Shit, that too. According to the regional map that we got at the tourist office in Teramo in the morning, the road should soon reach the town. Unfortunately, this is a fallacy and we struggle on in heavy snowfall...
...The bus with its summer tires! keeps refusing to work on the mountain and we only make progress with great difficulty. But at some point we just stop and have to give in to the gradient. The snow depth has now risen to over 1.5 meters. That's great, but if we can't get any further, it won't do us much good!
Rene has the saving idea of trying to do the whole thing backwards. With a lot of effort and skill, the bus is turned around and we make some progress in the snowstorm. Then nothing works anymore, and as we get stuck in a bend and continue trying to reverse along the road, the carabinieri come by with a Panda four-wheel drive to say hello. As soon as we get out, they look at us questioningly and start shouting in Italian? Unfortunately, we don't understand them, but we can well imagine what they mean.
In the end, they also say: "...you're not going any further here"!
What to do? Finally in the snow, in the middle of Italy, but unable to get to the ski resort. The mood sinks further and we have to head back down to the valley...
...arrived in the next mountain village,
Luckily, we find a tratoria with an open fireplace and are able to warm up properly with wine and pasta. We are the only guests here, and the chef tells us that he lived in Germany for 20 years as an engineer, but is now back home. The weather and snow depths are quite normal here, he says, and the "Grand Sasso" can easily compete with the great mountains of the Alps.
He shows us some books and pictures of the mountains, even one with Japanese mountaineers on the Grand Sasso. That doesn't exist. We've never heard of such big mountains here, thought the "Grand Sasso" was a small hill, but far from it...
After we tell him about our predicament, he suggests helping us. He takes Thorsten to the nearest garage and gets us snow chains. If we had thought of everything, but never chains - it was southern Italy after all...
Even with chains, it takes us a good two hours and we struggle to get up. Once there, everything is covered in deep snow.
The cars have disappeared up to the roof, and how could it be otherwise: the ski area is closed. There's finally enough powder and there's nothing going on. Frustrated, we head out for a cappuccino with Cheryl, who is playing happily in the snow.
Luckily, there's a relaxed hotel here, so we check in first. Culinary spoiled, and after a few grappas with the receptionist (we are almost the only guests here too), we fall into bed exhausted and are already looking forward to the powder...
The next morning: It's still snowing and they don't want to open the lifts today either. That can't be right! At the hotel, they tell us about a snowmobile rental company, so after a whole two hours of searching in the small village, we discover the rental company. He proudly shows us his machines. However, they are more reminiscent of the snowmobiles they used in the Bond films of the sixties, but not the machines we are familiar with. He proudly demonstrates them to us, but gets stuck in the deep snow after about 10 meters and he doesn't want to lend them to us anyway, he says. So, that's it with the technical ascent aids for today. Luckily we have our snowshoes with us. They have been working reliably for centuries.
After a two-hour ascent in the most adverse weather conditions and a heavy snowstorm, we still make it to our "run" in the finest powder....
The next day starts no differently.
The persistent snowfall has caused the overall snow depth to increase further. The only option is to try to drive to the other side of the Grand Sasso mountains and, with luck, be able to ski in a new area in better weather conditions. The drive seems endless, and we pass a few smaller ski resorts, pass a herd of wild horses, see wild boars and a beautiful, very natural area.
It seems to be an almost forgotten region in the middle of Europe. Once there, the weather is no better. But at least we can take the large gondola up to the area. We already know that the lifts are not running when we get there. However, a group of French freeriders we meet in the gondola tell us about the very steep valley descent, 1000 vertical meters directly below the gondola. This is really worthwhile and offers everything we could wish for. Unfortunately, with the fog and snowfall, it's not quite perfect. In the evening, after the lift has stopped, it clears up from the west and the sun comes through briefly. Our plan for the next day is quickly made - back to Prado de Tivo...
The sun is sure to shine tomorrow?
... and the area is open again and we're the only ones powder skiing! - But things are about to change.
The first sleepy glance out of the Hotel Fester and it's already snowing again. It's our last day and we wanted to find snow combined with sun again.
On our snowshoes, the lift is still not running, we wait for the sun to slowly break through the clouds. Or so it seems. But it doesn't come. All the waiting is not rewarded - we have to go back down to the hotel to collect our things and make our way to the airport. The bus has just been loaded when the sun breaks through for the first time. On the drive down, without the fog and snowfall, we see the high winter landscape and can hardly believe it. We have to go!
On arrival in the valley, we see the mighty peak of the Grand Sasso for the first time, and from the airport, as we board the plane, the whole mountain range is cloudless...
Text: Holger Feist
