Pontese Hut
We had been warned that it was big day to reach or next objective, Pontese Hut, so we had an early start (early for us, the Euros all seem to be gone by the time we get up) and left the hut at 6am. The day would take us over several passes and put us on the side of the mountains that drained to the lowlands of Turin and Milan rather than back to the Aosta, we are now Piedmont and should the weather close in it would be similar in logistics to getting back to Mnt. Cook from Fox Glacier. I can just picture myself in some strange city, dressed in ski clothes and waving my arms around yelling "Aosta per favore?". Thankfully the weather looks fine but being Kiwis we are nervous after four good days.
The day had two large passes but for the first time we had some nice long downhills. The route started with 5k of steady uphill until...
We reached a narrow gully that required a short section using crampons and ice axe. Doug had told me several times he did not have any experience with crampons and I reassured him that if he fell off we would carry on in his memory. In the end he whizzed up the section without difficulty.
The scenery was amazing and for the first tine we were able to get a long downhill on some great snow.
Once again we were eagerly looking forward to the
hut and Pontese's reputation of the best food in area did not disappoint.
Mara is the lady who runs the place and is responsible for the great food. She had been to New Zealand years earlier and proudly wears a greenstone neck piece. She was excited when she said we were the first Kiwis to ever ski to this hut.
It all started smooth enough but eventually became unraveled after an unknown number of courses for dinner, wine, an unlimited bar with
blueberry Grappa and Mara's infectious laughter. A typical day on this ski tour; 8
hours skiing, 8 hours eating and 8 hours sleeping.
GO TO DAY 5
No comments:
Post a Comment