Italy 

POINT OF VIEW
By Bob Dever

In February, 2006, Torino, Italy will be the site of the 20th Winter Olympic Games. Most of the alpine skiing events will be held at Sestriere or one of the other interconnected resorts that make up the Via Lattea skiing complex.

The Milky Way, the English translation of Via Lattea, consists of five separate lift connected areas -- Sestriere, Cesana, Claviere, Sansicario and Sauze d’Oulx. With 88 lifts, an endless variety of groomed slopes, and lift ticket prices at around $40 US, these northwest Italian mountains offer everything a respectable intermediate skier needs.

Preparation for the Olympics is everywhere. Sestriere, the home of many of the upcoming alpine events and the site of one of the Olympic Villages, today, looks like a winter breeding ground for cranes and construction cranes. These 10-to-15 story mechanical monsters dominate the local landscape now as new hotels, apartments, and condominiums are going up everywhere. A new and improved highway system is being put in to handle the influx of visitors and all of this construction will enable this readily accessible Italian ski town to better handle the tourist bang that inevitably comes from hosting an Olympic Games.

Cesana, Claviere, and Sansicario will not only present some alpine events but will be the site for luge, bobsled, and biathlon. Viewing the under construction sporting venues today, in January 2005, you would wonder if its possible to have everything completed in the next twelve months, but completed they will be and in fact are being utilized now for various European or world championship sporting events as practice for the big show.

The Olympics don't come cheap though. The top price for a ticket to watch the alpine skiing events is 110 euros or about $143 US. But the cost of watching alpine skiing pales in comparison to the cost of the most popular events to be held in Torino -- 850 euros or $1,100 for the opening ceremonies; 300 euros or almost $400 US for figure skating and hockey. Curling tickets, on the other hand, are available for about $50 US. These are the top ticket prices and less expensive tickets are available. The nature of alpine and cross country skiing is such that there is opportunity to view the events as they happen, and you don't necessarily need a warmed finish line seat to appreciate the best competing against the best.

Weather is always a consideration in the Italian Alps. January 2005 I skied the Vialattea for a week. Natural snow conditions were average to mediocre and the entire region was beset with high winds closing many of the interconnecting lifts for days at a time. This won't do at the time of the Olympics. The organizers of the 2006 games, realizing that they are dealing with weather sensitive sports, continue to make investments in snow making and transportation systems. Most of the beginner and intermediate terrain is covered by snowmaking and a decent pubic bus service system exists that will get you from the base of one area to another.

The Olympic race courses have already been set by the organizing committee. The downhill, giant slalom, and slalom race courses appear on the 2005 trail maps and you can ski them today. The steepness of the slalom course will probably surprise you as will the fact that the men's downhill doesn't appear to be that steep or difficult, and is very doable for an intermediate skier. Of course, the conditions that we will ski it under, groomed and not very crowded, are not the same conditions under which they will ski it--- iced up and in the glare of international television

This part of the Italian Alps is not just about the Olympics. These are very nice mountains. The lift and alternative transportation services are very good today, and will be better in 2006. Snowmaking and grooming is world class and cost, other then in February of next year, are not out of sight. With five areas to choose from there is a variety of terrain and even some off piste for those who need that. In addition, the Milky Way straddles the Italian/French frontier and for 15 euros one can ski across the border into France. More interconnected lifts place you in the French ski area of Montgenevre, which has more than 2,000 feet of vertical and 15 lifts of its own.

Sestriere...Two Years After the Olympics
By Bob Enzel

The crowds of yesteryear have disappeared. The cheers and jeers have long been forgotten in the Olympic town of Sestriere; the names of winners and losers have faded from memory. It is late September almost two years later.

The 96 Kilometer ride from Torino--the home city of the 2006 Olympics--to Sestriere took about and hour and a half mostly on a highway. A reminder that spectators and participants had to either stay in one location or the other, thereby limiting which venue they wanted to view. The opening and closing ceremony and the ice events all took place in Torino, whereas, Alpine and Nordic events--including luge, bobsled and biathlon-- took place in and around Sestriere.

I was struck by one constant. There was no visual evidence in Torino, or on the road from Torino to Sestriere, or in the town of Sestriere that the Winter 2006 Olympics ever took place. I looked in vain for banners and signs that said Sesteire was indeed the exciting city of the Alpine and Nordic events. Nothing! Not one sign. Not one banner. The town was quiet. The Olympic Villages, arenas and support facilities are now used for other purposes. In Sestriere, the village that housed the athletes are either rented out or used for condos.

My guide, Alberto Surico from the Provincial Board kindly drove me around to look at nearby venues. The only evidence of any activity was a lone ski jumper on his way home from practice on the Pragelato ski jump. There was no snow, but the landing area was padded with artificial turf suitable for the landing and ski-out during the non-snow months. We checked out the cross country trail and finish line--the visible section that we could see--and the downhill, slalom and giant slalom mountains used for these events. If not for that one lone ski jumper, a ski-ghost-town would come to mind. Time was short, so we could not view the area now used for snow tubing nor the winter bobsled run in Cesana now used for fun.

Don't misconstrue my comments as a put-down. Sestiere even in late summer with hardly anyone around looks like a ski resort that I'd want to stay a week or more when snow has covered the mountains and horse-drawn carriages trek visitors through the streets of white. After all, Sestriere is part of the "Vialattea," or "Milky Way" that encompasses 88 lifts and 248 miles of downhill runs that flow over into the ski towns of Sauze d'Oulx, San Sicario, Cesana, Claviere, Pragelato; and Montgenevere in France...a true international "ski circus." A pretty good deal at 117 Euros for a 4-day all valley ticket. Nearby Bardonechhia also has a mini-ski circus that encompasses, Jafferau, Melezet and Campo Smith. There are also four snowparks among the towns of Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, San Sicario and Claviere.

Sestriere is an Olympic Village, not an Olympic town, such as Innsbruck, Austria. It is relatively small and walkable from one end to the other. The architecture is indicitive of a purpose-built ski resort, e.g., not exciting. Signor Agnelli of Fiat renown and indeed the Fiat automaking company itself are credited with the construction and institution of the ski resort of Sestriere in 1934. Club Med still uses one of the buildings described by "Blue Book" editor Ted Heck as, "family-size cans of baked beans." There is one advantage of these round structures; not only is there a wndow with a view, but there is a view from every window.

So, our little group departed the 'Vialattea' with the anticipation that one day we would return when the ski town is in full bloom and all the Olympic venues would be in use by non-Olympians.

On the return to Turino It was ironic that upon visiting the "Vino del Ghiaccio" ice wine vineyards in Chiomonte, Maria Luisa Alberico presented us with a bottle of delicious San Sebastiano ice wine, and gave us all a banner left over from the 2006 Winter Olympics. I finally had proof that an Olympics took place in Torino and Sestriere in 2006.

For more information...

www.turismotorino.org
www.vialattea.it
www.bluebookski.com