First snow of the season

Today marks day 67 since we left NZ and started our travels across the world, it is also our last day in Italy before we drive to Switzerland tomorrow. The weather wasn't that great today and whilst I ate breakfast I watched the clouds roll in on the mountains surrounding us and the rain came off and on. I finished off yesterdays blog and then started to collate all the information I had for my upcoming Nursing exam. I had no idea what we were going to do today and didn't rush getting Lewis out of bed as I knew he was up until the early hours finishing a pretty cool video of our via ferrata experience. Lew's more of the night owl and I am the early bird so it's a good way for us to have our own space since we haven't exactly had a minute apart since we left NZ. He finally appeared at 1130am and didn't quite believe he had slept that long when I told him the time. From then onwards studying was put in hold and the focus became finding something to do today. Malina who owns the apartment we are staying in and lives above us had recommended a hike to the top of the mountain behind the house that would take about 2-2.5 hours return. Everything else I wanted to do required cable cars and ski lifts which had closed for the summer season and hadn't opened again for the winter. The only option really was to do this hike and whilst I made some noodles for lunch Lew went up to find out the specifics of the hike. We rugged up and took rain jackets since it was spitting a little as we left the house. The Santa Cristina Valgardena area in which we are staying up in one of the mountains above it is stunning and despite not being able to see the small towns below we are surrounded by the Dolomites and the small typically wood cabin houses are very picturesque. We walked up the road and into the forest following painted colours and numbers on rocks and trees. As we climbed higher through the forest the rain got heavier and we were pleased to have our rain coats on but had stripped off most our merinos since it was a good 1.5 hours walking uphill. It certainly wasn't the most pleasant weather and on a nice day you would be able to actually see the valley below (or we presume you could!).

If you look closely at the tree photo above you will notice some wee ears poking out the side and that was one of the squirrels we saw. They look as though they have mohawks haha! We reached another sign indicating the way up to the peak and also that we had made it to 2200 meters (7200 ft) above sea level. We contemplated turning around since a long trudge up a hill just isn't the same when you don't have the reward of a beautiful view at the top but figured we had nothing else to do today and we were already sweaty and wet. As we climbed higher and higher we noticed the rain turning more and more into sleet and the temperature had dropped. At this point it wasn't dry enough to be settling but another 10 minutes up the mountain it was heavy dry snow settling on the ground. We both didn't know the last time we had been in snow since we had been living in Auckland and it's not a sight you will ever get there. By the time we reached the top of Mount Pic at 2363 meters (7752 ft) the snow was absolutely coming down and we bundled ourselves back into our merinos and were so surprised when we both put that extra layer of merino over our already soaked under layer the instant warmth we felt. Seems crazy but we have never really understood the brilliance of merino until this situation. We both added a down jacket on top and some gloves to keep us toasty as we descended down a track that we thought was the right way down the ridge-line. We couldn't see any trail markers as the snow was too thick but Lew had looked at the map and checked that we could walk down the ridge-line and meet up with the track we had walked up below. The track petered out and we were forced to improvise a way down a rocky cliff face also covered with slippery grasses and snow. We checked Google Maps a couple of times under the cover of some pine trees and knew we were headed in the correct direction. As we got lower the snow slowly turned back into rain and once again was set on soaking us right through to the skin. Finally we came across the forest track which we had walked up and were very pleased since we were both looking like drowned rats and were starting to feel a little cold. 10 minutes later of basically running down this pine needle track avoiding the slippery tree roots we reached the road that the house was on. We were very pleased to be back and a warm house and hot shower was rather inviting. My down jacket - the only proper warm jacket I brought was a tad wet so whilst I got ready to go into town Lew dried it with the hairdryer.

We took the car back down into Ortisei to find a supermarket and also a ATM since the place we were staying only accepted a bank transfer or cash. We wanted to do a reasonable shop before we got over the boarder to Switzerland and we were anticipating a large jump in price in groceries. We were making nachoes for dinner and gathered all the relevant ingredients as well as chicken and sausages for the next couple of nights since they had an excellent butcher. We walked in the heavy rain sharing my umbrella again to get some money out before driving back up to the house. As we wound our way up the mountain we were staying on the rain had turned to snow a lot lower down and had begun to settle up by the house. We weren't sure how this was going to work in the morning but apparently it does get graded so fingers crossed we can get down the mountain and then through to Switzerland! The rest of the night was spent snuggling in watching TV. Maybe winter wont be too bad after all?