. And after some fixing and trixing we
were soon in the VIP-lane to the transport services.

Me myself got the “fully booked” pisten bully, with nationalities
like japanese, russians, australians and english. Squeeze dude!!

But in less than 30 minutes we were at the top, and the girls took
the north bound pistes to Zermatt. Personally I had another half
hour of ski touring up to Testa Grigia at 3 500 meters… But it
sure was a stunning view.

Matterhorn on the swiss side. il Cervino on the south. Toblerone peak.

Pretty nice view, even if winds were strong, enjoyed the “home run”.

Cant help digging small silly adventures like this. Could have been
easy return by lifts… But the Mother Earth decides, we just have to
adapt and respect. Finally home before sunset, and the payback came
late, a long run down in powder snow in a creek just above St Jacques,
screaming of happiness and burning legs. Do I have to tell you the
shower felt pretty good…. Keep exploring life.

Hasta la pista!