It was an auspicious start to the Chinese New Year, as Oliver and I launched into the Year of Dragon with a trip to Capestrano. This was the first winter visit to our Italian retreat, and we hoped to have plenty of snow at the nearby ski resorts so Oliver, in particular, could indulge his passion for snowboarding. And we weren't disappointed.
As you know, Oliver had been travelling around the UK and the US in recent months, and in late January was joined in London by his mate from Sydney, Sam Bronger. I was able to escape from Beijing for the week-long Chinese New Year holiday break during the last week of January so I flew to Rome via Hong Kong and met the boys, who'd flown in from Manchester. We drove to Capestrano, fired up the central heating and settled in for six days of adventure.
There are a dozen or more ski resorts within two hours drive of Capestrano, but we decided on the premier resort in southern/central Italy, Roccaraso, as our destination of choice. It has 22 lifts and 64 runs with nearly 130 km of ski trails, and although there had not been a huge amount of snow so far during winter, there was enough natural and man-made snow for most of the resort to be in operation.
The route to Roccaraso via Sulmona (about 45 km south of Capestrano) was simple and the roads were in excellent condition, so it only took just over an hour to drive the 70 km to the resort. The weather was beautiful for our first day on the slopes of Roccaraso, with bright sunshine and clear blue skies. We each bought ourselves a five day lift ticket, and Oliver (snowboarding) and Sam (skiing) took off straight away to begin exploring the more difficult trails across the resort. Meanwhile, I cautiously revived my limited skiing skills (for the first time in five years) on the more gentle intermediate runs. A private lesson with an English speaking Italian ski instructor helped improve my skill level and increase my confidence. The resort is huge and the week-day crowds are sparse, so we never had to wait in a queue for a lift; we virtually had the resort to ourselves. On our way home we stopped at the supermarket in Popoli (15 minutes from home) for supplies - and did so each evening; our apres ski activities for the week involved cooking dinner, having a few beers and watching TV shows Oliver had recorded on his portable hard drive.
Day two was just as nice, and although the snow was dwindling we continued to enjoy very good skiing/snowboarding conditions.
Imagine our surprise when we awoke on day three to find it was snowing in Capestrano - with heavy, fluffy snow flakes beginning to cover the village. It had stopped snowing by the time we began the drive to Roccaraso, and the road was clear until we began the climb up the mountain just past Sulmona. By that time it was again snowing heavily, with limited visibility at times. I haven't driven much in the 11 years I've lived in China, so driving up a snow-covered Italian mountain road in foggy conditions was a bit of a challenge for me. But with the encouragement of my hearty travelling companions - who were salivating at the thought of all the powder snow they would soon be skiing/snowboarding in - we reached the village of Roccaraso without any problems. There we purchased some chains for the car, and crawled safely up the mountain for the last 8 km to the resort at Aremogna.
It was freezing cold, foggy and blowing a gale with hardly another person on the mountain; but the snow was fantastic. I've never before skied in such deep powder snow, and although it was hard work, it was immensely satisfying and great fun to ski in - especially when you looked around and there was no-one else in sight. It had stopped snowing by the time we drove home, but it was still a scary (and slow) descent down the icy mountain road. Needless to say, we were all quite worn out by the time we got home that night. Almost magically, the weather had cleared up again for the start of day four (albeit still quite chilly) and we had another great day skiing/snowboarding in the bright sunshine.
We'd had such a wonderful time over the first four days, it's hard to believe our experience could get any better. But the final day proved to be the best of all. The weather was absolutely perfect - almost warm in the brilliant sunshine - and the skiing conditions still excellent after the huge dump of snow we'd had two days before. Not surprisingly, my skiing skills were the best they'd ever been and I even tackled some of the more challenging intermediate runs. Better still, Oliver and Sam both proclaimed that day as their best ever skiing/snowboarding experience. We drove home that night thoroughly pleased and satisfied with ourselves. A return to the snow in Roccaraso is must.
This particular adventure concluded with a comfortable two hour drive back to Rome Fiumicino Airport on the Saturday morning where I parted company with the boys. I boarded a plane bound for Hong Kong and then onto Beijing, while Oliver and Sam spent the day seeing the sights of Rome; they flew back to Manchester the next day.
If we thought Capestrano and the Abruzzo region was delightful in the summer, autumn and spring, we have now confirmed that it is just as beautiful in the winter - and even more exciting if you're into winter sports.
Ciao.
Footnote: Shortly after we left Italy at the end of January, Capestrano and other parts of central/southern Italy experienced the heaviest snowfalls and most brutal winter conditions in over 30 years. Many homes were left in the freezing cold without water, gas and electricity and therefore no heating (apart from wood fires); some of our friends in Capestrano are still digging themselves out of the snow. Thank goodness we had our roof repaired late last year. Ground transportation came to a halt, and flights were cancelled as the airports became snowbound. Which all goes to show that timing is everything.
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