Snowboarding in Montecampione, January 2006
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I’m finally getting around to writing about my weekend break snowboarding in Montecampione, Italy. Kev and I originally booked this as an early break for before Christmas, but despite the resort’s snow guarantee, the terrible ‘06/‘07 season meant the resort was unable to open. Unfortunately, the situation wasn’t much better by our new departure date with only 3KM of runs open. Rather than reschedule again, we decided to push on.
We flew out from Liverpool with Ryan Air around four on Friday afternoon. By seven we were on the tarmac in Milan and by 9 we were settling into our room in the 3* Armonia Winter in Boario Terme. Being on a tight budget and in Italy, we opted for pizza in the nearby ‘Moby Dick’, which was as good as it was cheap at £3 per pizza and £6 for a bottle of house wine. While we tried other restaurants during our stay, Moby Dick hit the trinity of being the quickest, best tasting and cheapest… so give it a try.
Bright and early on Saturday morning, we caught ‘Greeny’ the resort’s eco-friendly shuttle bus to the slopes. Unfortunately, as we were the only passengers, Greeny was taken back to the depot (and shot), after which we swapped to a smaller bus. There wasn’t a trace of snow as we climbed into the hills, save for a thin spit of white that marked the last run to close at Monte 1200. The situation was a little better at Monte 1800, where a combination of prayer and careful grooming had managed to keep a pair of decent runs open. After collecting our kit, which was a little old and scratched, we joined the nervous group of skiers and boarders waiting for the blue quad to open, which it finally did at around 10. At first the slope was hard and icy, but as the day wore on the sun softened things up nicely and by late morning we were enjoying some good spring conditions, whizzing up and down the 1KM blue. Sunday was much the same, with the morning ice and fog giving way to four hours or so of good skiing before the runs became too soft. Conditions on the red run were similar, though perhaps a little better.
Despite the crappy conditions, we had a great time in Montecampione. The food and drink was good and cheap, the hotel was friendly and Activity Break’s organization was spot on. Fortunately for the resort, as we left on Sunday it started to snow, putting down a good foot of powder and opening up another 25KM of slopes. Am I bitter? Not really. J